Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12038 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-01-29
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Russian, Serbo-Croatian
• Subtitled in: German, English, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It seems that thrillers these days--even good ones--are all about scene-chewing bad guys, cute retorts fit for the Dennis Miller show and one big special effect to end the movie. Well, something like The Peacemaker, the first feature film from DreamWorks, puts the record straight. Here is an expertly paced thriller with a sensible villain, smart instead of cute dialogue, and a focus on action instead of special effects. It's not original, just solid. It's the second of these energetic and effective thrillers that writer Michael Schiffer (Crimson Tide) has penned. The White House Nuclear Smuggling Group tracks down 10 stolen nuclear bombs after a suspicious train wreck in Russia. The acting head of the department (Nicole Kidman) and her military field officer (George Clooney) are off to Europe to track down the bombs. Instead of a Gary Oldman-Bruce Dern madman, The Peacemaker's heavy is an unknown Romanian actor (Marcul Iures) playing a Bosnian rebel who works passionately and quietly. This may be a popcorn movie, but it uses the ripe emotions of the Bosnian War to create tension. This is the best film vehicle yet for the overwhelming charisma of George Clooney as a quick-witted, generally warm Oliver North type who will seek deadly vengeance without pause. He's matched very well by the professional polish of Nicole Kidman who is showing great flexibility in dividing her roles between serious and fun fare. --Doug Thomas

On the DVD: Extras are pretty minimal, with just two very brief featurettes. The first has director Mimi Leder talking about her two stars in between blooper reel outtakes; the second has some behind-the-scenes footage of two stunt sequences, the Viennese car chase and the New York street chase (the latter of which shows George Clooney doing all his own running). Two theatrical trailers complete the package. The feature itself is well presented in anamorphic widescreen and Dolby 5.1.with the choice of English or German language options. --Mark Walker

Video Description
DVD Special Features:

Cutting Room Floor
Stunt Footage
Two Theatrical Trailers
Four-Page Booklet with Production Notes
English or German Soundtrack
Subtitles: English (Deaf and Hard of Hearing), German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
Dolby 5.1
Anamorphic Widescreen 16:9

Synopsis
Brash Special Forces intelligence officer Thomas Devoe (George Clooney) teams up with antismuggling official Dr. Julia Kelly (Nicole Kidman) to track down runaway nuclear bombs which have fallen into the dastardly hands of a Yugoslavian terrorist determined to draw attention to the slaughter in his former homeland by nuking midtown Manhattan. Clooney makes another run at action stardom, this time under the direction of his ER producer, Mimi Leder. The film is based on the writings of investigative journalists Andrew and Leslie Cockburn.

Customer Reviews

Excellent action thriller
.
This is George Clooneys best film. He is the cool, intelligent and hard special forces officer tracking down the stolen nuclear warheads with Nicole Kidman. Kidman is not only superb as the nuclear expert but looks stunning. It is amazing how versatile this actress is, being credible in so many differing roles.

This story is fast paced, brutal in places, has an interesting theme with two very different baddies with different agendas and totally avoids all the traps that would make it a Bond type movie - the girl doesn't fall into the heroes bed at the end, there are no silly gadgets, etc.

A good thriller, good fun - good film.

Entertaining
The Peacemaker is a thoughly entertaining thriller, primarily directed to focus more on the action and less on the underlying Political plot. It features a rather intense relationship between Clooney and Kidman, who both put in stellar performances. The action sequences are exciting, Clooney in particular manages to capture every aspect of his confident character.

While the plot is quite strong it still resembles the typical American plot of the predominantly good America versus the predominantly bad East. However even taking this into consideration, the Peacemaker is a very strong movie, small on Political message and reality but strong on action and suspense.

Director Mimi Leder should be given a Bond Moive
Although this has the usual American good guy heroes, and those nasty, nasty, Europeans as the bad guys, thus making it a typical US movie. That would not be a fair appraisal of it.

Strangely it feels like a European movie and the better for it. It has a proper thought provoking reason why the villains are doing what they are doing. And one that in today's world we should pay attention to.

This film has none of the over the top effects of a Hollywood movie, it all has the feel of believability about it. No silly car stunts, but one of the best car chase sequences I've ever seen in a movie. It's a great ad for Mercedes if your about to buy a car and are worried about being car-jacked!!

It reminded me of the recently re-born Bond film franchise, except this was made in 1997, making the films director Mimi Leder well ahead of her time for both Bond and Jason Bourne. That alone should make the Bond people considering her for the directorship of a Bond film.

By the way my copy of the film, (same case cover as the one shown here) did not have the 4 page booklet of Production Notes. But the disc was the same.

One thing of note is that although the dvd case (and here) says the dvd is in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. The treat is that it is actually in anamorphic 2.35.1 Panavison as per the cinema release.