BREACH - HD DVD review

On February 18, 2001 Federal Bureau of Investigations agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested for espionage. Described as the "worst spy in American history," Hanssen provided a tremendous wealth of confidential material to the Russian intelligence community. Some of this information resulted in deaths of American agents or spies imbedded in the Russian government and intelligence community. Hanssen was investigated by a young FBI operative, Eric O'Neill. Hanssen's traitorous activities have been considered one of the worst betrayals in American history and the man who was once held in high regard by his coworkers and peers now resides in near constant solitary confinement for the crimes he had committed.

Nearly six years to the day that Hanssen was arrested, director Billy Ray's adaptation of the FBI case was released to American theaters on February 16, 2007. Based heavily on the actual events and having Eric O'Neill provide detailed information on the actual events, "Breach" is a good thriller that should finally open more doors in Hollywood for its star Chris Cooper. Cooper portrays Hanssen in the film and has earned numerous accolades for his performance and critic Richard Roeper stated on the television show "Ebert and Roeper" that Cooper deserved an Oscar nomination for his performance. Co-starring with Cooper in the film is Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney, Gary Cole and Dennis Haysbert. Phillippe and the other actors in the film are all fine actors, but "Breach" is definitely Cooper's film.

In the movie, Eric O'Neill (Phillippe) has been noticed by his FBI superiors for his surveillance work on counterterrorism and his eagerness to attain full agent status lands him a precarious position in posing as a secretary for Robert Hanssen (Cooper) and investigating supposed sexual deviant behavior. O'Neill quickly discovers that Hanssen is a deeply religious man that is loved by his grandchildren, highly professional and capable as an agent and as straight in his lifestyle as an arrow. When O'Neill confronts his handler, Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney), it is unveiled to O'Neill that Cooper does indeed take part in sexual deviancy, but is actually a major Russian spy and uses his position in counterintelligence to commit the "perfect crime" in delivering FBI secrets to the former Cold War adversary.

As the movie continues, O'Neill begins to respect Hanssen, but feels smothered by his domineering characteristics and unexpected visits to O'Neill's home. Hanssen attempts to bring O'Neill's wife Juliana (Caroline Dhavernas) into religion and Hanssen's deep faith allows O'Neill a method of providing subterfuge and distraction to Hanssen's suspicions towards O'Neill. Eventually, a game of cat and mouse occurs between Hanssen and those that are trying to bring him down for espionage. Hanssen is so good at what he does, that he can suspect electronic tracking devices in his car because of small fluctuations in radio performance. O'Neill and Burroughs need Hanssen to provide one more ‘drop' to his Russian handlers to bring him down, but with Hanssen's suspicions, it becomes a huge task for O'Neill to keep Hanssen in the game.

Billy Ray has written and directed a capable film that goes into the details of the Hanssen investigation. The filmmaker is aided by direct assistance from Eric O'Neill, but it is Chris Cooper's incredible performance as the eccentric Robert Hanssen that allows "Breach" to be such an incredible film. Cooper is an underappreciated actor and found some recognition for his performance in the 1999 film "American Beauty" and 2003's "Seabiscuit." The man is capable of such a genuine and believable performance in each and every film, that credit certainly must be given to those that cast this film for providing Cooper a rare leading role. Ray has nothing but praise for both Cooper and Phillippe; an actor who is also underappreciated in his young career.

"Breach" is not a film with action, gunfire and other typical elements of a spy thriller. Much of the film takes place in offices, churches and closed interior locations. The droll hallways of the FBI and dank office spaces provide much of the backdrop for the film, but a few nice scenes do occur along the banks of the Potomac River and utilize Washington D.C. as an effective backdrop, but "Breach" is a film that relies on its story and acting to entertain. There is hardly any moments in the film where the camera is not focused on one of the two men and their collective talents keep the audience interested in the eventual outcome between master and apprentice. "Breach" would have been a decent film without Chris Cooper. However, with Cooper in the movie, "Breach" is an above average film.

Video:
"Breach" is an HD-DVD/DVD Combo release from Universal Pictures. That studio had previously released many of its films as Combo releases and has since backtracked and even re-released a few former Combo release catalog titles as HD-DVD only titles. Only a few of the more recent releases are not given the dual format treatment and "Breach" is one of the rare new titles that has a DVD on one side and an HD-DVD on the other.

