The Peacemaker
3.5/4
Starring: George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Marcel Iures, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Aleksandr Baluev
Rated R for Strong Violence and Some Language
"The Peacemaker" was the first film of the newly-formed production company Dreamworks SKG, headed by movie masters Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. It's an truly amazing debut to one of the fastest growing movie studios.
This is a political action thriller that not only deals with the threat of a nuclear weapon detonating in a densely populated city, but also the motivation, or lack thereof, of terrorists. In many films, they're simply scowling faces with henchmen designed to shoot at the hero (and miss) and to fill body bags. Here, things aren't that simple. The lead villain's motivation is anger, not money or power.
A nuclear weapon has detonated in the middle of Russia. Nuclear expert Dr. Julia Kelly (Kidman) is assigned to find out what happened. Almost right off the bat, she figures out that this was no accident, but an act of terrorism. And a gung-ho soldier named Thomas Devoe (Clooney) points out that this was a robbery. Together, they must track down the missing warheads before they end up in the wrong hands and the unthinkable happens.
Director Mimi Leder, who won more than a few awards for directed episodes of the long-running TV series "ER" (one of my favorites as a kid, by the way), directs this movie with a frantic pace. The film is relentless, and the script by Michael Schiffer keeps throwing new wrenches into the story. The film takes us to Russia, Turkey, Sarajevo and of course, the United States. She also has a flair for action scenes, including a game of chicken and bumper cars in the streets of Vienna. Leder has no qualms about showing violence onscreen (the film deserves its R rating).
The acting is very good. George Clooney (who has regretted making the film for some reason) is terrific as the impulsive and blunt soldier. But Clooney gives him a softer side, and at times, a sense of humor (his first scene at a senate hearing is a case in point...it's pure Clooney). His co-star, Nicole Kidman, is just as good. She's a desk worker who wears a business suit. Now that she's out in the real world, she gets first hand knowledge of what she reads about behind a desk. It terrifies her, but she learns how to work through it to get the job done. In an interesting turn of events, it was Kidman who gave Clooney his Oscar when he won for "Syriana."
The film has two main villains: Kodoroff (Baluev) and Dusan Gavrich (Iures). Both are very different people but in their own ways, equally frightening. Kodoroff is a ruthless psychopath. A corrupt general, Kodoroff has gone to the black market for one last big score now that the Soviet Union has fallen. Utterly ruthless and psychotic, he has no qualms about stealing a nuclear weapon for someone who will probably use it. As long as he gets paid, he doesn't care about anything else. Dusan Gavrich, played by Romanian acting legend Marcel Iures, is also very good. He's not a psychopath like Kodoroff, just angry. His anger, pain and frustration have warped his sense of self and he wants those he sees responsible to share it.
"The Peacemaker" is a great thriller, and in a way that the filmmakers couldn't have predicted, is incredibly timely. See it, see it, see it!
Starring: George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Marcel Iures, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Aleksandr Baluev
Rated R for Strong Violence and Some Language
"The Peacemaker" was the first film of the newly-formed production company Dreamworks SKG, headed by movie masters Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. It's an truly amazing debut to one of the fastest growing movie studios.
This is a political action thriller that not only deals with the threat of a nuclear weapon detonating in a densely populated city, but also the motivation, or lack thereof, of terrorists. In many films, they're simply scowling faces with henchmen designed to shoot at the hero (and miss) and to fill body bags. Here, things aren't that simple. The lead villain's motivation is anger, not money or power.
A nuclear weapon has detonated in the middle of Russia. Nuclear expert Dr. Julia Kelly (Kidman) is assigned to find out what happened. Almost right off the bat, she figures out that this was no accident, but an act of terrorism. And a gung-ho soldier named Thomas Devoe (Clooney) points out that this was a robbery. Together, they must track down the missing warheads before they end up in the wrong hands and the unthinkable happens.
Director Mimi Leder, who won more than a few awards for directed episodes of the long-running TV series "ER" (one of my favorites as a kid, by the way), directs this movie with a frantic pace. The film is relentless, and the script by Michael Schiffer keeps throwing new wrenches into the story. The film takes us to Russia, Turkey, Sarajevo and of course, the United States. She also has a flair for action scenes, including a game of chicken and bumper cars in the streets of Vienna. Leder has no qualms about showing violence onscreen (the film deserves its R rating).
The acting is very good. George Clooney (who has regretted making the film for some reason) is terrific as the impulsive and blunt soldier. But Clooney gives him a softer side, and at times, a sense of humor (his first scene at a senate hearing is a case in point...it's pure Clooney). His co-star, Nicole Kidman, is just as good. She's a desk worker who wears a business suit. Now that she's out in the real world, she gets first hand knowledge of what she reads about behind a desk. It terrifies her, but she learns how to work through it to get the job done. In an interesting turn of events, it was Kidman who gave Clooney his Oscar when he won for "Syriana."
The film has two main villains: Kodoroff (Baluev) and Dusan Gavrich (Iures). Both are very different people but in their own ways, equally frightening. Kodoroff is a ruthless psychopath. A corrupt general, Kodoroff has gone to the black market for one last big score now that the Soviet Union has fallen. Utterly ruthless and psychotic, he has no qualms about stealing a nuclear weapon for someone who will probably use it. As long as he gets paid, he doesn't care about anything else. Dusan Gavrich, played by Romanian acting legend Marcel Iures, is also very good. He's not a psychopath like Kodoroff, just angry. His anger, pain and frustration have warped his sense of self and he wants those he sees responsible to share it.
"The Peacemaker" is a great thriller, and in a way that the filmmakers couldn't have predicted, is incredibly timely. See it, see it, see it!
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