In theaters.
This film stars Chris Cooper as Robert Hanssen, an important FBI official that is spying for the Russians, and Ryan Philippe as Mike O'Neill, the FBI agent in training that is given the job of catching Hanssen 'in the act' of treason. Based on the true story of Robert Hanssen, who was brought to justice in early 2001, this film shows the investigation and throws in some halfway interesting subplots for good measure.
Overall, the film is predictable and not especially interesting, unless you have never seen a spy movie before. Chris Cooper's portrayal of Hanssen was the best part about the movie, along with Laura Linney's performance as O'Neill's superior. Philippe was not good. His part was terribly written, although that is no excuse for the woodenness...his attempts at conveying the intense emotions that must have been felt by O'Neill were invisible. His relationship with his young wife, Julianna, is the most annoying part of the movie. Almost as annoying as the Adrian Grenier/Anne Hathaway relationship in Devil Wears Prada (yeah, I saw it, screw you...D+), but not quite. Julianna is supposed to be 'East German', but her accent makes her sound like she is deaf, not German (It sounded like Marlee Matlin as Eva Braun).
2 comments:
a B for me. although I agree with much of your assessment, the fact that it was a true story really sucked me in and kept me interested. it's a mistake to get your history from movies, but if everything they said about this guy is true, it's startling and amazing. yes, the husband/wife relationship is annoying and, yes, you nailed it with the deaf-east-german accent remark (i seriously kept trying to figure out if there was a mentally-challenged aspect to the story i hadn't picked up on). still, cooper was very good and it was good to see linney in a different type of movie. at first i thought it was going to be another "all catholics are hippocrites and closet pervs" movie, but i thought they ultimately handled that issue with a little more integrity. i mean, if the dude really was an imago dei guy, you can't really deny that or get around it. more to the point, i thought philippe was pretty good. i used to hate that guy, but i've been a closet fan since the way of the gun (b+, although it's been five years since i saw it, so i wouldn't swear to it).
The actress who played his wife is French Canadian, a far cry from East Germany. Philippe is not strong or likable enough to stand up the superb intense performance by Chris Cooper. Cooper carried it all the way to B+ for me. I also loved the cinematography, especially the use of the color blue throughout the film.
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