When young Eric O'Neill (Phillippe) is promoted out of his low-level surveillance job and into the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, his dream of becoming a full-fledged agent is on the verge of becoming reality. Even more impressive, O'Neill is hand picked to work for renowned operative Robert Hanssen (Cooper) within "information assurance," a new division created to protect all classified FBI Intelligence. But O'Neill is quickly confronted with the true reason behind his hire: Hanssen is the sole subject of a long-term, top-secret investigation, a suspected mole made all the more dangerous by the sheer global import of the information he is charged with protecting. The Bureau asks O'Neill to use Hanssen's growing trust and slowly draw the traitor out of deep cover. Engaged in a lethal game of spy-versus-spy without the benefit of a cover story or backup, O'Neill finds himself fighting to bring down Hanssen before the treacherous double-agent can destroy O'Neill, his family and the nation they are both sworn to serve.
I liked this movie a lot. Chris Cooper is probably the most underrated actor in all of Hollywood. I don't think that this guy has ever been bad in any role he has portrayed. The same can be said for Laura Linney who plays the FBI agent that is running the investigation case against Hansenn. The two of them even managed to make Ryan Phillipe look like an awesome actor. That's how well done and acted this movie was. The only slight knock that I would make against it is that the advertising made it seem like it would be more edge of your seat suspense, which there really wasn't any of that. It was more of a smart thriller and definitely kept you interested, but not in a surprise thriller kind of way.
Regardless, I would fully recommend everyone checking this movie out. It is by far one of the better movies in theaters right now.
