Synopsis:

Based on the true story of Robert Hanssen, a FBI agent turned traitor who sold information for over two decades before finally being caught in 2001. The film opens with real news footage of John Ashcroft announcing Hanssen’s arrest, and then goes back to two months earlier, when a young FBI employee (Eric O’Neill) hoping to make agent is first assigned to him. Initially O’Neill is told that Hanssen is merely a sexual deviant, and O’Neill initially finds himself respecting Hanssen, until he is “read in” to the case and realizes the true situation…

The Facts:

Length: 1 hour and 50 minutes
Released: 2007
Main Actors: Chris Cooper (Robert Hanssen), Ryan Phillippe (Eric O’Neill),
Laura Linney, Dennis Haysbert
Director: Billy Ray (also directed Shattered Glass)

My Thoughts:

I was on an airplane when I saw this and reading the description, hearing the reviews, I wasn’t too thrilled about it. To me it seemed like a very simple and straight-forward plot – too straightforward – Hanssen is a spy/ bad guy, O’Neill is the young, brash good guy, good guy gets bad guy, roll credits.

But, I was stuck on a plane, I was getting tired of reading, I thought I’d give it a chance…. And was very pleasantly surprised.

The acting and directing is consistently strong throughout. Chris Cooper does a convincing job of a sometimes admirable, sometimes creepily devoted, often just a little too on-edge portrayal of Hanssen. Phillippe continues to take on the non-solely-pretty-boy roles and does this one justice, while both Linney and Haysbert (though in limited capacities) are welcome in their smaller roles.

Though you know the final outcome, you can’t help being carried along. Phillippe’s character undergoes the most obvious transitions – he starts as an ambitious, almost brash young man newly married and trying to make agent and we see him through various challenges: his initial reluctance to take on what he believes to be a low-profile case, his gradual admiration of Hanssen (before learning the truth), and eventually, once he is “read into” the case, the constant lies he must employ to trick both Hanssen and his young wife. Cooper’s transitions are more subtle – he is portrayed initially as an almost fanatically devout Christian, devoted husband, father, grandfather whose FBI career has stalled merely because he is too prone towards telling the truth, too adverse towards playing the political games. Gradually, we are shown his darker sides, first through his sexual diversions and later we watch as he struggles to prove his worth to himself: to convince himself, even though he feels certain he is being spied upon, has been discovered, to make that final traitorous information drop.

This movie is dark, suspenseful (well, as suspenseful as a plot can be when you already know the outcome), well-directed and well-acted. There are times when you might wish you knew more about Hanssen’s reasons for becoming a spy (though they are alluded to in various ways several times), or that we delved deeper into some of the side tensions, but taken as a whole, this is a very well-done drama, with excellent performances and probably one of the best movies I've seen in 2007...


Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: Serious Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Pacing