Wanna see President David Palmer (24) in the FBI? Well, ya can here! Dennis Haysbert does what he does best playing a powerful political figure in charge of all of our safety! Plus Phillippe and Linney! Oh my! An all-star cast I can finally get behind!

Breach
Directed By: Bill Ray
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Chris Cooper, Laura Linney, Dennis Haysbert, and Caroline Dhavernas
Releasing: Feb 13, 2007
Rating: PG-13
Running time: 110 min.
Official Movie Site: http://www.breachmovie.net/

Intelligence Agency thrillers are some of the most enjoyable types of movies, that is, in my opinion! And Breach does not let you down! The story arcs around actual events and people in the FBI just about 6-7 years ago. Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper) a renowned Special Agent in the Bureau has just been assigned to lead up a new division to safeguard and protect the Bureau’s intelligence. Eric O’Neill (Ryan Phillippe) has been assigned to Hanssen to act as his clerk by day and report on any and all of Hanssen’s activities by night.

O’Neill, having gained respect and trust for his boss doesn’t know why the Bureau is having him spy on such an honorable man. Confronting his contact, Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney) she finally tells him the truth and brings him in on the sting (along with her boss Dan Plesac played by Dennis Haysbert). Hanssen is a mole. He has been selling secrets to the Russians for years, and it is O’Neill’s inside work, if he can pull it off, that will help bring down the man responsible for the biggest security breach the country has known.

The film itself takes off gradually, following O’Neill through his low level job and his aspiration to become an agent. We get to see many sides of his character, the bureau side, the husband side (to his wife Juliana played by Caroline Dhavernas), and his religious and spiritual side. And Phillippe pulls it off without a hitch. He is perfect as O’Neill and never once releases you from the movie and back into reality.

Linney is quite the same, playing Agent Burroughs subtly yet with conviction. Although you never do see her with a gun, you believe that she is a part of the “gun culture” of the FBI through and through. And of course Haysbert, as always is a strong and powerful figure never faltering – wonderful!

As you get pulled deeper and deeper into the plot it’s suspense comes on gradually as well. But the suspense is definitely there! The filming style mixed very well with the subject matter and screenplay that my own blood pressure rose a number of times throughout the movie. And although it begins slowly, I never did once check my watch.

The only problem I had with the film was with the fact that I wasn’t familiar with the case before entering the theater. In college at the time, I didn’t follow the headlines – and the film assumes you have certain knowledge of the case at times. Not to a fault, but it is certainly there in the expectation. However, nothing is left without a sufficient explanation in the end.

It is a great suspense flick with enough entertainment and shock value that it is certainly worth the price of a movie ticket.

3.5 / 5

(Images courtesy of Universal Pictures)