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Category:    Home > Reviews > Thriller > Spy > Breach (HD-DVD Combo Format + DVD-Video)

Breach (HD-DVD Combo Format + DVD-Video)

 

Picture: B+/B-     Sound: B+/B-     Extras: B     Film: B

 

 

One of the best thrillers we have seen lately is Billy Ray’s Breach, a 2007 telling about how Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper) created the greatest military intelligence leak in FBI history and how a top inside operative (Laura Linney) recruits young novice agent Eric O’Neill (Ryan Phillippe) to help expose him.  Of course, it puts him in great danger as the situation to trap Hanssen becomes increasingly intense.

 

We already gave this film a rave in its theatrical release, as this link shows:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5046/Breach

 

 

I really liked the film and my fellow critic liked it even more than I did, but we are in very strong agreement that it is one of the best films of 2007 so far.  Cooper is still an underrated actor despite winning an Academy Award, while Linney continues to be one of the best actresses of her generation, always picking the most interesting material she can find.  But I want to single out the much-maligned Ryan Phillippe, who like any other guy trying to survive in Hollywood early on did coast on his look (or looks, either way) taking some silly films and high concept commercial work, including the silly Cruel Intentions, Ridley Scott’s mixed White Squall and 54, which really got the critics attacking him for not “being able to act”.

 

However, given solid material, he can excel as he already proved with Way Of The Gun, Crash and was not bad early on in a supporting role in Crimson Tide.  Like Heath Ledger, critics took playing a male bimbo for being one and are now backtracking in the face of good work.  If he keeps it up, Phillippe could have a big career, but he has to keep backing risk-taking, intelligent, mature material like this instead of just fluff.  That might not always equal hits, but he was never on the A-list for making money.  Fortunately, that might make him a box office star.

 

 

The 1080p VC-1 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image looks very good with little denaturing of the color and no annoying digital effects work, just a smooth presentation throughout as shot by Director of Photography Tak Fujimoto, A.S.C., who is best-known for Johnathan Demme’s The Silence Of The Lambs.  As with that film, he knows how to build suspense out of the seemingly simplest shots and this is a recent case study on how to shoot suspense.  The anamorphically enhanced DVD side and separate DVD-Video look good for their format, with the DVD flip side being very, very slightly more refined than the stand-alone DVD, though that is not enough to rate it higher.

 

The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 on the HD side is better than the standard Dolby 5.1 on either DVD side, but this is a well-recorded film mix and Mychael Danna’s score is better than one might first notice.  This is often dialogue-based and that comes through nicely, especially in the Plus mix.  Extras include a Dateline NBC installment on the case, solid feature length audio commentary by Ray and the real Eric O’Neill, Breaching The Truth featurette showing how the tale was made into this film, deleted/alternate scenes that are all interesting (running 18 minutes) and Anatomy Of A Character showing how Cooper worked to become Hanssen.  All around, a top grade HD-DVD and DVD release.

 

If you missed this film, it is must see thriller cinema for those who can handle the suspense!

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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