I couldn't help but feel frustrated by this movie. There were so many things the characters did that were hard to believe. Ryan Phillippe does a couple of really stupid things (the briefcase, the videotape) that you don't have to be in the FBI to know not to do. And then he goes a-snoopin' on a computer on which he shouldn't--any PC owner knows that every click of the mouse can be traced. And this guy is posing as a computer tech?
And why is Laura Linney paging him all the time when she knows he is with Chris Cooper and can't talk? If anything, it would raise Cooper's suspicions.
Of course, all these things are done to raise the tension. But then they felt so contrived, as did the other two big episodes where monkey wrenches are thrown into the FBI's works (the photographer, the car inspection) just to put the hero in harm's way.
And I just couldn't accept Linney in this role. She's good, but it's hard for me to picture a young, beautiful blonde in the role of an FBI head. And FBI agents' wives are supposed to know going in that there are some things their husbands can't tell them, so Caroline Dhavernas' dis-ease about his actions was also hard to accept.
I really liked Chris Cooper a lot. Overall, I think the movie is well done. But it's hard writing a story about something where everyone knows what happens in the end before the movie begins. A lot of the action here just seemed so formulaic, and left me ultimately wanting more substance and more imaginative writing.
And why is Laura Linney paging him all the time when she knows he is with Chris Cooper and can't talk? If anything, it would raise Cooper's suspicions.
Of course, all these things are done to raise the tension. But then they felt so contrived, as did the other two big episodes where monkey wrenches are thrown into the FBI's works (the photographer, the car inspection) just to put the hero in harm's way.
And I just couldn't accept Linney in this role. She's good, but it's hard for me to picture a young, beautiful blonde in the role of an FBI head. And FBI agents' wives are supposed to know going in that there are some things their husbands can't tell them, so Caroline Dhavernas' dis-ease about his actions was also hard to accept.
I really liked Chris Cooper a lot. Overall, I think the movie is well done. But it's hard writing a story about something where everyone knows what happens in the end before the movie begins. A lot of the action here just seemed so formulaic, and left me ultimately wanting more substance and more imaginative writing.