Breach

[swerb]

Finally finished watching this one last night. A pretty decent film, and well worth the rental. It's the story of Robert Hannsen, the FBI agent that had been spying for the Russians for 20-some years. He was finally apprehended during a drop in 2001. It's the biggest known breach of American intelligence in this country's history.

I rented the film for a couple reasons. One, I wanted to learn a little more about what exactly happened with Hannsen and how that all went down. I remember reading about it at the time, but never really knew the full story. Two, it was pretty well reviewed. I think it's got a 7.4 out of 10.0 rating on IMDB. Three, Chris Cooper and Laura Linney are two of my favorites.

Cooper is predictably awesome as Hannsen, who was one of those guys that was super right wing, church every day, hyper conservative publically ... and then was watching porn and selling out his country privately. A pretty intense guy. Chris Cooper is a really good actor. He was casted perfectly as Hannsen.

Laura Linney plays a gal at the FBI that helps spearhead the Hannsen investigation. She coaches a kid who they assign to Hannsen as a clerk (to spy on him), played by Ryan Phillippe. Phillippe was really the movies only downfall IMO. And the role is crucial because the film is told through his perspective. He had to have been about their 10th choice for that role. Put Damon, DiCaprio, Ed Norton, or Eric Bana in that role ... and this movie is one of the better ones of the year. Phillippe wasn't god awful, but he brought down the film a little.