Mudança de Código

The first thing that strikes you about the movie is the similarity of the title to the big-budget DreamWorks SKG debut movie [The Peacemaker] (starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman and directed by Mimi Leder). Frequently movies with such cheap and obvious cash-in aspirations turn out to be: cheap, obvious and, of course, rubbish. This movie is a jolly exception. Don't be put off by Dolph Lundgren being in it, he isn't enough to undermine the movies good points.

High among those good points is the swift and exciting direction which is never better than during the spectacular roof-top car chase which occurs within the first twenty minutes. This chase is so good it could quite comfortably fit into a Bond movie featuring, as it does, eye-popping stunts, edge-of-the-seat excitement and ridiculous spectacle. While it does veer wildly into the improbable it never feels impossible and this aspect, for any action sequence, is of paramount importance. It is interesting to note that two key aspects of this chase sequence - the roof-top nature and the escape by getting out of the car just before it crashes through a parapet and down to the ground - also popped up in the same year's Bond adventure [Tomorrow Never Dies] (the motorcycle chase in Bangkok occurs partly over rooftops, the remote-controlled BMW car park chase ends by Bond getting out of the car just before it crashes through a parapet and down to the ground).

Another good point is the script. It's not consistently good but it is rather better than normal for a film that is not shown theatrically (it received it's UK premiere on Sky television not at cinemas). There are frequent one-liners which help push up the entertainment value while Roy Scheider and Michael Sarrazin share an unusual and thought-provoking plot line. Rather than demanding money and a plane to an extradition-free country, the usual demands of a nutball who has control of nuclear weapons in America (see [Broken Arrow]), betrayed Saddam Hussein-assassin Doug Murphy (Michael Sarrazin) turns up surprisingly alive though he was bombed by 'friendly fire'. His demands are for the President (Roy Scheider, the entire twilight of his career looks like it is going to be a series of DTV presidents) to commit suicide - to sacrifice his life for his country just as Murphy had (even though he had little choice about it and he survived) - on national television to stop a nuclear bomb going off in Washington D.C.

However, where this really scores over its pseudo-namesake [The Peacemaker] is that this movie accomplishes almost all it set out to, it is about as good as it could possibly be.

The Peacekeeper is an obviously familiar, but undeniably fun action vehicle for Dolph Lundgren. With the ever present 90s feel, the painfully generic title that would make Steven Seagal jealous, and enough entertaining action scenes to satisfy, The Peacekeeper is far from being the worst use of your time.

While it's an obvious Duro de Matar (1988) ripoff, I'd say it's a solid ripoff, and probably one of the better ones. It's Die Hard meets a Bond movie plot, with the setting of a missile silo being a little boring. The movie gets a little bogged down with its plot, but the action's loads of fun and Dolph is charismatic enough. The stakes are suitably high and the race against time didn't bother me.

Dolph Lundgren does a serviceable acting job and is helped out by Montel Williams, who gets a lot of screen time as the obligatory African-American sidekick that 90s action movies love (Duro de Matar 3: A Vingança (1995), A Força em Alerta (1992), Drive: Tensão Máxima (1997), etc.) and he's pretty good.

The action sequences are the highlight. The long car chase near the beginning is actually excellent, and it's Bond film worthy. Definitely a high point, it may be the best action scene here. There are two or three brief shootouts and some small fights, with one long fight in a missile room being another highlight. Definitely loud, explosive, glorious B-movie action, and it's great.

One of Dolph's best 90s vehicles, this movie is underrated and is a great diversion. Seriously, name another movie that has a rooftop car chase. I wouldn't mind seeing Montel Williams again either.

Oh, and Dolph is chased down a large vent by an explosion. Things get pretty crazy.

Major Frank Cross faces a court martial for an act of mercy he showed to Turkish refugees. However the President intervenes and employs him to protect the black bag that contains the missile launch code for the US nuclear weapons. On his first day, Cross is attacked by terrorists and loses the black bag. He follows the terrorists to the silo and teams up with Kt Con Northrop to stop the launch. Meanwhile the President is on-route to meet the demands of the terrorist - however their demands are not ordinary.

Oh good - more `terrorists with nukes' plots, throw in a bit of Die Hard and we're away. The story here is really daft and has major plot drivers that aren't explained. It's not a bad plot overall - in fact the demands and the motives of the terrorists are quite clever and interesting. However it is a Dolph Lungren film so it's not going to be that great…..

The action scenes are OK but rarely believable, eg a rooftop car chase is fun but stupid! The terrorist's main demand brings the greatest tension, but their motives make them seem too sympathetic and when they become ruthless it is harder to accept. Outside of this `demand' I thought it was mostly poor, most of the plot seemed to exist to create action scenes that didn't deliver.

Lungren is as good as ever - ie, mediocre. He does his strong man stuff well, but he lacks charisma and relateability. Scheider is OK as the President and plays out his dilemma well - however the script lets him off too lightly. Chat show host Montel is actually OK as Northrop, but I just couldn't forget that it was Montel!

Overall this is bland video entertainment - it's not terrible, but it's not good either.

This movie surprised me. I usually shy away from any movie Dolph Lungdren is in, especially in the last few years. But, for some unknown reason, this movie interested me because the video box didn't give away too much of the plot and I was actually expecting an action thriller, not a Die Hard clone. As I said this movie was impressive in the way the plot was executed (except at the end, but I won't give that away) and the action sequences, although there weren't many of them, were filmed quite well. A stand out scene I guess is a car chase scene involving rooftops! (I'll say no more, its quite original). As well as that, Dolph gets some funny one-liners scattered at random throughout the movie. Not academy award winning material but worth a rental for the sheer entertainment value alone. 7/10

Dolph Lundgren stars as Major Frank Cross, a special forces soldier who is the very best in the army, and him and Lt. Northrop (Montel Williams !!!) are the only soldiers who can thwart "Cyclops" (Michael Sarrazin) from nuking Washington D.C, his demands by the way are forcing the president to commit suicide on live TV, suffice to say the peace is kept with an exchange of gunfire. The Peacekeeper is a modest take on Die Hard, with some suspenseful sequences, good action and a thrilling car-chase on roof tops. The Peacekeeper on all fronts is one of Dolph Lundgren's better films and features one of his best casts. Both Roy Scheider and Michael Sarrazin are always welcome presences to such an action film and Lundgren is in fine form. The main flaws is that use of too many scenes of bomb disarming which gets tiresome, also the movie has some plot holes and the film's beginning doesn't fit with the rest of the movie but as it goes the Die Hard route the film works and even has a great climax. Montel Williams is also none too convincing but once again the movie is a solid B.movie take on Die Hard.

* *1/2 Out of 4-(Pretty Good)