{"id":3477,"date":"2010-09-06T14:00:46","date_gmt":"2010-09-06T21:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=3477"},"modified":"2021-05-28T15:43:56","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T22:43:56","slug":"review-peacemaker-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2010\/09\/review-peacemaker-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"The Peacemaker Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Peacemaker<\/em><\/strong> has all earmarks of a generic mid\/late \u201890s action-thriller and is only remembered thanks to the then up-and-coming star in George Clooney and the beauty of Nicole Kidman otherwise this could\u2019ve easily been just another direct-to-video affair.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nThe Peacemaker (1997)<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Action, Suspense, Thriller
\nParamount | R \u2013 124 min. \u2013 $24.99 | September 21, 2010<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:<\/span>
\nDirected by: <\/strong>Mimi Leder
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Michael Schiffer (screenplay)
\nCast: <\/strong>George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Armin Mueller-Stahl<\/p>\n

Theatrical Release Date: <\/strong>September 26, 1997<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:<\/span>
\nFeatures: <\/strong>Featurettes, Theatrical Trailer
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>1<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), Portuguese (Dolby Digital 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 2.35
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>33.3 GB
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Peacemaker or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Limelight<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The mid 1990s was a time when George Clooney was enjoying success on NBC\u2019s \u201cER\u201d and in 1996 he dabbled in feature films From Dusk Till Dawn<\/em> and One Fine Day<\/em> and then two more in 1997 with The Peacemaker<\/em><\/strong> and, notoriously, Batman & Robin<\/em>. One was a ho-hum action movie that looked like it was written for Steve Seagal while the other can still easily be called one of the worst movies ever made. So by comparison, the former is a fantastically brilliant film…<\/p>\n

Dr. Julia Kelly (NICOLE KIDMAN) is a nuclear expert working for the White House and she is put in charge of investigating a nuclear explosion in Russia that looks like an accident. The explosion occurred during a transport of 10 warheads for some sort of disarmament agreement between Russia and the United States. However, what Dr. Kelly doesn\u2019t know, but we do as it occupies the first 15-minutes of screen time, is that 9 of the warheads were actually stolen by a Russian General while one was detonated to cover the crime which also killed many innocent citizens.<\/p>\n

In order to streamline information between her department and the military she requests a liaison who can \u201ctake orders from a woman\u201d so they send Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Devoe (GEORGE CLOONEY) who had earlier butted in on Dr. Kelly\u2019s status update with members of the White House and military.<\/p>\n

After discovering that the explosion was not in fact an accident and that there are 9 nuclear warheads are possibly headed to Iraq or Iran thus the heat is on to hunt the rogue Russian General. So they run around the world, yell into phones to unknown voices on the other end and watch as a satellite manages to locate the truck carrying the weapons but only for a few moments until it goes out of range. Yep, lots of running, some talking and a plotline that wanted to be more complex than it actually was.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the crux of my problems with The Peacemaker<\/em><\/strong>, a film that does house some entertainment value but the story doesn\u2019t quite connect. As I said, there are many moments where Clooney and Kidman run around, swear a little to make sure we know the situation is uber-serious and talk on the phone to someone we don\u2019t see but they are important people who also aren\u2019t much help to resolve the situation.<\/p>\n

In terms of casting, I thought George Clooney, for an early starring role, does an OK job though he\u2019s merely a shell of his current self seeing a discernable difference between his performances here to that in Up in the Air<\/em> or even the Ocean\u2019s Eleven<\/em> movies. Meanwhile, Nicole Kidman was better known than Clooney having appeared in Batman Forever<\/em> two years before as well as To Die For<\/em> and making the scene in Days of Thunder<\/em>. Both of them I can say are good actors but if the script isn\u2019t there and the character development is one-dimensional, they are not talented enough to overcome it.<\/p>\n

The movie was directed by Mimi Leder, one of the rare female thriller directors (well, one of the rare female directors period) having also helmed Deep Impact<\/em> in 1998, the character drama Pay it Forward<\/em> followed by many TV gigs including \u201cER\u201d. For The Peacemaker<\/em><\/strong> she\u2019s effective enough and the few action sequences are nice but once again we get back to a story that doesn\u2019t quite gel together.<\/p>\n

Overall, The Peacemaker<\/em><\/strong> is a half decent action-thriller that could have been more complex than it actually was and while a younger Clooney and Kidman do their best with so little, it\u2019s not enough for me to completely recommend the film.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 1.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

All that\u2019s included here is a Stunt Footage (5:36; SD)<\/span><\/strong> featurette with behind-the-scenes shots; From the Cutting Room Floor (3:01; SD)<\/span><\/strong> which are old interviews with Mimi Leder, George Clooney, Nicole Kidman and others that also includes outtakes; and the theatrical trailer (2:30; HD)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

VIDEO \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Peacemaker<\/em><\/strong> comes to Blu-ray on a 25GB disc in 1080p high-definition. It is presented in its original 2.35 aspect ratio and while the picture overall is fairly soft throughout and might\u2019ve possibly gone through some sort of DNR process (I can\u2019t be certain without comparing it to my original DVD) I thought it\u2019s at least a suitable video transfer. There is some detail level especially for close-up shots and even shots with some dept to it but at the same time it\u2019s just not a film that pops off the screen even by comparison with other catalog films made around the same time. I also noticed bits of dirt in a scene or two so it\u2019s not a pristine video.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

AUDIO \u2013 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Paramount has given this catalog title a semi-aggressive 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track which is quite strong during Hans Zimmer\u2019s robust score \u2013 with Russian orchestral overtones \u2013 yet at times the dialogue was a little hard to hear even during the quieter scenes, which there are plenty early on. When there is action, especially during the third act, you do get a fair amount of explosions, chopper propellers, frantic screaming which has a little depth but seemed to be more center and front side oriented rather than the rear channels. That said, it\u2019s certainly an adequate audio experience especially for a film like this.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

OVERALL \u2013 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Peacemaker<\/em><\/strong> has all earmarks of a generic mid\/late \u201890s action-thriller and is only remembered thanks to the then up-and-coming star in George Clooney and the beauty of Nicole Kidman otherwise this could\u2019ve easily been just another direct-to-video affair. The Blu-ray itself has a nice enough, though unimpressive, video transfer while the audio is also suitable with some good depth during the action scenes but the dialogue levels could\u2019ve been better. If you can find this on the cheap and can enjoy the film for what it is (rather than what it could\u2019ve been) then give this a shot as it is a slight upgrade from the DVD version.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Published: <\/strong>09\/06\/2010<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Peacemaker has all earmarks of a generic mid\/late \u201890s action-thriller and is only remembered thanks to the then up-and-coming star in George Clooney and the beauty of Nicole Kidman otherwise this could\u2019ve easily been just another direct-to-video affair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[247,274,1224],"class_list":["post-3477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-george-clooney","tag-nicole-kidman","tag-peacemaker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3477"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26090,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3477\/revisions\/26090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}