The Peacemaker (1997)

Did you know there's literally hundreds of nuclear warheads scattered throughout the old Soviet Union ? Bad news for humanity but good news for Hollywood producers who want to make a post cold war thriller featuring stolen nuclear warheads getting into the wrong hands but this type of scenario has become over familiar . While women watch " Disease of the week " TVMs I guess the boys will be watching " stolen nuclear warhead of the week " on another channel

So what makes THE PEACEMAKER different from a mediocre Tom Clancey novel or a James Bond movie ? Good question and one that I can't really come with a good answer to . I could point out that the bad guy is a White European Christian but if I remember correctly the plot of THE SUM OF ALL FEARS was changed so instead of Arabs we had WASPish Neo Nazis as the bad guys . In fact I'm struggling to remember when the bad guys weren't whacko white guys , would it be GOLDFINGER by any chance ?

I guess the movie deserves some credit in mentioning the motives of the villain who is misguided rather than evil , and the motives don't exactly put the United States in a very good light but of course it's left to an American special forces officer to save the day and yes there's a scene where the hero attempts to defuse a bomb that has a timer that helpfully lets the audience know how many seconds are left to detonation YAWN

THE PEACEMAKER isn't a terrible movie . In it's favour it's much better than another Hollywood blockbuster dealing with the Balkans conflict namely BEHIND ENEMY LINES but is in no way comparable to something like SAVIOR . It's also infinitely inferior to a mainly forgotten British production called SEVEN DAYS TO NOON and it's a movie that is more interested in making money at the box office than giving people sleepless nights in a world where a stolen nuclear warhead might explode anywhere

Fmovies: Some movies stick in your consciousness. This is one of them. Although the script is not that original in its major components, Mimi Leder made a very strong visual statement here. The train hi-jacking sequence is about as good as anything on film. Although many reviewers here see the movie as one long cliché, the anti-hero is really protesting Western militarism and the ubiquitous arms industry. He's suffered a great personal loss at the hands of the "let's sell guns to everybody" group. The "Peacekeepers" ignore the slaughter going on around them. Blowing up the U.N. and a sizable chunk of Manhattan may not be the best answer, but in the context of the film it makes sense. In many ways the film is much more subtle than just "good guys/bad guys." Look again and watch for the nuances.

A distraught Bosnian piano teacher named Dusan Gavric (Marcel Iures), whose wife and daughter had been shot down before his eyes by Bosnian Muslim snipers in war-divided Sarajevo, intends to ignite a stolen nuclear bomb around the U.N. building in New York in revenge for that atrocityÂ…

Nuclear weapons specialist Dr. Julia Kelly (Nicole Kidman) and US Special Forces Colonel Thomas Devoe (George Clooney) try to stop the psycho...

Clooney, convinced that United States educated half the world's terrorists, plays a talented soldier who takes great liberties to get what he wants including heavy bribes and savage beatingsÂ… With that cool, suave and dashing look that makes women swoon, Clooney demonstrates great sense of humor with his performance, and looks pleasantly cold as hell during high action sequencesÂ… His unexpected reactions get on Kidman's nerves so easilyÂ…

Kidman looks lovely as the anguished scientist who wants to save the world, struggling tightly against her self-doubt Â…

Mimi Leder definitely proves that she's a commanding presence behind the cameraÂ… She shows how to move more effectively the camera creating tension throughout the hijacking of the warheads, Vienna's exciting car chase, the flight of the three US Air Force helicopters ordered to return to Turkish airspace, the truckload of the bad guys hanging over a cliff, and the tracking of the missing warhead on Manhattan's crowded streetsÂ…

The music is great... It follows the action well and elevates the dramatic suspense throughout the show...

The Peacemaker fmovies. The newspapers and the t.v. movie reviewers didn't give this a very favorable rating. As I had heard from someone else that I knew who saw this, didn't seem too impressed either. But as I live and learn, I realize that I have to be the one inevitably who says, "I like it, or it's a waste of time." You ultimately judge what's worth your time right? I saw this, I wish that I saw it in the theater, at any rate, I saw the characters of (Clooney) Col. Thomas Devoe and the very sweet and ever so lovely Nicole kid man's Dr.Kelly as being the type of characters that could keep me in an interested and ever curious state. Which for me, is exactly what I look for in a film.

