Today, El Perro Fumando and I got out to see the movie, after failing to get tickets for a sold out matinee show yesterday (her rationale: old people like to see Sunday matinees and Breach was the best movie for a Sunday matinee this week).
All in all, I’d say we both enjoyed the movie. It certainly does not deserve the tag of “spy thriller” that the studio and critics are trying to attach to it. It’s more a character study of somebody who happens to be a spy. Very little thrill involved. Despite that, I never felt bored during the film, even during the inevitable (and usually interminable) middle-of-the-movie-a-character-questions-himself scenes.
Chris Cooper was, as usual, excellent in inhabiting a role. Laura Linney was more than capable, and most of the supporting cast was solid. Unfortunately, Ryan Phillippe just doesn’t have much depth; when a key characteristic of his portrayal has to be the ability to out-lie a man who has dealt in lies for a quarter century, you need an actor who won’t be so wooden in his delivery, so high school drama clubby in his “anger” scenes. Though, for the most part, Phillippe’s inability was understated enough to not be too much of a distraction.
Speaking as somebody who has occasional need to visit FBI Headquarters, I’ll say that, by and large, the film showed great care in presenting the building, the agency, really that entire area of DC, pretty accurately*. The corridors looked like the real Hoover Building corridors, down to the style of the room number signs. Characters get to the building from the Archives or Federal Triangle Metro stations, as any sane person would in real life (though Metro Center would also be acceptable). The film acknowledges DC traffic tendencies, for Og’s sake. This is completely unlike most other movies set in a city like DC, where there will be a meeting at National Archives on 7th and Penn, and moments later, a reflection scene at the Lincoln Memorial, a mile and a half away, or easily accessible street parking outside of downtown, pedestrian only metro stations (in both cases, I’m looking at you, National Treasure).
The story definitely has a significant amount of speculation attached to it, which is unsurprising since much of the information pertinent to Hanssen’s espionage is, by the movie’s own admission, still classified. Thankfully, the story that is presented is well researched, and an entirely believable version of Hanssen’s capture. Overall, a very solid movie worth a watch.
*Through the movie, we see characters at the Archives and Federal Triangle stations. But at one point, inexplicably, at the Federal Triangle station, with a mock-up Archives sign prominently shown at ground level. Totally threw me out of the movie for a minute.
