Review of Breach (2007) by Nathan R — 10 Mar 2009

Enjoyable, slow-burning thriller with an intelligent script and strong performances from its two leads. Breach is director/co-writer Billy Ray's eagerly awaited follow-up to Shattered Glass (also based on a true story) and while it's not quite on the level of his previous film, it's still an enjoyable, slow-burning thriller.

Ray eschews Hollywood-style theatrics (this is a thriller without chase scenes or punch-ups) for a slower, more deliberate approach that allows the audience to get under the skin of the characters. Chris Cooper is terrific, as always, delivering a captivating performance that perfectly illustrates Hanssen's contradictions and complexities.

Phillippe is equally good as the ambitious but perhaps slightly naive O'Neill and there's strong support from Laura Linney (who gets most of the best lines) and Caroline Dhavernas. The film's biggest problem is that it suffers from Apollo 13 Syndrome, in that you pretty much know how it's going to end so it's stripped of any suspense it might otherwise have had.

In addition, the ending feels so anti-climactic that you almost wish they'd Hollywooded it up a bit. This is an impressively directed, sharply written thriller with strong performances from Phillippe and Cooper, even if it never quite delivers the emotional sucker-punch you think it's going to.