Review of Peacemaker, The

Introduction

I remember seeing The Peacemaker on rental video when it came out and being surprised at how much I enjoyed the movie. It was never available in widescreen on VHS, so when I got my DVD player, the R1 version was fairly near the top of my shopping list.

The film stars George Clooney and Nicole Kidman who team up to fight against terrorists who have stolen nuclear warheads in Russia and plan to set one of them off in New York...

Video

Video comes in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and whilst the image is very good by VHS standards, it is not as clear as you would expect from a film made four years ago, with some scenes displaying a slight lack of detail, and others suffering from being a little dark.

Visually the film has plenty to offer, with excellent locations used to good effect. There’s a good train sequence, a nuclear explosion, a fantastic car chase, a helicopter assault team and a grand finale in New York – all of which looks good and are very entertaining.

Audio

The soundtrack comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 and is very good throughout the film, with full use made of the channels for Hans Zimmer’s score and the sound effects.

Of particular note for home cinema fans who like to replay scenes at excessive volume are the nuclear explosion and the helicopter assault scenes.

Dialogue is clear and understandable throughout.

Features

Extras consist of outtakes, “stunt footage”, trailers, cast/crew bios and the production notes in the case insert.

Conclusion

Overall The Peacemaker is an entertaining action movie, which provides two hours of no-brain noisy fun.

It’s best not to pay too much attention to the plot, as is the case with many action movies there are plenty of holes and “as-if” moments throughout. Both stars play their parts well, although Clooney is clearly better suited to action roles than Kidman.

The video and sound are both good, but not great and the extras interesting but minimal.

The disc is now available in Region 2, so I would suggest that you rent it out before buying, it’s above average for an action movie, but not the best of the genre.