Peacemaker

PEACEMAKER is a not-bad B-movie slice of pure hokum from director Kevin Tenney, the man who brought us NIGHT OF THE DEMONS and WITCHBOARD. The plot is heavily derived from THE TERMINATOR and sees a woman caught between two men who are aliens masquerading as humans. One of them's a cop, one's a killer, and she must work out which is which.

It's a mixed bag of a movie in terms of execution but the mystery angle of the plot keeps it going, just about. There's plenty of violent action here, carried out reasonably well on a low budget, and a sense of momentum which means that the narrative is never boring despite the sometimes repetitive nature of the scenes. Cast-wise, the only actor to really shines is the always-fun Robert Forster, although Robert Davi also shows up in support as a cop.

God help me, but I enjoyed this movie a great deal. Jewell Shepard is funny and beautiful and irresistible when gratuitously tied up in phone cord (don't ask), Robert Forster does his usual sturdy work, there is an interesting flip-flop in character sympathies part of the way through and yes, there are some great car stunts and some great fight gags.

It was entertaining in spite of its low budget and obviously derivative origins and looked good, too (in terms of lighting and cinematography).

It's nice to see people working in the movie industry that do a good job, a professional job, despite working on what is essentially a piece of junk.

As a director, Kevin Tenney's body of work is mixed at best. But as a writer it's clear that he has no problem stealing the plots of other movies. This is a blatant ripoff of a 1987 movie called The Hidden, which had the same storyline but much better action sequences. His later film, Endangered Species, is clearly a ripoff of Terminator. Witchtrap ripped off The Haunting and Hell House and his own Witchboard, which featured an equally cheesy villain. The opening set-up of the one Night of the Demons script he wrote (#3) was his attempt to steal Quentin Tarentino's crime action thunder, mixed with his usual rehash of plot points from the original film in the series. With all the struggling young writers out there trying to make a buck, you'd think that Tenney would throw away his keyboard and hunt for original material. Looking over his credits on this site, his best films were written by other people.

Okay, the story is kind of dumb (funny how one of the aliens doesn't know what a "joke" is, yet he can use words like "rejuvenate") and won't please sci-fi purists, but if you're more of an action fan, you should find this film unexpectedly entertaining. It has some truly amazing stunts (including the best motorcycle-passes-under-truck stunt I've ever seen), and it's clever in one respect at least: it jerks us around until the end regarding the question of which of the two aliens is really the "good" one. "Peacemaker" is a prime example of a movie that is made with a little (money), but works hard and accomplishes a lot. In fact, it's hard to believe that this film was directed by the same man who made the awful "Night of the Demons". It's also hard to believe that it's so little-known. (**1/2)

This was an enjoyable little low-budget B-movie, it fits into the sci-fi genre of straight to video flicks, i enjoyed the old early 90s vibe & feel of this little relic.

Yes there's a load of cheese to this cheap sci-fi flick & that silliness only adds to it's low quality direct-to-video charm. Peacemaker is a pretty perfect example of a direct-to-video B-movie during the video era, the type of film you would see on the shelves of Blockbuster video & i loved that about this movie. In fact i really enjoyed this low-budget trashy gem probably more than i should have!!! Some of the effects are trashy-cheap because of it's limited budget but it puts so much into it's exciting action. Also there's such a fun old school cop thriller feel to it that i just dug. Peacemaker has it's Erotic-thriller moments that is so Nostalgic to me from hundreds of low-budget B-movies I've watched on video from bk in the day & Robert Forster really is the selling point for me. I've been a fan since his outstanding performance in JACKIE BROWN (Tarantino's Masterpiece) & he's decent here in this action-packed sci-fi thriller. Of course this sci-fi action thriller has similarities to Dolph Lundgren's cult classic Dark Angel aka: I Come In Peace, but both films were out around the same time so I'm not sure if they copied each other or not? Both awesome films anyway.

The lead is an intergalactic space cop, played by a guy I've seen or heard of he was pretty bad & totally cheesy, especially how he spoke (like someone with severe learning difficulties) just terrible but all in a cheap campy silly tone. Anyway i couldn't care less about him as it's the great Robert Forster that i got this dvd for as I've been a fan of his since his excellent performance as Max Cherry in Jackie Brown, this guy is a solid,veteran actor who has always been very underrated until Tarantino revived his pretty much dead career, & put him up front as a lead man in his brilliant Crime Thriller "Jackie Brown" & I've been checking out films that he's been in from way back in his career, he's starred in alot of cheap low-budget Thriller films mainly but he is always an interesting presence on screen, always a cool guy even if he has a tiny role or is a bad guy & here he plays an escaped alien who crashed on earth & he's named Yates. Forster plays it straight & in a serious committed performance & is definitely what keeps this movie entertaining & very fun. Forster was a working class actor & i know he did these low rent B-movies for a paycheck as much as he did it for the acting art but he always seemed very humble, down to earth & likeable in all his interviews.

Yes, Yates is a criminal being from another planet who has been hiding out on earth until a Cop from his planet lands here to hunt him down, it's a crazy,silly but completely fun idea & couldn't be anymore pure B-movie if it tried plus we get another one of my favourite B-movie stars as an earth cop caught up in the middle of this intergalactic game of cops & robbers. We have Robert Davi who is also great & adds his rugged & smooth charm to the character of Ramos, he's a good cop who can't believe what he's seeing. Davi always has a hardass presence & does so here. Getting Davi & Forster together in a movie is too Awesome, both B-movie legends & both did star in the excellent Maniac Cop 3 but didnt share any scenes & Robert Forster only had a small role as a Doctor.

Lance Edwards (an actor i don't recognise) plays another alien called Townsend, a good one that is a space cop, & he has a cheesy romance with Dr. Dori Caisson (a pretty Hilary Shepherd) who works at a Morgue & ends up right in the middle of the battling extraterrestrials as they hunt each other down around Los Angeles. Lance Edwards is super cheesy in this role & plays it like a deaf person with how he talks & turns into an Enie from Terminator style action hero towards the end. Hilary Shepherd is good in her part & plays it with some humour & heart.

Robert Forster is also great in B-movie creature feature ALLIGATOR & B-movie Killer Thriller THE BANKER & the gritty urban thriller VIGILANTE, to be honest he's good in pretty much anything.

Robert Davi is great in Maniac Cop 2&3 & Predator 2 & Raw Deal & The Bad Pack & Center of the Web & Night Trap, he's also good in pretty much anything.

"Peacemaker" is a fun, pure B-movie bit of late night entertainment with two excellent underrated actors.