Breach

Ryan Phillippe and Chris Cooper in Breach

You wait ages for an intelligent, slow-burning thriller and then three come a long at once. Well if not at once at least fairly close together. First Robert De Niro gave us his take on the early history of the CIA in The Good Shepherd and then David Fincher turned his hand at a film adaptation on Robert Graysmith's books on a real life serial killer in Zodiac. Now comes the turn of Billy Ray, in his second film as director, with Breach, a film also based on true events - this time the greatest security breach in US history.

Breach is comparable to those films in a number of ways: it unravels slowly, is impeccably directed and most of all superbly acted. Chris Cooper, gets a rare but thoroughly deserved starring role as Robert Hanssen, the agen tresponsible for the security breach. Cooper won a supporting Oscar for Adaptation., and in any other year probably would have won another for American Beauty, although 1999 was such an amazing year for films that he couldn't even filnd his way onto the shortlist. In Breach Cooper pulls of a tricky role with aplomb. Hanssen, is a conflict of personalities: menacing, aloof and unsettling but also sympathetic and thoughtful. That is surely not an easy feat to pull off. It's probably a little early to be talking of Oscar nominations but it would certainly make the ballot if it took place today.

Cooper is joined by Ryan Phillippe and Laura Linney. Phillippe is not someone I've cared for in theb past, being responsble for such crimes as Cruel Intentions (which my friend Dave bizarrly likes and wants me to review, but I refuse to watch it again and I'm fairly sure he only liked it for Sarah Michelle Gellar), and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Despite a shakey start in the film industry Phillippe has grown in stature and is actually someone I enjoy on sreen. His performance in the Oscar winning Crash was impressive and he gives his best effort yet in Breach, as the computer specialist entrusted with the task of bringing Hanssen down.

Like Zodiac, I left the theatre wanting to know more about the case and that's credit to the writers Adam Mazer, William Rotko and Billy Ray, who have fashioned a taut and absorbing thriller. Linney is as good as ever in an undemanding role, although she's the sort of actress who lends a gravitas to even the simplest of parts, and Dennis Haysbert and Gary Cole pop up in smaller roles. However this film belongs to Cooper, who utterly convinces as the disgraced agent, and who may well be in demand during the awards season.

B+