Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story

In the IMDb credits for this movie, it says that Leonid Sherbarshin and Viktor Cherkashin were played by 'Themselves'.

I can quite definitely state this is not the case. Sherbarshin is more than a foot taller than the actor playing him in this movie. Cherkashin was born in 1932 and therefore is considerably older than the person playing him.

Further, in the movie, when Shebarshin first appears, right after Hanssen first contacts the KGB in 1985, a caption says he is the head of Soviet Foreign Intelligence. In 1985 the head of Soviet Foreign Intelligence was Vladimir Kryuchkov. Sherbarshin did not become FCD head until 1988.

Ironically, the credits state 'Alexander Kalugin....?'. This person was actually played by the real former KGB Colonel and defector Oleg Kalugin.

In reality the person who stole the Hanssen file from the KGB archive as a retirement plan was not paid $20M for it as stated in the movie, but more like $7M, and that only in installments. However the SVR somehow managed to lure him back to Moscow where he was jailed for 18 years.

Other than these minor points this film is largely faithful to the major facts of the case.

Norman Mailer and Lawrence Schiller have collaborated four times for TV; they specialize in examining the life of somebody who is talented, a high achiever and desperately unhappy. Marilyn Monroe, O. J. Simpson and Robert Hanssen certainly achieved much, while it might be argued that Gary Gilmore (The Executioner's Song) managed to bring capital punishment back to the United States.

I did not see much success in bringing Hanssen to life. Admittedly he's a very strange bird, a loner in an organization (the FBI) that prizes teamwork and conformity above all else. It seems he could never manage to conceal his disdain for the mediocrity he saw all around him in the New York office. The most telling moment comes in the park with Ron Silver, his boss telling him he's got to dumb down and play the game if he ever expects to rise in the ranks. The expression on William Hurt's face is an amalgam of contempt, self-pity and a touch of Why Me, Anyhow.

So many big names here and such a load of garbage. If you wish to watch an extraordinary thriller about Robert Hannsen's story then check out the film "Breach". This version is so bad in so many ways. It has about as much tension as a TV commercial. I can't believe the so called talent involved in this sad endeavour could deliver such a wet pancake of a movie.

Acting is mailed in, script without any tension whatsoever, story ruined by the opening scenes..."Master Spy..." is about as bad as a Hollywood film can get. It's truly sad to witness writers, directors and actors in their decline.

Whatever they got paid for this borefest was way too much.

Deserves Zero stars.

William Hurt's performance made Robert Hanssen's life something to watch on the screen, otherwise, Hanssen was a mixed up sick person who could not find where he was going, even if he did go to church. In many ways Peter Boyle took the blame for his son's failures to God, Country and family. The success of this film was created by the excellent acting skills of Hurt and Boyle.

This is one of the most accurate portrayals of a spy. As anyone who knows this case knows, Hanson is responsible for the deaths of about 100 Russians who fighting against the various bloodthirstily dictatorships that have run Russia for 100 years.

Hanson was a sociopath with a deep narcissisms as well. Spending large sums on clothes, expensive cars and prostitutes.

He set up a secret room in his house so friends could watch his wife naked, and sometimes of him having relations with her. He videotaped her as well and distributed those tapes to acquaintances.

In return for money he helped the dictatorships in Russia despite himself being more well aware than the average person of just how bloody and bloodthirsty that dictatorship was. He endangered the lives of everyone in the world as well destroying accurate assessments of Soviet plans. Even more outrageously he gave to the Russians the extremely secret US government "continuity of government" plan. That is the plan for who has authority to do what in the event of a decapitation strike, and vastly increase the risk of a Russian first strike and all out nuclear war.

This film does a good job of showing Hansenn's reactions as the spy hunt progresses. Sadly it does not show the lives of freedom fighters in Russia and Eastern Europe that he destroyed.