Genre: Crime / Drama / Suspense
- Release Date: February 16, 2007
- Running Time: 1 hr. 50 min.
- Director: Billy Ray
- Writer: Billy Ray, Adam Mazer, William Rotko
- Distributors: Universal Pictures Distribution
Download Breach DivX ($2.99), iPod / iPhone ($1.99)
Breach is a drama about an FBI agent (Ryan Philippe) that is assigned to watch a suspected spy within the Bureau (Chris Cooper). The man he is assigned to watch is a sexual pervert, which, in the eyes of the FBI, means he makes dirty movies of himself and ships them off to his buddies. He is also a devout Catholic… why that’s important is beyond me, but the movie spends much of its time focusing on this aspect of Cooper’s character.
The director, Billy Ray, spends a lot of time focusing on stuff that isn’t important… like the aforementioned Catholic business. Sure it’s Philippe’s “in” to getting close to Cooper’s character, but really it serves no purpose than to alienate the audience, unless you’re into religion… then you won’t be alienated until the end of the film. Ray was probably trying to show the hypocrisy of Cooper’s character, but man was that crap boring. Visually, Ray’s portrayal of the Breach world is austere and unmoving. I felt like I was trapped in an old ladies untouchable living room for the duration of the movie. The film is so blank and precise about everything that it does, that it is hard to not find your mind wandering… to things like, ‘What’s up with this director’s name? I wonder if he has a mullet. Is he more like Billy Ray Cyrus or Jimmy Ray… does he constantly ask people, “Who want to know?”
The acting in the film is superb. All of the actors perform admirably. Hell, I even took Philippe off of my “ruins a movie” list because he did so well. Chris Cooper is the star of the film, by a longshot. Cooper’s performance as a gruff, ball busting bastard is awesome. I laughed a few times as he tore down Philippe’s character in unapologetic glory. Cooper turns in one of the most bastardly performances I’ve ever seen… he would put your local public bus driver to shame.
Despite the great acting, the film does have thematic issues. The rampant pro-American theme that runs throughout the movie is sickening… not because it’s bad to be proud of your country, but because the characters are so accepting and brainwashed. They never question anything and are automaton slaves to duty. I could see a group of robots playing out this plot and nothing would be different, except that the film might look a little cooler.
Billy Ray misses a great opportunity to make the film interesting. Cooper’s character is supposed to be a sexual deviant and other than one videotape that we see for a brief second, there is never really anything that goes along with it. What does this guy do? Does he wipe his fingers on his taint and give people a taintstache? Does he shoot his load inside a Boston cream donut and give to people at the FBI building? Give me some details! As far as I can tell, Cooper’s character is labeled deviant because he makes videotapes of him and his dried up prune wife playing sausage factory. If that shit’s deviant, then what’s normal?
The film plays like a Republican’s wet dream. Cooper’s character spouts rightwing, vitriolic comments at every opportunity that he can get. I’m not sure if I was supposed to laugh at the comments or if they were intended to make me dislike the character.
In the end, this movie is a paradox. Thematically it has too much going on it to be a solid film. Technically, the film has far too little going on it to maintain my interest. I did fall asleep once trying to watch the film and the second time wasn’t any better. The film suffers from bad pacing and is comparable to getting a handjob while submerged in wet cement… it just doesn’t go that fast.
Final Synopsis: A slow movie that has nothing going for it except an old-school, ball-busting character. If you are a right wing, mindless America lover, you can get your jollies on this film… if you aren’t one, you’ll probably find yourself more annoyed than anything else… besides sleepy.
Download Breach DivX ($2.99), iPod / iPhone ($1.99)