George Clooney and Nicole Kidman star in the action thriller The Peacemaker. The film gets a 4K UHD update thanks to Kino Lorber.
The Film
The Peacemaker is a relic of a bygone era. I say this with the sincerest of compliments. The Peacemaker is the type of film we NEVER get nowadays, though it regularly shows up as a limited series, but never a big budgeted as a big-budget film. It has been close to twenty years since an R-rated, intelligent, political techno thriller has graced the big screen. Something Tom Clancy adjacent, smartly written and directed, starring two big stars, filmed in multiple countries. The Mimi Leeder-directed film reminds you just how sorely missed the genre is.
A Nuclear explosion in the heart of Eastern Europe sends the US Government reeling, searching for answers. Nuclear Proliferations specialist Dr. Julia Kelly (Nicole Kidman) thinks it could be a greater plan of a network of terrorists. With the President’s full backing, Kelly begins the search for what appears to be a distraction for something larger. Military Intelligence officer Tom DeVoe (George Clooney) thinks it’s rogue Russian Military selling warheads for hundreds of millions of dollars. As Kelly and DeVoe head to Europe for answers, they quickly find out they are both right, and a ticking clock has started, with the fate of millions of lives hanging in the balance.
The Peacemaker is an old-fashioned globe-trotting techno thriller that knows the perfect balance of serious corridors of power speechifying and hard-hitting physical stunt-oriented action set pieces. The script by Michael Schiffer, based in part on a non-fiction book by Andrew Cockburn and Leslie Redlich Cockburn, is a well-oiled machine that gives both the “good guys” and “bad guys” equal screentime. Mimi Leeder’s crisp direction adds that slick appeal of a popcorn blockbuster without the compromise of a PG-13 flavorless action film. The movie plays for keeps but has enough room for moments of levity as well as those self-serious “I’m afraid of the man that wants one [Nuclear Weapon]” to make the entire enterprise interesting.
Clooney and Kidman acquit themselves quite well in what is essentially their first forays into the action genre. Kidman, who played something similar in The Interpreter, which was not as successful, is great as the take-charge Kelly. Clooney as DeVoe is a gold-star stamped superstar in waiting. It isn’t the show-stopper role that Out of Sight would be, but The Peacemaker is a great showcase for everything that Clooney does best, be charming, be funny, and occasionally kick some ass. The rest of the cast, led by Marcel Iureș and Aleksandr Baluev, are the weak link, not because of the performers but just that these roles are so typical of the era that it feels like a cliché even in 1997. Though the always reliable Armin Mueller-Stahl shows up as a quirky Russian Intelligence officer who steals the movie from under Clooney and Kidman in his brief appearance.
The Peacemaker is the kind of “dad movie” that we just don’t get anymore: big budget, shot-on-location, big-stunt-driven action, with a smart script.
The Transfer
Brand New HDR/Dolby Vision Master by Paramount Pictures – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is an excellent upgrade in picture, even besting the original 35mm release prints. The film literally looks like it was filmed yesterday. The transfer is sharp, clean, without any hints of scratches or blemishes on the negative. The color reproduction and contrast levels, because of the Dolby Vision encoding, are both deeper in their details, giving us a darker, luminous, and far more textured and beautiful image. There isn’t a scratch, blemish, or issue with the picture. It is free of any sort of digital artifacting or DNR to remove grain. Kino continues to amaze with their 4K Releases.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
- NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
- NEW Audio Commentary by Film Journalist Laurence Lerman
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
- NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
- NEW Audio Commentary by Film Journalist Laurence Lerman
- Stunt Footage (5:36)
- From the Cutting Room Floor: Deleted Scenes (3:01)
- Theatrical Trailer
The all-new Audio Commentary by Film Historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson begins with a discussion of the DreamWorks Logo and how it was the first feature film for the studio. Some of the details include the expectations of the first DreamWorks film – and how many thought the first film was going to be directed Spielberg; the film’s development and how it was based on a Non-Fiction book that was about the Clinton Administration of over 27,000 nuclear weapons across Russia; a discussion of the production schedule and how they had to accommodate George Clooney’s schedule while he was working on ER at the time; how Spielberg got Clooney out of his contract to star in the filmed version The Green Hornet; the advice that Spielberg gave Clooney during the first few episodes of ER; a larger discussion of George Clooney’s transitioned from the TV actor to Movie Star; a discussion of the various films from this military thriller subgenre; Jessica Sterns – the real life figure that Nicole Kidman’s character is based on and how different the film portrays her role; the work and career of composer Hans Zimmer; a discussion of the work and career of Nicole Kidman; a discussion on how director Mimi Leeder got the job, the various directors that passed on the project – Spielberg’s insistency on Leeder being director and the pressure directing DreamWorks’ first film; how Leeder approached the direction of this action film; a great discussion of the casting what if’s before Kidman were hired and the casting process; a larger discussion of the casting process for other roles as well; the early days of the DreamWorks and their development of their films – including The Peacemaker – as Thompson worked at the studio at the time; a discussion of how the mid-film car chase was accomplished; the trouble with the “tone” of the film that they had to deal with during production and post-production; a discussion of the work of cinematographer Dietrich Lohmann and his collaboration with director Leeder; a larger discussion of the film’s reputation and it growing from its initial critical reception; a larger discussion of the various actors that appear in the film; a larger discussion of the various locations they shot in and what was shot on studio; and much more. Mitchell and Thompson provide another entertaining and well-researched track to the debut film from DreamWorks, including not just facts about the production but quotes from the cast and crew on the making of the film.
The second all-new Audio Commentary by Film Journalist Laurence Lerman opens with his credentials and how it was Spielberg’s idea of the DreamWorks logo. Some of the details include a discussion of the real life S.T.A.R.T. agreement limiting nuclear arms that is mentioned in the film; the history of the creation of DreamWorks – the players, the financing, the television work, the films they began with, et. al.; the development of The Peacemaker – the script, its origins, the hiring of directing Mimi Leeder; a discussion of where George Clooney was in his career at the time – being hired for this film, the killing of Sam Raimi’s Green Hornet to get him into The Peacemaker and more; a discussion of where Nicole Kidman was in her career at the time – how Leeder hired Kidman; a larger discussion of the location shoot and why they chose Eastern Europe as the primary location – including a discussion of Clooney’s schedule consideration because he was still filming ER; a breakdown of the mid-chase film, the difficulties of the production, location, and how they accomplished it – including quotes from various sources; the production rewrites that occurred and who handled them – and the difficulty of those rewrites they posed to the cast and crew; a discussion/breakdown of the Helicopter chase set piece and how it was accomplished; a discussion of Clooney’s action film career post-The Peacemaker and why he stopped after Syriana; a discussion of the work here and the career of composer Hans Zimmer; a larger discussion of the various actors that appear in the film and their personal and professional histories; and much more. Lerman delivers a complimentary track that is as informative as the first one.
Stunt Footage (5:36) – a featurette that edits together scenes from the action set pieces of the film with b-roll and behind-the-scenes footage.
From the Cutting Room Floor: Deleted Scenes (3:01) – Mimi Leeder, George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, and screenwriter Michael Schiffer have a discussion of the making of the film using the various small clips from the various scenes. They are not deleted scenes as much as they are bloopers and b-roll footage.
Rounding out the special features are trailers for The Peacemaker (2:30); Out of Sight (2:35); The Interpreter (2:26); Eastern Promises (2:22); The General’s Daughter (2:31); Ronin (2:29)
The Final Thought
Kino Lorber provides another excellent 4K UHD upgrade. Highest recommendations!!