Breach (Widescreen Edition)

Breach (Widescreen Edition)
by Billy Ray

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DVD details

Actor: Chris Cooper, Dennis Haysbert, Gary Cole, Laura Linney, Ryan Phillippe
Director: Billy Ray
Brand: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.
Cinematographer: Tak Fujimoto
Composer: Mychael Danna
Editor: Jeffrey Ford
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Original Language); French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 110 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-06-12
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios

DVD Reviews of Breach (Widescreen Edition)

DVD Review: Great Movie
Summary: 5 Stars

I loved this movie. It portrays the two month period before Hansen was arrested. Hansen had been promoted to a meaningless position and assigned a "clerk" who was given the task of spying on Hansen so the FBI could get information on Hansen and hopefully catch him in the act of spying. Because a trial might be necessary, the details of this two month period and the clerk's role were "classified." Consequently, the writers of the books on Hansen and the creators of the other movie on this subject (Master Spy)were not aware of the details of this critical period of time or the role played by the clerk. As the movie's commentary makes clear, the movie is pretty accurate, with a few exceptions (Hansen and his wife visiting the clerk and his wife unannounced; Hansen loosing it and firing his gun in the woods). The commentary (with the director and the actual FBI clerk) is well worth watching even though the director goes "on and on" praising his actors. All of the acting in this movie is outstanding and Chris Cooper should get an Academy Award. This is one of my favorite movies.

DVD Review: Caught with a red hand
Summary: 3 Stars

Although the acting is pretty first rate here, the story is dreadful.
The script writer is to blame.
It is like they waited until the last moments of the story and, then, blew them up minute by minute.
He spied for 22 years and they have about a month in this story.
Moles in the security agencies are the worst fear,
and they put this one in charge of finding himself...
There has been a long history of the CIA and FBI being the worst ever at preventing leaks.
The Russian A bomb came from such a leak.

DVD Review: The life of another liar
Summary: 5 Stars

Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe), a young FBI employee who is desperate to become an agent, is assigned to spy on Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper), a top FBI agent, family man and devout Catholic, who also happens to have been selling government secrets to the Russians for the past 16 years.

"Breach" is writer/director Billy Ray's second film as director and touches on many of the same themes as his first film, "Shattered Glass" (about fabulist Stephen Glass). Both films are based on the true stories of men whose whole lives were based on falsehoods and both films deal with the downfall and resulting implications of their demise for these men and those around them. Being a huge fan of "Shattered Glass", it came as no surprise to me that I also liked "Breach". In a way, the strong similarities between "Shattered Glass" and "Breach" detracted from "Breach", since I would have liked to see Billy Ray extend himself more. Nevertheless, "Breach" is still a great film.

Although Robert Hanssen was a traitor to his country, instead of portraying him as a man who is purely evil, he is portrayed as a weak man who still has some good features. That is, he is portrayed as a human being, albeit a flawed one, rather than a cardboard cut-out villain. Chris Cooper gives an excellent performance in this role. This isn't the first film I've seen him in (in fact, it's the seventh), but it's the first time that I've really taken any notice of him.

The script of this film is also great, if a little bit by-the-book (its structure follows that given in screenwriting texts to the letter, not that that's a bad thing). When you think about it, a film about one man spying on his boss has the potential to be completely boring. Yet, Ray turns this into a well-written, well-paced thriller with plenty of moments of genuine tension. Several of the scenes in the film seem far too cinematic to be true, which makes me wonder how close this film kept to the fact. Nevertheless, even if this film turns out to be 95% fiction, that doesn't take away from the fact that this is a highly enjoyable movie that will make you think.

DVD Review: spy game
Summary: 4 Stars

BREACH is thrilling even if you know the outcome. Actually knowing the outcome makes it at times more tense and interesting. Waiting for the inevitable can have more an effect than not knowing what's coming. Basically this is one of those rare true life stories that is as weird, if not weirder than Hollywood could make up. FBI agent Robert Hanseen sold government secrets to the Russians for 20 years, making him the biggest traitor in all of U.S. history. Chris Cooper is one of the finest actors working today. Of Robert Hanseen Cooper says he is the most contradicted character he has ever played. After seeing the film you can understand where Cooper is coming from. You might feel Hanseen is the most contradicted person you ever heard of. Robert Hanseen was an ultra-conservative and like many conservative types seemed to be talking out one side of his head while going off and acting in ways that, well, don't quite fit with his professed belief system. To say the least. The DVD includes some useful bonus material. Recommended to the general public, highly recommended to serious film fans and required viewing for fans of spy thrillers.

DVD Review: "Breach"
Summary: 5 Stars

This movie was not as action-packed as I had thought it would be. I enjoyed the story, but to be quite honest, it came to a close rather abruptly. However, the acting was great!

Description of Breach (Widescreen Edition)

Inspired by true events Breach is a gripping and intense thriller that takes you deep inside the halls of the FBI for a top-secret investigation to uncover the greatest breach in the history of US intelligence. Featuring powerful performances by Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillippe nothing is as it seems in this suspenseful action packed film that will keep you riveted until the climactic ending.Runtime: 111 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre:?ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating:?PG - 13 UPC:?025193227621 Manufacturer No:?61032276

Is a mystery really mysterious when the end isn't a secret? Is espionage still thrilling when you know beforehand that the cloak has been pulled back and the dagger revealed? If it's a film as good as Breach, the answer is a resounding yes. Here is a true story that's genuinely stranger than fiction: FBI agent Robert Hanssen spent over 20 years selling government secrets to the Russians, making him the most egregious traitor in U.S. history. He was an Opus Dei Catholic and a devout churchgoer who was also a sexual deviant, a straitlaced company man so trusted by his employers that they once appointed him to lead an investigation designed to reveal who the spy was--when in fact it was Hanssen himself. And in the end, he was brought down in part by 26-year-old Eric O'Neill, an agent-in-training who worked with him for just two months. Chris Cooper, a 2003 supporting actor Oscar winner for Adaptation, is brilliant in the lead role, playing Hanssen as a dour, cold, ultraconservative cipher (women in pantsuits are just one of his peeves) whose conversations more closely resemble interrogations. Ryan Phillippe is also excellent as O'Neill, who's initially kept in the dark by the superior (Laura Linney) who assigned him to help expose Hanssen's treachery; thinking he's been brought in only to gather evidence about his boss' sexual transgressions, O'Neill finds himself caught in a profound moral conundrum, grudgingly admiring Hanssen even as his own marriage is severely tested by the older man's creepy and hypocritical intrusion into their lives, not to mention the FBI's strict rules against discussing the case.

Director Billy Ray (whose previous feature was also a true story: Shattered Glass, about the young writer who fabricated stories for The New Republic) and co-screenwriters Adam Mazer and William Rotko do an extraordinary job of maintaining the tension as the story leads to the conclusion that's been revealed in the first few frames (i.e., Hanssen's arrest in February 2001); the exquisite torture of O'Neill's having to keep Hanssen distracted while Bureau technicians search the latter's car is but one example. Moreover, notwithstanding the plot developments, the filmmakers manage to keep their focus on the personal interactions that are the film's key element: the relationships that O'Neill maintains with Hanssen, his father (a cameo by Bruce Davison), his wife (Caroline Dhavernas), and others are entirely credible. At once fascinating and horrifying, Breach is inarguably one of the best films of 2007. --Sam Graham

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