The Peacemaker

The dream of a new studio usually starts with a bang, but in the case of DreamWorks Pictures, it started with a literal nuclear explosion. In 1997, all eyes were on Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen to see what their "megastudio" would produce. Instead of an Oscar-bait epic or an animated juggernaut, they handed us The Peacemaker, a high-stakes, gray-skied thriller that feels like the ultimate bridge between the muscle-bound 80s and the tech-heavy 2000s. I watched this recently on a humid Tuesday while my neighbor was power-washing his driveway, and the rhythmic shhh of the water strangely synced up with Hans Zimmer’s driving, percussive score.

The setup is classic 90s: a Russian train carrying atomic warheads is "hijacked" (read: blown up to cover a theft), and suddenly a few nukes are unaccounted for. This brings together an unlikely duo: Dr. Julia Kelly (Nicole Kidman), a nuclear scientist who somehow maintains perfect hair while tracking radioactive isotopes, and Lt. Col. Thomas Devoe (George Clooney), a Special Forces guy who treats international diplomacy like he’s trying to return a slightly defective toaster.

The DreamWorks Debut and the Movie Star Gamble

Looking back, The Peacemaker was a massive gamble on George Clooney's ability to be a leading man. He was fresh off the Batman & Robin disaster and still pulling double duty on ER. Director Mimi Leder, who had worked with him on ER, gives him plenty of room to be the charmingly arrogant rogue. Clooney plays a man who would clearly punch a diplomat if they took the last bagel at a summit. He’s all smiles and "trust me" nods, but he has that 90s action hero edge where he’s willing to dangle a Russian officer over a balcony just to get a phone number.

Nicole Kidman, who had just come off The Portrait of a Lady, provides the necessary groundedness. While the movie occasionally slips into the "men don't listen to the smart woman" trope, Kelly isn't a damsel. She’s the one doing the actual math while Devoe is busy breaking traffic laws. Interestingly, the film was based on the non-fiction book One Point Safe by Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, which dealt with the very real, very terrifying security of the former Soviet Union’s nuclear arsenal. That sliver of reality keeps the stakes from feeling too cartoonish.

Mercedes, BMWs, and the Art of the Real Chase

The centerpiece of this film—and the reason it’s worth a rewatch today—is the car chase through the streets of Vienna (actually filmed in Bratislava for budgetary reasons). In an era right before CGI started turning cars into weightless toys, this sequence is a masterclass in crunching metal. It’s a multi-car pursuit featuring a fleet of black Mercedes-Benzes that feel like tanks. You can feel the weight of the vehicles as they smash through outdoor cafes and narrow alleys.

There’s a specific moment where Clooney’s car gets pinned against a truck, and the sound design—the screeching of steel on steel—is genuinely grating in the best way possible. Mimi Leder’s background in TV drama serves her well here; she understands that action is boring if you don't understand the geography of the scene. You always know where the characters are, even when the glass is shattering. It’s the kind of movie that thinks a nuclear physicist would definitely wear a tailored trench coat to a tactical briefing, but you forgive the fashion choices because the practical stunts are so tactile and heavy.

The Pre-9/11 Anxiety of a Missing Warhead

What’s most striking about The Peacemaker in a post-9/11 world is how it handles its villain. Marcel Iureș plays Dusan Gavrich, a man driven not by a desire for world domination, but by the bottomless grief of the Bosnian War. He’s a tragic figure, a pianist who has lost everything and wants the world to feel his pain. It’s a surprisingly somber turn for a film that also features George Clooney jumping onto a moving truck from a helicopter.

The final act moves from the wide-open spaces of Eastern Europe to the cramped, panicked streets of New York City. The shift in tone is jarring but effective. Seeing a backpack-sized nuke being carried through a crowded Manhattan is a trope we’ve seen a thousand times since, but here, in 1997, it felt like a chillingly plausible nightmare. The film doesn't rely on the "ticking clock" being a digital readout; it’s a physical, mechanical process that requires Kidman’s character to perform what essentially amounts to high-stakes surgery on a bomb.

While it never quite reaches the heights of The Fugitive or the sheer fun of Speed, The Peacemaker is a solid, professional thriller that reminds us of a time when "action" meant real cars and real explosions. It’s the quintessential "DVD era" movie—one that you’d find in a bargain bin and realize, three-quarters of the way through, that you’re actually having a great time. It may have been a somewhat modest start for the DreamWorks empire, but as a showcase for a blossoming George Clooney and a demonstration of Mimi Leder's grip on tension, it’s a relic of the late 90s that deserves more than a footnote in a history book. If you've got two hours and a craving for a movie that treats a Mercedes like a battering ram, this is your stop.