Quick. Think of every cliche you can imagine from any suspense thriller in the history of cinema. You’ve probably got about ten, right? All ten of them (plus another half dozen) are featured prominently in “The Peacemaker.”
Perhaps the most pervasive cliche in “The Peacemaker” is that, in order to save the world from impending nuclear disaster, one must, like stars George Clooney and Nicole Kidman, be amazingly attractive. Except for the cliche-ridden scenes of a nuclear weapon covertly traveling and changing hands, the camera rarely moves from the concerned, intense faces of the two stars.
“The Peacemaker,” like so many now-forgotten movies of the last few years, is about the loss of a nuclear bomb, and what is done to bring it back. In case, the weapon is lost when a faceless villain orchestrates the robbing of a Russian transport, ironically in the process of disarmament.
Back at home, Julia (Kidman) is the newly appointed head of the committee in place to deal with such a situation, and Thomas (Clooney) is the brash military liaison sent to work with her. At once, they find their styles clash (cliche alert!) and their silly, almost romantic arguments dominate their dialogue for the rest of the movie.
Soon, we find out that the face behind the bad guys is a Bosnian politician, with big plans for his purchase. Frustrated by years of useless efforts by Bosnia’s allies to alleviate the suffering in his homeland, he wants to make everyone else suffer. His plan: to take the bomb to next week’s U.N. meeting, sending a message that will ripple throughout the world.
Obviously, the climax will come down to a matter of seconds involving both of the stars, with a fine line between their heroics and the demolition of New York City.
Most of the movie bothered me, but this is where it bothered me the most. The idea that the threat was somehow amplified when it came to our shores is reminiscent of “The Lost World,” when the T-Rex only becomes a danger when it reaches San Diego. Earlier in the movie, one of the stolen nukes had an accident in southern Russia, but the danger there was quickly forgotten, used mostly for the special effects.
Here, we are saying that a weapon of mass destruction will only matter if it explodes on American shores. Not only it is quintessential cheap Hollywood, but it should be offensive to anyone outside of America.
If there was one redeeming value in “The Peacemaker,” it was undoubtedly the special effects. The first offering from the highly publicized “Dreamworks SKG” studio, the effects are flawless - the movie just misuses them. In fact, the movie probably overuses them. There are too many scenes that just drag on, displaying the effects above the non-existent plot.
I tend to like Nicole Kidman and George Clooney, but my respect for both of them went down considerably with the viewing of this movie. They were not so bad, but their choice of scripts, and acceptance of the final cut of this film is unforgivable.
Grade: F