Le pacificateur

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

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

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 atrocity…

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 beatings… 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 sequences… His unexpected reactions get on Kidman's nerves so easily…

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

Mimi Leder definitely proves that she's a commanding presence behind the camera… 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 streets…

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

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.