The Peacemaker is a movie from 1997 directed by Mimi Leder, staring
Nicole Kidman and
George Clooney. It was the first film released by
Dreamworks.
A collision of Russian trains results in a nuclear explosion that turns out to be a cover for theft of other weapons. An official in the US State Department overseeing nuclear weapons, Dr Julia Kelly (Kidman) and a US Army Special Forces officer LTC Tom DeVoe (Clooney) must work together to find and recover the stolen nukes before they can be used. The movie was filmed in Slovakia and parts of the former Eastern Bloc as well as
New York City. An example of the post-
Cold War era in film making, it still retains a great deal of the
Cold War focus on the Russian threat and American world supremacy. The film received mixed reviews and performed modestly well at the Box Office.
Tropes:
- Artistic License - Nuclear Physics: averted, in that Dr Kelly actually does know what she's talking about (and the script-writers got the details largely correct)
- Bilingual Backfire: the backfire ends up on DeVoe. Twice
- Colonel Badass
- Communications Officer: CPN Beach is arguably one
- Dangerous Deserter: General Aleksandr Kodorof - he starts out mad, bad, and dangerous to know. And that's before the credits finish.
- Desk Jockey: Devoe's AF NCO buddy who's been listening in on satellites
- Empty Quiver: only regarding Russian nukes this time.
- Every Man Has His Price: At one point, Dr. Kelly questions Colonel DeVoe's ethics due to his aptness in using bribery to get things done in Eastern Europe. He returns her scorn by explaining that when in Rome, you bribe like the Romans...
- Facial Recognition Software: Portrayed properly for the technology of the 1990's
- Friendly Sniper: in a minor capacity, and it's more Cold Sniper, inverted
- From Russia With Nukes
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In-universe, so much that the German mobster uses "Hasselhoff" as his password.
- Hauled Before A Senate Sub Committee: DeVoe thinks outside the box - *way* outside the box.
- Ivy League For Everyone: Kelly. It comes out while she and DeVoe are engaged in verbal arm-wrestling.
- Military Maverick: Devoe - see Hauled Before A Senate Sub Committee above
- Opposing Combat Philosophies: Devoe and Kelly - who don't let it get in the way of their shared goal.
- Straw Civilian: adverted. Kelly doesn't approve of guns or of Devoe, but she's a rounded character who holds her own
- Why We're Bummed Communism Fell: A White House official says it outright - "Russia, what a fucking mess! God, I miss the cold war. "
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