Clooney plays American hero in 'The Peacemaker'

By Laksmi Pamuntjak-Djohan

JAKARTA (JP): That America should play world savior is no news. That America should have a double standard in this role is no news, either.

But that America saves Americans from vengeful terrorists is the ultimate no news, because it has been peddled by Hollywood a dozen times too many.

The Peacemaker is the latest in this line of offerings. And deliver it does.

For one, it is the maiden project of Dreamworks SKG, the studio owned by three Hollywood bigwigs: Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. It stars two of Hollywood's current phenoms: George Clooney of the irresistible bedroom eyes and Nicole Kidman of the steely, long-legged determination.

And it is possibly the only movie this year to topple Con Air in its knock-your-socks-off, non-stop action pace.

Clooney brings his entire arsenal of charms -- sexy, smug, sardonic -- to bear on his character, Army Intelligence Officer Lt. Colonel Thomas Devoe. He is a man of action to Kidman's high- profile nuclear scientist, Dr. Julia Kelly.

Together they stay on the trail of Russian terrorists who have stolen 10 nuclear warheads and thrown them onto the black market to the highest bidder. The buyer to watch is Duson (Marcel Iures), a self-professed Serb-Croat-Muslim who holds the West responsible for what happened in Bosnia, and intends to exact justice by blowing New York to smithereens.

Since the demise of the Cold War, the issue of nuclear proliferation has become one of the most immediate threats to America's self-appointed role as the world's "peacekeeper". Ensuring that either nuclear expertise or fissile material be kept out of the "wrong" hands is certainly not as fun as playing the world's deadliest game of chicken.

But the 1991 START Treaty did precious little in controlling Soviet strategic and tactical nuclear weapons. The collapse of the Iron Curtain also transformed the former Soviet armed forces into an army without a state.

Soldiers are badly paid and fed. Their superiors, who used to be the elite of the nation, are now left with hardly any professional prospects.

Fears of Russian dominance has also prompted former Soviet states to arm themselves to the hilt, giving rise to the so- called "ultra-nationalism". Just take recent Hollywood films, such as Golden Eye, The Saint and Air Force One, all of which deal with hard-liners bemoaning their glorious past. Yes, the quintessential bad guys are back, but as sore losers itching to make Americans pay for ruining their lives.

First-time motion picture director Mimi Leder has more than proven her worth in an industry steeped in blockbuster mentality. The movie's tension never lets up for all of its two hours, two minutes running time.

Combining James Bond for its globe-trotting approach and Tom Clancy for its setting in military planes, conference rooms and nerve centers, this is a high-voltage trip where brutality is played out against an official backdrop of "global security".

A superbly-crafted car chase scene that demolishes Vienna's picturesque streets is clearly modeled after the riveting Colombian car chase scene in Phillip Noyce's Clear and Present Danger. The opening hijack scene -- in which a train carrying an armed nuclear warhead is put on a collision course with a Russian passenger train -- sets a new standard in cinematic action.

Yes, The Peacemaker is fast, brusque, macho. It's also violent to boot. But this is as taut an action thriller as it comes, a promising sign, at least for now, that Mimi Leder is here to stay.

Yet glimpses of Leder the woman often bob up to the surface, leavening the movie's full-on physicality and Michael Schiffer's sexist script. Although the frenetic pace leaves little room for atmospherics, she has an eye for scenic locales and periodically displays a sense for subtle nuances. Hans Zimmer's electrifying soundtrack is an added bonus, possibly the best work to date in this genre.

Leder's feminine touch extends to ensuring that Kidman is never floored by Clooney's chauvinistic remarks. Indeed, by playing her character as slightly aloof and intelligent throughout, Kidman proudly holds her own. Being taller than Clooney obviously helps too.

Having directed Clooney in E.R., Leder also knows how to best project his ladies' man attributes without undermining his action hero potential. Clooney's Devoe certainly reeks of Sean Connery at his prime: charming, humorous but deadly.

But this is where a seemingly familiar exercise can be dangerous: the movie is so slick and so professional that it threatens to obscure its own insensitivities. The Bosnian nightmare is not yet over and millions haven't even begun to nurse their wounds. And already three Hollywood honchos are quick to use the situation as a premise for yet another display of American heroics.

Equally dangerous is the fact that all Russian and Serbian characters in The Peacemaker are played by Russian and Serbian actors. Granted, Russian actor Valery Nikolaev's impressive performance in The Saint has alerted Hollywood to the fact that foreign actors make better (and cheaper) foreign villains.

Yet what does this quest for "authenticity" do except to make the foreign threat even more terrifyingly real? How can we even begin to understand Duson's pain if he's supposed to be responsible for a destruction that kills thousands of innocent people?

Depicting him as a Chopin-loving pianist is a cheap stab at humanizing a character who still has to die for putting American lives on the line. So much for Hollywood making apologies for Western indifference to the Balkan plight.