THE PEACEMAKER 1997
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1997 Timothy Voon
1 :-( for the bomb not going off
Cast: George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Marcel Iures, Gary Werntz, Holt McCallany, Alexander Baluev, Rene Medvesek, Michael Boatman, Armin Mueller-Stahl Director: Mimi Leder Screenplay: Michael Schiffer
After watching too many movies where the bad guys are the Russians, the Chinese, the entire Eastern block and now the Bosnians, AND the good guys are none other than the Americans (once again), I badly need to see a movie where the American's lose big time. And I think the most likely place to find the product of such a fantasy would most likely be in Iraq i.e. Hussein productions. Not that I have anything against the Americans winning all the time, but I'm in great need of a different perspective on life.
Once again in this movie 'The Peacemaker' the safety of the United States is once again under threat by some very angry Bosnians who blame the US and the UN for their problems. This brings to mind that too often repeated statement by Nicole Kidman - "I'm not afraid of the man who has ten nuclear warheads, I'm afraid of the one who only wants one." My trite reply to this is - "Give me ten nuclear warheads and I'll show you who to be afraid of." I'm a peaceable, easy going kind of a guy, but in this movie I had this incredible urge to want to see the terrorist succeed. Of course I wouldn't want anyone injured, but I felt the dire urge for the bomb to go off, and with it that grand delusion that the United States is the greatest nation on this earth.
Of course I've seen New York, Washington and Dallas enveloped in flames i.e. "Independence Day", but that doesn't really count. When the world is under threat from big bad aliens, of course I'm going to side with the Americans. So this new movie from SKG productions aims at the heart of the great nation, drawing on the wild card of patriotism and a threat to the people. It's a safe tactic to play when the plot and script isn't solid engrossing material. The SKG team has decided on the leading man for the moment (George Clooney) to help boost this movie's popularity and banked on an actress who is both attractive and a constant solid performer (Nicole Kidman). However, this does not save "The Peacemaker" from its otherwise very ordinary make. The ending gets as improbable as Nicole Kidman dismantling a nuclear device with a pen knife in 2.5 minutes; which is more ludicrous than an American President kicking butt on a hijacked plane if you ask me.
Timothy Voon e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
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