Cooper more than meets the FBI

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Federal agent-turned-traitor Robert Hanssen should make a fine on-screen punching bag. He's religiously rigid, sexually hypocritical, and, of course, he spent years handing off this country's deepest secrets to the Russians.

As played by Oscar winner Chris Cooper, Hanssen is all of the above, yet so much more.

It's why "Breach," which recounts Hanssen's last days of freedom, makes for such a rewarding docudrama.

Mr. Cooper doesn't look a lick like the real Hanssen, but he disappears inside the role until we forget the infamous portrait that accompanied the spy's arrest.

The actor's take on Hanssen is villainous, to be sure, but his Hanssen is also whip smart and fused to his own murky ideology.

It's a role tailor-made for Mr. Cooper, and we wouldn't be shocked to see his name come up during the fall Oscar campaign.

The film itself isn't too shabby, either.

"Breach" follows a fledgling FBI agent named Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe, working wonders within his acting range) assigned to follow an agent (Mr. Cooper) suspected of using work computers for sexual purposes.

It's a mismatch from the start. Hanssen is prone to withering comments, and he wastes no time dressing down his new colleague.

But O'Neill is a fast learner, particularly after his superior (Laura Linney) tells him his true mission. Hanssen is selling government secrets, and it's O'Neill's job to force him into the open.