I enjoyed the search and out of country 'trauma', that happens when in a foreign land at times, kind of like the terror that over-took the characters in "Clear And Present Danger". Although these two are different 'flavors' there seems to be a parallel in the action and the characters engrossment of their duty.

As such, I liked how Clooney seemed as Devoe and his mode of operation. I usually don't see a lot of female directors that really bring it home with an action persona, but Mimi Leder has done that to a very satisfying extent.

George Clooney and Nicole Kidman carry out a great working 'chemistry' that I found not only watchable, but believable.

I recommend this action adventure/thriller quest for all fans of the like and the two. Enjoy. (***)

A nuclear blow up in deepest Russia turns out to be a terrorist act that triggers rapid response by USA government. The Pentagon to avoid the uranium robbers from utilizing to wreak atomic war against the U.S.A . assigns the dangerous mission to two high officers ( attractive Nicole Kidman and impulsive George Clooney) . The expert field agent Clooney and spunky but unexperienced Kidman must solve the risked complications on the East pursuing nasties suspected of smuggling soviet nuclear arms into nations less civilised and stable . They get involved in the tangled chase of the Servian terrorists that run across countries until Iran . Meanwhile, they go to Vienna , there are are helped by a good Russian general (Armin Mueller Stahl) . The final terror arises when the terrorist (Marcel Iures as meek musician professor in the film's best acting ) behind it all is looking vengeance and goes to N.Y where happens a moving ending in the midst of a confusing crowd.

This exciting movie contains suspense , thrills, twists and turns , rattling action, and implacable intrigue . The yarn is interesting though based on fictitious deeds and barely credible tale . There are suspense, thriller and action, and the scenario is varied and spectacular . The flick is fast moving and interesting , as a highlight after another piles up . Extraordinary nail-biting scenes, specially when there happens the helicopter attacks on some amazing images and final climax in New York streets . George Clooney's performance as hard-boiled colonel is excellent, he hands perfectly the role ; cocky Clooney along with elegant Nicole Kidman form a perfect couple as troubleshooter team dispatched to trace terrorists . Stirring and moving score fitting perfectly to action by today prestigious Hans Zimmer . Colorful and adequate cinematography by Dietrich Lohmann . The motion picture is well directed by Mimi Leder in his first movie . She's a good filmmaker , usually for TV (¨ER¨ played by Goran Visnjic who appears as secondary in The peacemakers) and occasionally for cinema (Deep impact , The Code). Rating : above average . Well worth watching .

I liked this movie. It did what it set out to do, to entertain, though post 911, the premise is especially scary (how poignant to see the WTC in the New York skyline).

I was drawn into the plot, and didn't care about any inconsistencies or holes. Everything came across as plausible.

As for the comment made ccthemovieman-1 about the unlikelihood of someone of Nicole Kidman's looks being in a position like that, well, all I can say is that he should take a look at some of the female analysts and spies (ie. Valerie Plame) that work not only in the US government, but also others like Israel.

Make no mistake, many of them are as beautiful as they are intelligent.

And I give kudos to the filmmakers for resisting the one formulaic turn, and that is making it into a romance flick where the male/female protagonists first dislike each other and then fall into each others arms by the end of the movie.

So, for all those who say this movie is predictable, here's one predictable and clichéd turn it didn't take. It concentrated on the action and suspense, and only hinted in the very end at the possibility of a romance.

It was interesting to see, that even though Dr. Kelly was Devoe's boss, the actual dynamics were in reverse, with her following Devoe's lead for most of the time, and listening to lectures from him about her inexperience.

I guess the movie's producers thought it was too much for someone like Clooney to constantly take orders from a woman. A formulaic turn, I suppose.

Clooney and Kidman acquitted themselves well in their roles, as did Marcel Iures who portrayed the terrorist. He came across as human, and a truly tragic, sympathetic, though misguided, figure, imo.

The train hijack sequence was awesome.