This film, Dreamworks SKG Studios' first motion picture release, is an entertaining and occasionally gripping no-nonsense thriller. While all but one of the studio's TV programs have been canned, they should have a moderately successful hit with this feature. Emmy Award winning director Mimi Leder (who won for TV's "ER") more than adequately helms the story that's little more than a retread of similarly plotted James Bond films. The bad guys have the nukes and James, er Batman, I mean George Clooney must find and stop them. It's a simple enough story (with the Bondesque Russian setting and bad military officers), yet it still comes across as an extremely enjoyable diversion and it's certainly easy on the eyes. Clooney and Kidman are an attractive action duo, and they play the leads whose dissimilar approach to solving the problem generates some tension. While one expects the usual conflict-based sparks between them to eventually lead to romantic ones, that's not the case here. This film and its characters are all business, and for the most part it's actually a welcome change from the stereotypical "opposites attract" plot device. Yet, a bit more humor would have given their characters a little more dimension and would have softened the film's no-nonsense demeanor. There's a little bit there, but we would have liked to have seen more.
Clooney and Kidman are good, but not great, in their roles, and do what they need to in order to move the story along. Clooney's on the verge of becoming the next big action hero and fares better here than he did in "Batman & Robin" where he was hidden in his costume and was always in the shadow of the outrageous, and overused villains. Kidman has great on screen charisma, and she gets to play a decent role here, but her character's impact lessens as Clooney takes charge. There are some logic flaws of course, including a scene where Clooney lowers the bulletproof driver's side window of his car -- and leaves it down -- while the bad guys are shooting at him. In another, he repels down into a canvas topped truck before knowing whether the terrorists inside are all dead. These are minor complaints, and are of the variety that are easily overlooked due to the heavy action that's occurring on screen. The musical score occasionally gets heavy handed and Leder relies on it a bit too much for creating atmosphere. She does, however, deliver some great action and suspense scenes that not only make up for any of the film's deficiencies, but also stand up comparably to any other director's similar-based work. "The Peacemaker" won't go down in history as being a great movie by any means, but it's certainly a fun way to pass two hours in a darkened theater. We give this film a 7.5 out of 10.