The Peacemaker was the film that launched Dreamworks, the studio created by Spielberg, Geffen and Katzenberg. The studio that was supposed to revitalise Hollywood but its own dreams fizzled out less than a decade later.George Clooney and Nicole Kidman go out of the gates helped with talent from the television show ER such as director Mimi Leder, so Clooney will feel comfortable with his transition from television star to movie star.Watching the film again, the start of the movie looked rather familiar. It seems Spielberg riffed it for his fourth Indiana Jones film in 2008. Some rogue Russian military officers kill the soldiers in a transport train and steal nuclear warheads. One warhead is left behind which crashes to an oncoming passenger train and is then detonated.The Russians claim it is an accident. The White House nuclear expert Dr Julia Kelly (Nicole Kidman) believes that the bomb was set off deliberately by terrorists rebels from somewhere like Chechnya. Maverick Colonel Thomas Devoe (George Clooney) believes that this was an elaborately staged heist to market nuclear weapons to the highest bidder. With the bomb going off it could be months before anyone can get to the accident site to find out what happens, enough time for the villains to carry out their plan.Kelly and Devoe join forces and discover that the plan involves more than selling nuclear missiles to a rogue state but linked to the events of the breakup of Yugoslavia as a Bosnian Serb leader wants to make a statement.The film is a solid action thriller, some of it is nonsense. The main villain Dusan describes himself as a Serb, a Croat and a Muslim. I have no idea what this meant but it might feel insulting to the survivors of the Bosnian ethnic genocide in the 1990s.However it is a well paced thriller, some of the CGI does look cheap, it appears to be intelligent by mentioning all the current hot spots of the era. There is good chemistry between Kidman and Clooney but their characters are thinly sketched. The film has nothing that makes it outstanding or even memorable.

This is not a great film, a powerful drama or a meaningful social commentary. However it is a damn good action film with good acting, impressive effects and never a dull moment. Things explode, get shot, crash, collide and plummet to doom and disaster almost from the opening scene. But although the violence is excessive, it's violence of the James Bond/Bugs Bunny variety: so fast paced and excessive it's inoffensive and entertaining. This is a 20 year old movie yet the effects are as impressive as anything done today, including a nuclear explosion. And if you are a rail buff, the first thirty minutes or so are a real treat. It's flat out escapism. But that's not always a bad thing. Just the thing for a rainy Monday night!

A US Army colonel (George Clooney) and a civilian woman (Nicole Kidman) supervising him must track down stolen Russian nuclear weapons before they are used by terrorists.My biggest problem with this film is that it seemed to me to be miscast. George Clooney is pretty good, and he plays the smarmy role he is great at doing (the modern day Cary Grant). Nicole Kidman seems off, though. The role never seems to fit her, and there never seems to be a clear understanding of who she is: bumbling, nervous librarian? Or assertive world-class diplomat? Not surprisingly, the movie has sort of faded into obscurity, and will probably continue to do so as time goes on.

Two trains crash somewhere in Russia, one carrying a nuclear payload.A nuclear explosion follows the crash and the world is on alert...However, White House nuclear expert Dr. Julia Kelly doesn't think it was an accident.Special Operations Intelligence Officer Colonel Thomas Devoe doesn't think so either. Together they must unravel a conspiracy that goes from Europe to New York, to stop a terrorist who has no demands...before Out of Sight made Clooney officially the coolest man on the planet, he was the one from ER who seemed desperate to be a huge movie star.A few of his movies, including this one, were so high profile, but so poorly received and average at the box office.It's because they seem so unique with the synopsis, but the execution is so average. Here Clooney has a bit of a swagger wearing white trousers and smirking at Kidman, who justs gets in a fluster every now and again.Sounds like the perfect recipe for a romantic comedy. But this is about Nuclear Weapons going missing. And the film drags in places.One of dreamworks first releases, it does have its moments. The car chase is quite good, and a siege on a bridge is visually impressive, as is the claustrophobic feel of the final act.But for a film that is over two hours long, these really seem few and far between, when the rest of the time we are treated to heated debate.The two stars are good, and you can tell Clooney will be big, It's a good job he met Soderbergh though. Heaven knows what would have happened to his career otherwise.