Behind all the patriotism and the allure of secret agents, “Breach” is a monster film that spends most of its time making us care about the monster.

It’s also what “The Good Shepherd” meant to be, a tense spy thriller built around a man losing his soul to the spy game – this time fueled by the suspense and the performances that were tragically lacking from last year’s Robert De Niro-directed disaster.

While “Shepherd” was about the erection of the CIA – not to mention a half-dozen other subplots that never quite gelled – “Breach” finds that intelligence community at the top of its game, poisoned by the spy within. Based around the true-life story of the infamous FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who was revealed to be one of the most successful spies in American history, what’s refreshing about “Breach” is its preference in creating not a story of procedural surveillance but perplexing humanity.

In this way, it’s almost the antithesis to “The Good Shepherd,” which preferred to see men as spies, and reduced conversations to codespeak. In Breach, we spend a good portion of the film wondering how in the world Hanssen, a man committed to church, family and the Bureau, could possibly betray any of them, and director Billy Ray (“Shattered Glass”) breaks down the mystique of the spy world with constant reminders that behind every covert agent is a man just like every other.

It works because we see this world through the eyes of young FBI agent Eric O’Neill (Ryan Phillipe), who one day is pulled in front of Agent Burroughs (Laura Linney) and told that he will be reassigned to work alongside Hanssen (Chris Cooper), who has been exhibiting bizarre sexual behavior. The agency wants the dirt on him and wants O’Neill to do the digging, but as he sets up shop outside Hanssen’s office as his assistant, O’Neill senses something is wrong.

As far as Hanssen’s concerned, he’s been reassigned to oversee a revamping of the FBI’s data security measures. He jumps into the job headfirst and O’Neill, as he works to sense any hint of abnormal behavior, becomes increasingly frustrated with his post – seeing nothing but a hard-working, God-fearing senior agent, trying to do one last thing for his country before mandatory retirement.

It’s when O’Neill is brought into the loop that he realizes the depths of the damage done by his boss. As a team of agents in back rooms pour over every aspect of Hanssen’s life, from his sexual habits to every swipe of his access card, O’Neill’s outlook changes. He comes to see Hanssen as a mark – a target – and starts a stealthy game of psychological warfare in the professional hopes of getting him to make his next drop to the Russians and in the personal hopes of finally understanding what has led this man to betray everything he seems to cherish.

While “Breach” is fascinating as a spy story, it’s gripping as a psychological drama. Much as Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson squared off in “A Few Good Men,” here the fierce but inexperienced Phillipe tries to match wits, and spy smarts, with the methodical, brilliant Cooper. When a bottle of alcohol makes a final, harrowing confrontation possible, it’s stunning how much drama “Breach” is able to evoke with only a few, angry words.

This not a movie about secrets stolen, so much as a soul lost.

by: Steven Snyder steven@zertinet.com, Published 2007-02-18