The Peacemaker

The Peacemaker has been met with considerable expectations because it is the first feature film from the new production company DreamWorks, founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, but The Peacemaker does not actually differ drastically from other well-produced films in the action genre. Its political views are, however, a little less one-sided than one is used to. The director, Mimi Leder, shows that even if you are a woman, you can easily run the enormous production machinery of an action film.

The story begins in Russia, where ten nuclear weapons are to be transported by train to the place where, under the gaze of the whole world, they are to be scrapped, but on the way a corrupt Russian general, Aleksandr Kodoroff, steals all the bombs except one, which he detonates as a diversion. Satellite images, however, reveal what really happened to the Americans, who, led by the nuclear weapons expert Dr Julia Kelly and the elite soldier Thomas Devoe, must try to track down the rest of the bombs. Amid much drama they succeed - almost, for one is still missing. It has fallen into the hands of a prominent Bosnian politician, Dusan Gavrich, who does not want to use the weapon for blackmail but has instead planned an audible protest against the Western powers' interference in the war in the former Yugoslavia, whose victims include his wife and daughter. It is at the last moment that Devoe and Kelly prevent the bomb from exploding in the middle of Manhattan, where a large UN meeting is taking place.

The Peacemaker is an action film of fine quality. It has a good story and exciting set pieces, it takes place in interesting geographical locations, and Clooney is wry as Devoe.