Transporting nuclear warheads on a train carries risks. If at a certain point along the way there is an assault by a Soviet group, things get really tense. It is the starting point of The peacemakerthe first film released by Steven Spielberg’s production company in 1997 and which made George Clooney already Nicole Kidman in a couple action. She is a White House nuclear expert and Commander Tom Davoe. Her mission: locate the stolen merchandise before it can be used, causing a huge nuclear explosion.
The peacemaker is part of the wave that Hollywood joined in the 90s, the fascination with the threat of a new Cold War, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The film directed by the debutante Mimi Lederdirector experienced in television series such as the prestigious Emergenciesmade the leap to the big screen with this political action thriller that has a good technical bill and two attractive stars who, at that time, did not have the cachet or fame of today, but who showed signs of success.
George Cloony and Nicole Kidman in ‘The Peacemaker’
A defining film for Clooney and Kidman
For Clooney, obsessed in those years with remove the label of hot doctor that the series had given him Emergencies (where he became friends with the director of this film), playing an action role was just what he needed. When The Peacemaker was released, the actor had only participated in the wild From Dusk Till Dawn. Getting under the skin of Officer Tom Davoe allowed him to continue advancing his objective, without losing the irreverent and charming cockiness that made him famous in the series.
For her part, Nicole Kidman did not yet have the prestige that she would achieve a few years later as a result of working with Kubrick in Eyes wide shut1999, or The others, by Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar. In The peacemaker, the actress plays an active woman with a commanding voice capable of supporting the arrogance of Clooney’s character and witnessing the bad arts used in field work. A role that was going to mark the path of her subsequent works.
Mimi Leder, her name should ring a bell
That directorial debut by Mimi Leder is very relevant. With a talent forged with the creation of one of the most successful and acclaimed series on American television, she ended up becoming one of the highest-grossing – although less recognized – directors in the history of Hollywood. Titles like Chain of favours either Deep Impact. Currently, Leder combines directing and producing such notable television series as the award-winning The Morning Show, A Question of Gender or The Leftovers.
Among the hallmarks of his television productions, the use of long traveling. Impossible to forget those shocking scenes in the series Emergencies, while following the doctors’ tour of the box without cutting the shot or the action. In the cinema of the 90s, This resource was very unusual and handling it with skill implied a lot of elegance and good technique, something we find in The Peacemaker. A way to advance the plot, without brakes, generating a shocking action.
Part of the poster for ‘The Peacemaker’ (1997)
Soundtrack by two-time Oscar winner Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer, recent Oscar winner for Duneactively participated in Dreamworks productions and offers his talent in the first production of Spielberg’s company, resulting in a vibrant action score, in line with his previous ones. Crimson Tide, Broken Arrow either The Rock. As is usual in the German, its score helps the product to give it more intensity, as throughout the beginning, or to underline the dramatic sections, as in the scenes starring the terrorist Dusan.
