Cooper helps Breach succeed as a slow-paced thriller

In 2001, FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Hanssen was arrested for spying on his country for the Russians, capping off a career of espionage that many have called the worst act of treason in American history. According to CNN, Hanssen sold about 6,000 pages and 27 diskettes of high-priority information over 15 years, and the amount of damage he caused to the government is still not confirmed.

Six years later, this first real black mark on America in the 21st century is up on the silver screen in the form of Breach, directed by Billy Ray.

The problem with turning recent history into a major motion picture is that you have to count on the fact that the audience already knows what's going to happen. Ray wisely avoids the pitfall of creating false tension, even going so far as to open the film with actual press conference footage announcing Hanssen's crimes and arrest.

What results is a quite respectable thriller that gets the audience involved the hard way: no ticking bombs, no pointed guns (well, one pointed gun, but you get the picture) and no damsel in distress. Instead, Ray gives us strong characters with secret agendas and quick wits, reminding us that a spy thriller doesn't need to be dressed up in a tuxedo and handed a shaken-not-stirred martini to be interesting.

Chris Cooper plays the deeply religious, highly paranoid Hanssen. Having worked intelligence for the FBI his entire career, he is a master of details and tests everybody for their trustworthiness. So, naturally, he is a little suspicious when he is transferred and given clerk Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe) to boss around. And suspicious he should be: Phillippe has been assigned to "ride the desk" of Cooper, who is suspected of being a sexual deviant. Soon, however, Phillippe's real boss (Laura Linney) reveals that the sex scandal watch is just a cover for the FBI's real investigation into Cooper's dealings with the Russians. Phillippe then has to reconcile his professional respect for Cooper with his duty to his country; all while telling bold-faced lies to a man that is essentially a human polygraph machine.

Cooper's character drives most of the suspense. He's held up in the beginning as kind of a professional and spiritual role model, but his flaws in both areas make him more complicated than Phillippe originally had thought. Actual statements written by Hanssen to other agents are used in voiceover, adding a political message that seems all the more relevant since it came from a time before the war on terror began. "The U.S. can be errantly likened to a powerfully built but retarded child, potentially dangerous, but young, immature and easily manipulated," is something Hanssen is known to have written, and is also a line used in the film.

Cooper's strange mix of duty and betrayal leaves some doors open in the end, and his motives are never fully explained. Phillippe also leaves a little bit to be desired and does not develop much beyond his relationship with his wife (Caroline Dhaverhnas), which becomes more strained as Phillippe gets deeper into the case. Phillippe also has a strange aversion to guns that is never fully explained, and a short sequence with Bruce Davison as Phillippe's father only makes things a little muddier.

The film is not meant to be a character study, but a story about two gifted agents playing a game of cat and mouse until someone gets caught.

Ray's direction is low on flair, but he throws in enough twists to keep things interesting. The last few shots cap off the film well, summarizing Ray's subtle yet jarring style. He makes a good thriller that's worth a watch, which is a hard thing to do when everyone in the country knows how your movie is going to end.