For 15 years Robert Hanssen sold his country's secrets to the Russians. Suspected by his own organisation for some time, it wasn't until the CIA stuck wannabe-agent Eric O'Neill on his case that the government gained the evidence needed to bring him down.

Opening with the real-life footage of Defence Secretary John Ashcroft announcing Hanssen's arrest, Breach is not about what Hanssen did, as much as how he was caught and who caught him.

So we're taken back to early 2000, at a time when Eric O'Neill is a CIA rookie looking to make it as an Agent. After proving his all round good-egg nature and exceptional agent skills to the audience, O'Neill is charged with the duty of working beside Hanssen, who's found himself in the depths of CIA HQ, wiling away his final days before retirement on cases of little import.

"I'm Kenneth Star, fumbling around looking for the blue dress," he announces.

Initially working under the assumption that he is to spy on Hanssen due to unsavoury internet use, O'Neill delves into the psyche of a man he struggles to understand, but soon finds himself respecting.

Thus, it isn't until O'Neill discovers the bigger picture that he realises the extent of his job; The entire case against America's biggest traitor rests on his actions.

"Can't trust a woman in a pants suit," declares Cooper's ageing agent. "Men wear the pants. The world doesn't need any more Hillary Clintons."

With a script like this in his hand, you needn't set the cameras rolling before sending half a dozen awards Chris Cooper's way. The veteran actor has been on the main stage for less than a decade, but has taken every opportunity to (occasionally over) act his co-stars off the screen.

Here he has found the perfect vehicle. For Breach, by today's standards, is a stripped down story void of over zealous plot twists. Instead, director Billy Ray has told the very true story of the USA's most prolific traitor in a straight forward manner, using locked off cameras and neutral colours, allowing his cast to do the hard work.

Phillipe more than holds his own on a stage featuring some heavy hitters. Aside from Cooper's powerhouse turn, Laura Linney plays the hard-nosed Agent leading the desperate effort to crack Hanssen. It's her lonely, solitary existence that shows the recently-married O'Neill what might lie ahead, should he too become consumed by his job.

Ultimately, it's any time Phillipe and Cooper are on screen together that the film hits top gear. Breach rarely treads new ground, but the set pieces are used so sparingly and with such focus on the central characters, the movie reaches a degree of tension you might not think possible, particularly given that the outcome was clear long before the credits rolled.

Rich Phippen