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A REVIEW BY BOB SINCLAR 09/30/1997
First feature film by Mimi Leder, who’s been working for Mr (Master, The Lord, etc...) Steven Spielberg on the (in)famous ER, The Peacemaker is definitely a above average action movie. I’m not talking about a overall average feeling throughout the film but more like a strange mix of breathtaking scenes, with very disappointing ones. Hopefully by the end of the film you’ll leave pleased and relaxed.
The story reminds us that we're dealing with a standard action movie. I mean, parents can bring their young teenagers without having to worry about explaining the movie to the kids afterwards. Slightly disappointing, but I must admit that my expectations were extremely high for this first Dreamworks release for the story as well as visually. I guess Spielberg preferred to play it safe for this first one. Totally understandable indeed.
The plot basically depicts a US army colonel (George Clooney) who teams up with a defense counselor (Nicole Kidman) to track down eastern European terrorists who took possession of some nuclear weapons. What’s pretty funny is that a story kinda like that was on the news a few weeks ago. Some ex-soviet union soldier gave an interview explaining that some nuclear weapons from the ex USSR had disappeared. A pretty cool advertisement to put people in the mood for this movie. I just hope that the Peacemaker will have more success than that news story which made the headlines for just one day.
Anyway the movie doesn’t start well at all. It seems to take forever to set up that story which is yet quite simple. The long introduction sequence is not visually enjoyable either or impressive. Except at the end where you take a nuclear explosion right in your face. It’s like... wow, now you’re talking! I wish they’d have hurried up and show that before, instead of showing all this meaningless dialogue in Russian.
There are many other details I didn’t appreciate. For example, the fact that on a close up satellite photo of a huge truck line, the US army happens to have the right close up of the good terrorist truck from the beginning. That was kinda lucky indeed. I didn’t like the shot of the commando with their lasers in the wagon. It feels too much like an imposed figure and the director adds this stupid camera movement in there. It’s like... ok what the fuck do we need all these commando people for ? Ohhhhhh, I see, they’re just here to sit around together like a bunch of dumbasses and light up the picture with their nice lasers and their infrared glasses. I also didn’t like the fact that the characters are definitely secondary compared to the action. It’s like, we don’t even give a damn about the purpose of the terrorist acts. There are definitely no deep feelings and interesting personalities like in Face/off. Finally, some scenes in the fast paced offices at the beginning of the movie were too reminiscent of ER. C’mon Mimi forget about hospitals for a minute, will you.
Now the good parts. Hopefully there are plenty of them and I won’t be able to develop my writing too much about them. The actors are good, almost very good. Especially Clooney who brings us a character somewhat funny and extremely determined, exactly what we expect from a soldier. Clooney is also totally acceptable in action scenes. Kidman is very cold, I was gonna say as usual—well I’d like to see her doing comedy sometime—but her acting suffer no criticism whatsoever, and here, its adequate with her character.
The directing although deficient from time to time, has great moments. Especially during the most complicated action sequences such as the perfect scene of the recovery of nuclear warheads in a truck (on a bridge). The timing is very good especially in that particular sequence. You have a little fight bare hands between Clooney and a villain. Not too short not too long. You have a terrific snappy shot of Clooney shooting a villain... the most important is that it all looks pretty much realistic. It’s quick and clean, with not too many cliches. In this sequence, Mimi deals perfectly with what she’s got in the script. It couldn’t have been done much better. Another sequence is worth mentioning : a beautiful stunt scene with 3 BMW and a Mercedes. It’s the kind of scene you usually get all the time in James Bond movies. And here it’s very well done. The only problem I had with it is that it looks a little too much like a car-stunt show and not like a chase scene. The choreography is too obvious. But it’s not such a big deal. The driving is very accurate eventhough the action is happening at a reduced speed. Not that much impressive, but beautiful sequence for sure.
The last 35 minutes of the movie are extremely intense. You might even get a little anxious by that time. It’s just a very efficient climactic conclusion. And it works, once again, because of the quality and the timing of Mimi’s direction. The shot I most enjoyed during this ending in New York was a low angle shot of Clooney standing on a car. Kind of a tracking shot and a pan. Beautiful. I think the composer fee was too low though. Or Hanz Zimmer just forgot to be inspired. The score is a fucking bore.
This movie doesn’t offer anything new. Just classic high quality action. The safe way to go. But, see it like this: it can serve a good cause. It proves to Ron Howard that you can be ‘classic’ without sucking.
© 1997 Tom H
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