The Peacemaker – 1997 – Action, Thriller
Directed by: Mimi Leder
Written by: Michael Schiffer
Main Players: George Clooney; Nicole Kidman; Armin Mueller-Stahl; Marcel Iures; Holt McCallany
The opening scenes set the stage for world-wide turmoil and political stress. After a finance minister is murdered in Bosnia, a transport train carries deadly cargo across Russia, along with an army of men to protect it. Unfortunately, there is an unthinkable betrayal and an even worse theft, as a group of soldiers splits rank and gets away with 10 nuclear warheads. This is really not a good thing.
To cover the theft, the train is derailed and a warhead exploded. Okay, only 9 warheads in the wind, no big deal then! At least the Nuclear Smuggling Group head Julia Kelly (Kidman) is on the trail. She monitors what she can from satellite imagery, and with the help of her newly appointed military liaison Lt. Colonel Tom Devoe (Clooney), the pair realize that the explosion didn’t detonate all the bombs, and the rest are likely still missing.
The pair team up and use their resources to track and trace all they can, looking for any way to find the missing warheads and prevent their sale and distribution, or even worse, additional detonations. The film is action and military-based, with tension and drama elements.
The Peacemaker is a solid enough tale which could have been sharpened up into something more exciting and even better with script fine-tuning, but is still good enough as a throwback action movie. The story presented strangely is still a worry today, as stopping Iran from getting nuclear devices and preventing terrorist attacks in New York remains all too familiar for current administrations.
It’s not as big budget or shiny as most of the 90s explosion-filled actioners, but the cast does their best with the basic script and the story is good enough for a generic picture though it is a bit lackluster at times and does run a touch long. Give it a shot if you like 90s gun-toting explosion-filled chase flicks, or if you want to see some younger stars.
It’s also amazing to see people jump through a stained-glass window, considering the iron plating in the window would make that quite hard. But hey, who am I to judge.
See This If You Liked:
The Sum of All Fears; Clear and Present Danger; Broken Arrow; The World is Not Enough; The Hunt for Red October; Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit; The Rock; Executive Decision
Score:
6.5