Synopsis
Eric O'Neill, a computer specialist who wants to be made an agent is assigned to clerk for Robert Hanssen, a senior agent with 25 years in the FBI, and to write down everything Hanssen does. O'Neill's told it's an investigation of Hanssen's sexual habits, however Hanssen is really suspected of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia for years and being responsible for the deaths of agents working for the United States.
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Cast
- Chris CooperRobert Hanssen
- Ryan PhillippeEric O'Neill
- Laura LinneyKate Burroughs
- Caroline DhavernasJuliana O'Neill
- Gary ColeRich Garces
- Dennis HaysbertDean Plesac
- Kathleen QuinlanBonnie Hanssen
- Bruce DavisonJohn O'Neill
- Jonathan WattonGeddes
- Tom BarnettJim Olsen
Recommendations
- 80
The Hollywood Reporter
In this film, everything comes down to the acting. Chris Cooper, one of our finest screen actors, gets inside the mysterious traitor. Ryan Phillippe has just the right gung-ho determination tempered with a touch of naivete as O'Neill. Meanwhile, Laura Linney nails the role of a career agent. - 80
Newsweek
A wonderfully taut cat-and-mouse thriller. - 80
Village Voice
This is a spy movie bereft of the genre's usual, casual kicks. It's not interested in cheap thrills or playing gotcha with the audience. (Which isn't to say parts of it aren't exhilarating.) - 80
L.A. Weekly
Here is one of the best American actors (Chris Cooper) in one of his best parts. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
Now Ray has directed his second film, the abysmally titled Breach, and it's a bona fide companion piece, another true-life tale of duplicity gone secretly insane. - 75
Charlotte Observer
Like "Shattered Glass," the other picture Billy Ray directed, Breach probes a guilty mind and reveals how he baffled people. We get a Hitchcock-like pleasure from knowing the protagonist is guilty and watching other shocked characters realize his wickedness. - 70
New York Magazine (Vulture)
Cooper's performance is outlandishly great, but Phillippe’s knocks Breach down a peg. - 70
Variety
Just as somber as "The Good Shepherd," the most recent domestic spy drama, but more tightly focused, Breach absorbingly zeroes in on how the FBI nailed the most damaging turncoat in American history.
