The Peacemaker - Movie Review

 

The Peacemaker

Movie Review

 

The Peacemaker is a 1997 American political action thriller film directed by Mimi Leder, starring George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Armin Müller-Stahl, Marcel Lures, and Alexander Baluyev. The story takes place around the world, and the film is based on the 1997 book One Point Safe, about the state of Russia's nuclear arsenal.

The story of the film follows a moderate push for peace in the ongoing Yugoslav wars, who is assassinated outside a church celebrating Eastern Orthodox baptism in Bale, Bosnia.

Ten R-36M2 Mod at the missile base in Kartali, Russia. The 5,550-750 kiloton MIRV nuclear warheads, part of an SS-18 Satan ICBM, are loaded onto a train for transport to a disposal facility.

However, Russian Army General Alexander Kodoroff along with a rogue Spetsnaz unit, kills the soldiers on the transport train and transfers the nine battleships to another train. Kodoroff activates a timer on the remaining battleship and dispatches the transport as it collides with the passenger train. Minutes later, the 500-kiloton warship exploded, killing thousands of civilians and delaying the investigation into the crash.

The outbreak immediately draws the attention of the US government. National Security Council's Nuclear Trafficking Panel Chairperson said that Chechen terrorists are behind the incident. Dr. Julia Kelly believes. US Army Ranger Lt. Col. Thomas DeVoe interrupted her briefing and claimed the incident was staged to cover up the hijacking of the warships. A call to Devoe's friend and Russian ally, FSB Colonel Dmitri Vertikoff, lent credence to his theory and appointed him as Kelly's military liaison.

Kelly and Devoe secure information on a terrorist's smuggling operation through an Austrian trucking company operating as a front for the Russian mafia. They meet Vertikoff in Vienna and then take signs to meet Schumacher, who arranges Russian trucking. After Devoe tortures Schumacher for information, he and Kelly leave the building and get into Vertikoff's car. They are chased through Vienna by Schumacher's men, who kill Vertikoff while paying the bribe. Devoe shoots the attackers and runs away, but finds himself and Kelly in pursuit. A wild run through the city ensues, followed by a fire. Devoe and Kelly escaped unharmed.

 

According to the trucking company, these nuclear weapons are going to Iran via Azerbaijan. When American spy satellites place a truck in a refugee traffic jam in Dagestan, Devoe uses a ruse to identify it. This information was passed on to Russian authorities in hopes of stopping the transfer to Iran. Russian troops stop Kodoroff at a roadblock, but he and his men kill the soldiers.

Devoe leads an airborne special operations team from a US base in Turkey to stop them. Denied access to Russian airspace, one of the three special ops helicopters is shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile, but the Khodoroff truck finds the remaining two. They fire missiles that disable Kodoroff's truck, then engage in a firefight, killing Kodoroff and securing the warships. A surviving member of the team, an American-educated Pakistani nuclear scientist, reveals that a warship was dispatched with an operative before intercepting the truck.

Trucking company information leads IFOR to Sarajevo address. Inside is a videocassette of Dusan Gavric, a Bosnian who claims no allegiance to any particular faction in the Yugoslav wars, but blames other countries for supplying weapons to all sides in the war. Kelly's further analysis of the trucking company documents was conducted at the UN in New York City. Gavric tells a meeting at headquarters that he wants to drop a bomb. Gavric arrives in Manhattan with the Bosnian diplomatic delegation.

A flashback shows Gavric seeking revenge for the deaths of his wife and daughter, who were killed in Sarajevo during a sniper attack. He and his brother are later found by Devoe and Kelly. When his brother is killed by Devoe, a wounded and enraged Gavric flees into a massive school found in the church's sanctuary. Devoe and Kelly confront a suicidal Gavric, knowing that the bomb will go off in minutes. With only a few seconds to spare, Dr. Kelly is able to remove a portion of the bomb's explosive lens shell and stop the primary explosion from establishing critical mass in the plutonium core. Devoe and Kelly dive out the window when the primary explosives detonate, destroying the church. Kelly's manipulation of the warhead prevents it from detonating into a nuclear explosion. After the nuclear incident, Kelly watched a swimming lap in a pool. Devoe stops by and asks her for a drink, which she accepts.

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