Breach

2007
PG-13
1h 50m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

63K

YOUR RATING

Ryan Phillippe and Chris Cooper in Breach (2007)

Clip: O'Neill confronts Hanssen in the woods

Play clip0:47

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Political Thriller Spy True Crime Biography Crime Drama History Thriller

FBI upstart Eric O'Neill enters into a power game with his boss, Robert Hanssen, an agent who was put on trial for selling secrets to the Soviet Union.FBI upstart Eric O'Neill enters into a power game with his boss, Robert Hanssen, an agent who was put on trial for selling secrets to the Soviet Union.FBI upstart Eric O'Neill enters into a power game with his boss, Robert Hanssen, an agent who was put on trial for selling secrets to the Soviet Union.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

63K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 3 nominations total

Trivia
In the hallway, we constantly see a poster with names and pictures of spies that have been caught, as well as short narratives of what their crimes were and how much time they're serving. These posters really exist in secure government facilities, and prominently displayed on all of them, since the events of this movie took place, is a photo of Robert Hanssen.

Goofs
Eric and Robert enter a church and Eric makes the sign of the cross incorrectly, touching his shoulders before his sternum. Since much of the plot involves Eric's and Robert's Catholicism, it would have been an error that would have made Robert suspicious.

Quotes
Eric O'Neill: What if he's smarter than I am?
Kate Burroughs: A couple of years ago, the bureau put together a task force. Lots of assets had been disappearing. So this task force was formed to find the mole who was giving them up. Our best analysts poring over data for years looking for the guy, and they could never quite find him. Guess who was put in charge of the task force? He was smarter than all of us. Actually, I can live with that part. It's the idea that my entire career has been a waste of time, that's the part I hate. Everything I've done since I got to this office, everything we've all been paid to do, he was undoing it. We all coulda just stayed home.

Connections
Featured in HBO First Look: Breach (2007)

Soundtracks
Near You
Written by Francis Craig, Kermit Goell
Performed by The Andrews Sisters
Courtesy of Geffen Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User reviews239

Review

Featured review

5/10

Not sure what it was trying to do

The performances were all just fine, the story had the potential to be intriguing, the characterizations ought to have been riveting.

Why then, was this movie so ho-hum? It felt like the director and writers didn't know what story they were trying to tell. Was it a character study of a traitor? No, we don't get much depth on Hanssen. Was it a taut thriller? No, there weren't thrills to speak of, and no real twists or turns. Was it an inside-the-FBI potboiler? No, we didn't learn much about the bureaucracy of intelligence.

At times, there were glimmers of each of these stories, but never any depth on any them. I felt like we skated along the surface of a story that would have been much more interesting viewed from underneath the ice.

I don't recommend spending the time on this, unless you really like looking at Ryan Phillipe. I do, and it still didn't elevate it.