The Peacemaker (1997)

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

Director:

Mimi Leder

Writers:

Leslie Cockburn (article) (as Leslie Redlich Cockburn), Andrew Cockburn (article)

Stars:

George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Marcel Iures

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Clooney	...	Lt. Col. Thomas Devoe
Nicole Kidman	...	Dr. Julia Kelly
Marcel Iures	...	Dusan Gavrich
Aleksandr Baluev	...	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

Storyline

Two trains crash somewhere in Russia, one carrying a nuclear payload. A nuclear explosion follows the crash and the world is on alert... However, White House nuclear expert Dr. Julia Kelly doesn't think it was an accident... Special Operations Intelligence Officer Colonel Thomas Devoe doesn't think so either... Together they must unravel a conspiracy that goes from Europe to New York, to stop a terrorist who has no demands...

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Plot Keywords:

time bomb | army colonel | nuclear weapon | train | nuclear explosion | 

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Taglines:

How do you get the world's attention?

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Genres:

Action | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and some language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian Serbian Bosnian Croatian Polish

Release Date:

26 September 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

El pacificador

Filming Locations:

Cremosne, Slovakia

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,311,939, 28 September 1997, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$41,263,140

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$110,463,140

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

George Clooney learned stunt driving for this movie.

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Goofs

When Devoe and Dr. Kelly are sitting at a table on an Air Force jet traveling to Europe, Devoe's collar is alternately sticking out/tucked in between shots

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Quotes

[Losungsswort]
Julia Kelly: I need the password... What's the password?
Thomas Devoe: Hang on...
[rips duct tape and ask Hans]
Thomas Devoe: Password
Hans, German Backpacker: NO
Thomas Devoe: [to Julia] All right... Hang on...
[puts silencer on his gun and puts it on Hans left elbow]
Thomas Devoe: All right, Hans, we'll do it your way... How's the backhand? Password
Hans, German Backpacker: Hasselhoff
[...]

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Alternate Versions

TBS and TNT broadcasts eliminate all references to CNN, including putting a colored square over the CNN logo when it appears on screen.

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Connections

Referenced in The Sum of All Fears (2002)

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Soundtracks

NOCTURNE IN C-SHARP MINOR, OP. POSTH.
Music by Frédéric Chopin

User Reviews

Standard story – but good tension, good action scenes and a great performance by Clooney make it good.

When nuclear warheads get stolen during decommissioning in Russia, American military agents Thomas Devoe and Julia Kelly start to try and track their movements before they get into the wrong hands. Julia's intelligence background and Thomas' more direct approach don't gel too well, but they must recover the weapons before they are used in a terrorist strike against the US.

This starts well – with the detonation of a nuke in rural Russia, and indeed it goes on quite well from there. The story is the basic 'terrorist with stolen nuke' story but it has sufficient ability to rise above the norm to be quite enjoyable. The odd-couple of Devoe and Kelly isn't made too much of and it avoids that pitfall. The action scenes are handled well and, though lacking in flair, they do contain plenty of tension and excitement.

The cast really help – in particular Clooney. Clooney takes what could have been just a one dimensional tough military role and adds layers to it. His violence is just beneath the surface and it shows in his face and eyes. At times he does what is expected of him – but for the most he lifts the role and the film. Kidman also does well – at times she is a screaming side-kick, but she also has a bit of depth there too. The support cast never really get beyond ethnic stereotype – only Armin Mueller-Stahl has a good role. There are some interesting roles given to now famous people – Boatman (Carter in Spin City) and, to complete the ER coonnection between star and director, Goran Visnijc in a tiny role.

Overall this is a standard story. But a top-class Clooney and plenty of good, tense action scenes make this much better than the average stolen bomb flick.