Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34394 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-04-20
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: DTS Surround Sound, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Running time: 124 minutes

From Amazon.com
It seems that thrillers these days--even good ones--are all about scene-chewing bad guys, cute retorts fit for the Dennis Miller show, and one big special effect to end the movie. Well, something like The Peacemaker, the first feature film from DreamWorks, puts the record straight. Here is an expertly paced thriller with a sensible villain, smart instead of cute dialogue, and a focus on action instead of special effects. It's not original, just solid. It's the second of these energetic and effective thrillers that writer Michael Schiffer (Crimson Tide) has penned. The White House Nuclear Smuggling Group tracks down 10 stolen nuclear bombs after a suspicious train wreck in Russia. The acting head of the department (Nicole Kidman) and her military field officer (George Clooney) are off to Europe to track down the bombs. Instead of a Gary Oldman-Bruce Dern madman, The Peacemaker's heavy is an unknown Romanian actor (Marcul Iures) playing a Bosnian rebel who works passionately and quietly. This may be a popcorn movie, but it uses the ripe emotions of the Bosnian War to create tension. This is the best film vehicle yet for the overwhelming charisma of George Clooney as a quick witted, generally warm Oliver North type who will seek deadly vengeance without pause. He's matched very well by the professional polish of Nicole Kidman who is showing great flexibility in dividing her roles between serious and fun fare. --Doug Thomas

Review
The first motion picture release under the Dreamworks SKG label is a fairly decent attempt to mount a fast-paced, James Bond-style techno-thriller. On the plus side, the film moves along well and features some swell action sequences (a train assault, a car chase, and an attack on a bridge) thanks to the solid craftsmanship of former TV director Mimi Leder, making her big-screen debut thanks to her ER crony George Clooney. For his part, Clooney is a sturdy and believable military hero, thankfully more of the "quiet professional" type of educated modern-day soldier than a cartoon-style G.I. Joe or Rambo. Nicole Kidman is believable as a scientist and even whips up a little chemistry with her co-star, although their time sharing the same space onscreen is woefully limited. On the negative side, the whole affair is emotionally flat, sparing little time to explore or even hint at the internal lives of its protagonists, leaving the audience little to root for. Oddly, the film's chief villain, extremely well-played by Romanian actor Marcel Iures, is presented in the most sympathetic terms, leading to an odd conundrum in the finale where it's difficult to know exactly for who or what to root. The Peacemaker (1997) is a decent, professional work of a Tom Clancy- or Ian Fleming-type geopolitical suspense, but it could have been better by presenting its heroes with the same heart and soul that it does its bad guy. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Synopsis
The first motion picture produced by DreamWorks SKG, The Peacemaker (1997) was a spy thriller that married the exotic locations and derring-do of James Bond with the high-tech obsession and post-Cold War politics of Tom Clancy. Greedy Russian military officers crash two trains into each other, the warheads aboard one causing a nuclear blast. The accident is a cover for the theft of some of the weapons for sale to terrorists and rogue governments. In the U.S., intelligence officer Lt. Col. Tom Devoe (George Clooney), isn't fooled. Neither is Dr. Julia Kelly (Nicole Kidman), the acting head of a White House task force on nuclear smuggling. Devoe and Kelly team up to find the nukes, and they are able to stop the transfer of the weapons in a raid at the Iranian border, but one warhead is missing. It's in the hands of Dusan Gavrich (Marcel Iures), a grief-stricken terrorist planning to call the world's attention to the war in the former Soviet Union with a nuclear explosion in Manhattan. Although fictional, The Peacemaker was based on the magazine article "One Point Safe" by Andrew Cockburn and Leslie Cockburn, a factual investigative news report about nuclear weapons smuggling in Russia. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Customer Reviews

Excuse me I hate to keep interrupting
While 1997's prescient "Peacemaker" is a piercing wakeup call with early echoes of 9-11 and weapons of mass destruction, it is also an instrument of propaganda that could easily have oozed out of America's trigger-happy military-industrial complex. But it also goes beyond both of these cliches to try to achieve an understanding of the subverted forces fighting each other in our ever churning world.

Politics not withstanding, this is just about the finest, tightest thriller I have ever seen, and extremely fast paced. It was Dreamworks' first major thriller, a home run that vaults way out of the ballpark! They did it right. Congratulations to Mimi Leder for a first rate job. Among the many German crew members, Hans Zimmer's score is one of his best. Or anyone's best, complete with full choir.

From first frame to last, Peacemaker is a film of razor-sharp pacing, superb casting, spectacular stunts, and incredible locations. It stimulates the brain on the most primitive and sophisticated levels, as the best films should -- a sensory delight of sound, music, facial expressions, graphic action, and delightful camerawork, and crisp and often funny use of language.

I found this film totally believable. From a standpoint of cast, script, and score, we clearly have here a labor of love.

First, let's talk about George Clooney as Lt. Colonel Tom Devoe. Clooney's never been in anything this good before or since. Mimi Leder brings out the best in George. His role summons superlative comparisons such as Alec Baldwin in Red October. Or William Shatner as Captain Kirk. Will the feat ever be repeated? Heroes like this don't come along every day.

Clooney is in his element, whether screaming expletives into a helicopter radio, or testifying before a congressional committee.

I nominate Clooney's peak moments in the film were when he 1) "excuse me I hate to keep interrupting" in the congressional briefing and 2) when he captures those warheads on the Russian bridge. Righteous! He has the most important neck of any actor in Hollywood, living or dead.

Kidman, with her sharp, aggressive, professional feminity, lights up the screen! Sorry, there just wasn't time for romance or love in this life-threatening story.

From the moody richness of a a train chugging through the dark Ukrainian forest, to the crowded streets of New York, Peacemaker is rich in imagery and texture.

Look closely. There are no extras. Nothing is generic or stock. Everyone on the screen, from lead actor to those many people in the background, render perfectly convincing performances! Even minor non-speaking roles were delivered with utter authenticity.

After the sensational Mercedes car chase in Vienna and the helicopter pursuit in Russia, the pursuit of Bosnian diplomat Dusan Gavrich in the streets of New York brings the film to it's desparate climax.

The only thing I found hokey and overblown was when the Russian General Aleksandr Kodoroff first steps out of his vehicle in the smoky train station; it seemed rather staged.

But forget that. This is one of the best thrillers ever made. Intelligent, thought provoking, and precise.

Basically, George Clooney portraying Oliver North
The is a good, solid political thriller. It's probably the best of that sub-genre that does not involve Tom Clancy in some capacity.

The most interesting thing, perhaps, about the movie is to see a diehard liberal like George Clooney play a character based EXACTLY on Ollie North, right down to mannerisms and hair. I guess this film proves ol' George can act after all...

One I've watched over and over
I've owned this movie for years. I seem to find myself reaching for it whenever I can't make up my mind on what to watch. I think it is George Clooney's finest film. I'm an avid action movie fan and this one just never gets old. There are very few slow spots and even they add to the story instead of leaving you sighing because you want it to get on with it. I don't usually review movies but this is one that I feel pretty strongly about. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys movies that you want to watch more than once.