El pacificador

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

A US Army colonel (George Clooney) and a civilian woman (Nicole Kidman) supervising him must track down stolen Russian nuclear weapons before they are used by terrorists.

My biggest problem with this film is that it seemed to me to be miscast. George Clooney is pretty good, and he plays the smarmy role he is great at doing (the modern day Cary Grant). Nicole Kidman seems off, though. The role never seems to fit her, and there never seems to be a clear understanding of who she is: bumbling, nervous librarian? Or assertive world-class diplomat? Not surprisingly, the movie has sort of faded into obscurity, and will probably continue to do so as time goes on.

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 .

A lot of so-called action directors should take some time off to watch this movie and learn from it. We do not need to see a dodgy cgi train crash when we can have things the subtle way, just a couple being awoken by the distant destruction. We don't need to see a carriage load of soldiers cut down with machine guns in a choreographed ballet sequence, just the arcing laser sights through an open doorway. We don't need ultra evil bad guys who kill off their companions in sudden rages, just a compassionate man on a disillusioned mission for peace. We don't need the 'obligatory' kiss between the co stars at the finale, just the promise of future things.

Peacemaker is politically unbelievable, it has some seriously ill thought out moments. But at the end of the day it brings a freshness to sequences we've all seen a million times before, it lets us feel the emotions of ALL the characters. Intelligent, stylish, and great fun to boot. Worth a couple of hours of anyone's evening.

Let's be honest first of all. Did anybody think the first movie out of the gate from a studio owned by David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Steven Spielberg be an artsy-fartsy film? For what it is, this is pretty good. Director Mimi Leder does a good job keeping everything going (she was less successful with her follow-up, DEEP IMPACT), and I was involved the whole way through. I like George Clooney and Nicole Kidman, but I will admit they don't get a whole lot to do here. Like the similar MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, there's not a whole lot of character development for the heroes, so the film depends on whether or not you like the stars, and fortunately, I do.

The one distinguishing factor of the movie is the villain, played by Marcel Iures. While the one who steals the missiles is your standard action villain, there's a gravity and sadness Iures brings that's unexpected in a film like this. This is no sneering DIE HARD rip-off, but a guy who takes an action because he feels it's the only choice he has, and the film at least brings forth the notion that if that's how he feels, we the Western powers are somewhat culpable.