The Peacemaker (1997)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Mimi Leder

Writers (WGA):

Leslie Cockburn (article) &
Andrew Cockburn (article) ...

Release Date:

26 September 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

This is not a test.

Plot:

A US Army colonel and a civilian woman supervising him must track down stolen Russian nuclear weapons before they're used by terrorists.

Plot Keywords:

Nukes | Dead Children | Train Hijack | Babe Scientist | Diplomatic Immunity

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

George Clooney	...	Lt. Col. Thomas Devoe
Nicole Kidman	...	Dr. Julia Kelly
Marcel Iures	...	Dusan Gavrich
Aleksandr Baluyev	...	General Aleksandr Kodoroff (as Alexander Baluev)
Rene Medvesek	...	Vlado Mirich
Gary Werntz	...	Terry Hamilton
Randall Batinkoff	...	Ken
Jim Haynie	...	General Garnett
Alexander Strobele	...	Dietrich Schuhmacher
Holt McCallany	...	Mark Appleton
Michael Boatman	...	CPN Beach
Joan Copeland	...	Senator Helen Bevens
Carlos Gómez	...	Santiago
Armin Mueller-Stahl	...	Dimitri Vertikoff
Slavko Juraga	...	Stevo

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and some language.

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian | Serbo-Croatian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Brazil:12 | Iceland:16 | Philippines:PG-13 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Belgium:KT | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:16 (w) | Mexico:B | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:15 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bratislava, Slovakia

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

The three attack helicopters used by the United States Air Force to retrieve the nuclear warheads are slightly modified HH65 Helicopters, some of which were armed with twin 70mm Missile Pods. They are commonly used by Police forces and the US Coast Guard.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Just before he dies, Vlado Mirich says "Zelim da sve bude kao pre" (I can't correctly write "Zelim", because IMDb doesn't support letter that is needed) which does mean "I want everything to be as before", but if he is from Bosnia, he would say "Zelim da sve bude kao prije" because in Bosnia people use ijekavica and not ekavica (used in Serbia).

Quotes:

Julia Kelly: So do you think he set us up?
Thomas Devoe: Who?
Julia Kelly: Your friend.
Thomas Devoe: No.
Julia Kelly: How can you be so sure?
Thomas Devoe: Because he's my friend.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Flushed Away (2006)

Soundtrack:

HUMORESQUE

Pretty decent movie...

I liked this movie. It did what it set out to do, to entertain, though post 911, the premise is especially scary (how poignant to see the WTC in the New York skyline).

I was drawn into the plot, and didn't care about any inconsistencies or holes. Everything came across as plausible.

As for the comment made ccthemovieman-1 about the unlikelihood of someone of Nicole Kidman's looks being in a position like that, well, all I can say is that he should take a look at some of the female analysts and spies (ie. Valerie Plame) that work not only in the US government, but also others like Israel.

Make no mistake, many of them are as beautiful as they are intelligent.

And I give kudos to the filmmakers for resisting the one formulaic turn, and that is making it into a romance flick where the male/female protagonists first dislike each other and then fall into each others arms by the end of the movie.

So, for all those who say this movie is predictable, here's one predictable and clichéd turn it didn't take. It concentrated on the action and suspense, and only hinted in the very end at the possibility of a romance.

It was interesting to see, that even though Dr. Kelly was Devoe's boss, the actual dynamics were in reverse, with her following Devoe's lead for most of the time, and listening to lectures from him about her inexperience.

I guess the movie's producers thought it was too much for someone like Clooney to constantly take orders from a woman. A formulaic turn, I suppose.

Clooney and Kidman acquitted themselves well in their roles, as did Marcel Iures who portrayed the terrorist. He came across as human, and a truly tragic, sympathetic, though misguided, figure, imo.

The train hijack sequence was awesome.