If you haven't guessed by now, or if you haven't read any of my reviews, I enjoy action movies that take place in Europe. I can't explain why, it may have to do with the fact that I really want to go to Europe and visit the entire continent (even France.) I just love seeing the architecture and the roads, the accents and probably the people (again even the French.) So whenever there is a movie that has lots of guns and cars and it takes place around Europe, I am probably going to like it. Hell I even watched The Order, which is a crappy movie. Anyway, I enjoyed The Peacemaker even though it's not much more than an average movie.

The Peacemaker stars Nicole Kidman and George Clooney who try to stop a Bosnian-Serb politician/terrorist from setting off a nuclear weapon in New York City, somewhere close to the United Nations. This movie is a pre-9/11 movie but should not bring back to many memories of that day because only the last scene takes place in New York.

This movie starts with a nuclear explosion in the Ural Mountains of Russia. The missles are onboard a troop train carrying several nuclear weapons to a site to be destroyed. However, it turns out that a Russian General set off one weapon and steals the rest to sell to any takers. The temporary NSA chief assistant officer Dr. Julia Kelly (Kidman) is assigned by the White House to investigate with an Army Liaison Col. Devoe (Clooney.) Together they run around Europe and Russian trying to find the General and whomever he is selling the weapons too. Eventually one of the warheads gets into a Bosnian's hands and he brings it with him to New York to blow up the UN. Will Clooney and Kidman stop the bad man in time?

Ok, like I said the movie is average. Kidman is never convincing as a female action star and she seems out of place, which she is. Clooney doesn't do a bad job as an action star and is a lot better than the other action movie he did in the same year, portraying the incredible gay Bruce Wayne in the even gayer Batman & Robin. I could have seen Clooney as a good action star in the late 90's and even to the present day, but he has decided not to go that route. Which seeing his other movies since than I have to ask why?

The director, Mimi Leder (Deep Impact, Pay It Forward,) does a nice job of directing, she is no John McTiernan but as her first action movie, this movie isn't bad.

There are a lot of action movies that are better than this one, but chances are you haven't seen this one and you should. It's a fun movie.

Brian - the Naked Gun