Detailed in 1080p resolution and with a 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio, "Breach" is a good looking film that is mastered with VC-1 compression. Released this year, "Breach" has the expected clean source materials that are without any noticeable blemishes and generally good coloring and detail. The style of the film uses slightly desaturated colors to give a cold visual appeal during interior scenes, but allows the color spectrum to open up during outdoor and church sequences where the film's splendid colors are allowed to impress. Detail level is quite good, with a few scenes that are ever so slightly on the weak side, but always better than the level of detail provided on the flip side of the disc. Black levels are incredibly good and shadow detail provides a near three dimensional appeal. I did notice a few moments of edge enhancement and this was most apparent during the first ‘church visit' by the two characters.

Sound:
With almost all of the film's focus placed solely on the two principal actors, "Breach" is a film that relies almost entirely on dialogue. The dialogue is very good and every spoken word of Cooper and Phillippe's solid performances are delivered perfectly by the title's Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. The rear surround channels and the .1 LFE bass channels are used throughout the film, but rarely and only when an opportunity exists for a little environmental sound. Mychael Danna's musical score quietly plays in the background and provides a little sense of emotional support throughout the film for the various scenes throughout the film. Technically speaking, "Breach" is a competent film. However, the sound design for this dialogue based picture just doesn't provide a lot of room for the 5.1 channel mix to be impressive. It is clean, easily understandable and detailed. The unfortunate thing is that there just isn't a lot going on with the soundtrack.

Extras:
In addition to having the DVD version glued to the reverse side of the platter, Universal has given "Breach" a commendable release on the HD-DVD format. Featuring the studio's U-Control experience, "Breach" contains the Picture-in-Picture elements provided by U-Control. In "Breach," many of video segments are also duplicated in the Feature Commentary with writer/director Billy Ray and former FBI operative Eric O'Neill, but the U-Control experience provides numerous pop-up videos and interesting background information on the actual events and how honest the filmed adaptation is to the original source materials. The commentary itself is very good and I enjoyed the cooperative banter by the two men. There were time when Ray and O'Neill provided running commentary, but there was a wealth of information on the making of the picture and real life facts.

Joining the two ‘running' supplements are a couple lesser offerings that are still worth sitting through once. Eight Deleted Scenes (12:20) contain optional commentary by Ray and Editor Jeffrey Ford. Many scenes are additional moments between the film's two characters, but Gary Cole and others appear in these nice scenes that could easily have been reintroduced into "Breach." The cuts were made for length and timing, but each scene is worth a gander. Two Alternate Scenes (5:49) feature the same optional commentary. These are longer scenes of moments left in the film.

Three featurettes complete the value added content. Breaching the Truth (10:52) is a typical EPK styled production that contains behind-the-scenes footage, along with interviews with Billy Ray, Eric O'Neill and others involved in the production. Although it is very commercial in feeling, it isn't a bad vignette. Anatomy of a Character Brought to You by Volkswagen (6:49) is the first time I can remember a carmaker's name appearing as product placement in a supplemental material title. This feature continues the vibes of the first feature and finds Billy Ray talking about his actors and also Chris Cooper describing his experience on the film. Finally, The Mole (19:19), a Dateline presentation from March 5, 2001 details the actual historical news reporting on Robert Hanssen. This was the best featurette of the three, but I would have liked a longer and more in-depth feature detailing the actual events.

Closing Comments:
I enjoyed Billy Ray's film "The Breach." The film is a mature and entertaining spy thriller that is story and character driven and benefits from the involvement of the FBI agent featured in the film and the actor playing the other main character in the film, Chris Cooper. Cooper is in full control of his character in this film and the near equally talented Ryan Phillippe benefits from working with the man he portrays. The HD-DVD release contains a good looking visual presentation and a technically proficient Dolby Digital soundtrack. There is a decent amount of bonus materials and the two ‘running' features that are played during the viewing of the film are easily the best supplemental offerings. A good film and a good disc, "The Breach" is not a bad way to spend one's evening.