Breach: on DVD and HD-DVD

Thanks to Blockbuster Video (who I don't seem to have the problems with that some other Joe Users reported they were having) I was able to watch a rental of the HD-DVD version of Breach tonite.

By the way, the HD-DVD rental disc is a combo disc, containing both the HD-DVD version and the standard DVD version if that is important to anyone. Typically that knowledge would be important for people thinking of purchasing the movie on HD-DVD, not so much people that are renting as they should have the proper format to begin with, but then again if you rented the movie, accidentally got HD-DVD when you don't have an HD-DVD player, at least with this disc you'd still be able to watch the movie on DVD.

Anyay, the movie is based on the true story of the arrest of Robert Hanssen, played by previous Academy Award winning actor Chris Cooper, as told through the eyes of the person that helped bring him down, FBI employee and want to be agent Eric O'Neill, played by actor Ryan Phillippe.  It features a strong supporting cast, including Laura Linney, Dennis Haysbert, Gary Cole and others (apologies to those others, as I'm not trying to minimize their contributions to the film, but most of the rest of the cast were in smaller, less noticable roles to me).

Robert Hanssen was one of the worst, if not the worst, spies against the United States in the history of the nation, even though he was an FBI agent assigned to the FBI counterintelligence unit and charged with spying against the Soviet Union.  He used knowledge obtained through his work to gain access to secrets that were sold back to the Soviet Union, clearly leading to the death of at least 3 known individuals, and potentially immeasurable damage to the U.S. intelligence community.

The movie does a great job of showing Hanssen in the months leading up to his arrest when he was caught red handed by the FBI.  Hanssen is now finishing his days in a federal jail, thanks to the efforts of the people that are depicted in the movie.

Cooper's performance was quite good, and I can easily see why there was talk of awards for his portrayal of Hanssen.  Phillippe does a good job in the role of O'Neill leaving you feeling the tension that the real Eric O'Neill must have felt as he was helping to close the net on Hanssen.

If you haven't seen the film, grab it as a rental on DVD or HD-DVD and enjoy it.  It's tense, appropriately paced, and somewhat educational.  Well worth a rental and viewing.