शांति का सिपाही

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.

When nuclear warheads get stolen during decommissioning in Russia, American military agents Thomas Devoe and Julia Kelly start to try and track their movements before they get into the wrong hands. Julia's intelligence background and Thomas' more direct approach don't gel too well, but they must recover the weapons before they are used in a terrorist strike against the US.

This starts well – with the detonation of a nuke in rural Russia, and indeed it goes on quite well from there. The story is the basic 'terrorist with stolen nuke' story but it has sufficient ability to rise above the norm to be quite enjoyable. The odd-couple of Devoe and Kelly isn't made too much of and it avoids that pitfall. The action scenes are handled well and, though lacking in flair, they do contain plenty of tension and excitement.

The cast really help – in particular Clooney. Clooney takes what could have been just a one dimensional tough military role and adds layers to it. His violence is just beneath the surface and it shows in his face and eyes. At times he does what is expected of him – but for the most he lifts the role and the film. Kidman also does well – at times she is a screaming side-kick, but she also has a bit of depth there too. The support cast never really get beyond ethnic stereotype – only Armin Mueller-Stahl has a good role. There are some interesting roles given to now famous people – Boatman (Carter in Spin City) and, to complete the ER coonnection between star and director, Goran Visnijc in a tiny role.

Overall this is a standard story. But a top-class Clooney and plenty of good, tense action scenes make this much better than the average stolen bomb flick.

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 .

Terrorist films abound these days, as though putting stories about terrorists who make mistakes is supposed to make us all feel more safe. This taut, well-written and finely acted espionage film is different that those currently in front of us: made in 1997 this film in retrospect had a better grip on just how frightening terrorism is and how two-sided the implications of danger usually are.

Filmed with never let your guard down suspense, the story is rather simple: nuclear weapons are circulating with one headed to the US and the military joins with science in tracking the carrier of the bomb. George Clooney is in fine form as Lt. Col. Thomas Devoe, professional yet charismatic and his scientific colleague is Dr. Julia Kelly, with Nicole Kidman delivering a polished performance. And for once we get to see a terrorist as a person: Dusan Gavrich (Marcel Iures), despite his mission to destroy us, is a vulnerable, bruised human being. The supporting roles are well handled by such strong character actors as Armin Mueller-Stahl.

Cinematographer Dietrich Lohmann keeps the action lively with multi-angled shots and surveillance scenes and the tension is well maintained with the music score by Hans Zimmer. But in the final analysis the credit for the success of this film lies in the capable hands of Mimi Leder. A terrific little suspense film. Grady Harp

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