The Peacekeeper

Major Frank Cross faces a court martial for an act of mercy he showed to Turkish refugees. However the President intervenes and employs him to protect the black bag that contains the missile launch code for the US nuclear weapons. On his first day, Cross is attacked by terrorists and loses the black bag. He follows the terrorists to the silo and teams up with Kt Con Northrop to stop the launch. Meanwhile the President is on-route to meet the demands of the terrorist - however their demands are not ordinary.

Oh good - more `terrorists with nukes' plots, throw in a bit of Die Hard and we're away. The story here is really daft and has major plot drivers that aren't explained. It's not a bad plot overall - in fact the demands and the motives of the terrorists are quite clever and interesting. However it is a Dolph Lungren film so it's not going to be that great…..

The action scenes are OK but rarely believable, eg a rooftop car chase is fun but stupid! The terrorist's main demand brings the greatest tension, but their motives make them seem too sympathetic and when they become ruthless it is harder to accept. Outside of this `demand' I thought it was mostly poor, most of the plot seemed to exist to create action scenes that didn't deliver.

Lungren is as good as ever - ie, mediocre. He does his strong man stuff well, but he lacks charisma and relateability. Scheider is OK as the President and plays out his dilemma well - however the script lets him off too lightly. Chat show host Montel is actually OK as Northrop, but I just couldn't forget that it was Montel!

Overall this is bland video entertainment - it's not terrible, but it's not good either.

I don't know who I felt sorry for more in this movie, Roy Scheider or Dolph Lundgren. Roy Scheider was a one time big box office star who's now appearing in low budget action films. Dolph Lundgren aspired to rise above B action movies and I heard he even quit movies a few years ago out of disgust, only to return to yet another low budget role.

Roy plays the president, and speaks in a delicate southern accent that seems completely out of character for him. Dolph plays the hero (natch) but he's showing his age and looks really silly when he runs.

The movie? Mix together the last several straight to video action dramas you've seen. Everything from the camera angle to the canned music soundtrack seems like stuff you've seen dozens of times. I'm beginning to wonder if movies like this don't all come from a parallel universe where things happen the way they do on screen, they all seem like they have interchangeable parts and were made by the same person.

A surprising assemblage of talented actors came together to make this not unusual Dolph Lundgren military thriller. The story tells a neocon version of Dr. Strangelove with hints of The Rock. Rather than lampooning military paranoia, dysfunction and bureaucracy, The Peacekeeper presents us with a psychotic ex-military man who is hell-bent on personal vengeance against the president of the United States. How? by wiping out a third of the U.S.' population.

Lundgren is charged with protecting the 'black box' - a briefcase which controls the launch of a massive nuclear arsenal. On his first day on the job, the briefcase is stolen and he begins a chase which will comprise most of the remainder of the film.

Not surprising considering the cast - The Peacekeeper is better-acted than one would expect given the average quality of the script and the rather redundant and silly story. Lundgren, rarely challenged, gives the film his standard performance, Scheider and Montel Williams are very good, and Sarrazin plays the heavy well. But the entire production is hamstrung by the weak script and not very believable storyline.

The cinematography is above average for this sort of film. The directing is OK.

Recommended for Lundgren fans and fans of military fantasy.

Dolph Lundgren stars as Major Frank Cross, a special forces soldier who is the very best in the army, and him and Lt. Northrop (Montel Williams !!!) are the only soldiers who can thwart "Cyclops" (Michael Sarrazin) from nuking Washington D.C, his demands by the way are forcing the president to commit suicide on live TV, suffice to say the peace is kept with an exchange of gunfire. The Peacekeeper is a modest take on Die Hard, with some suspenseful sequences, good action and a thrilling car-chase on roof tops. The Peacekeeper on all fronts is one of Dolph Lundgren's better films and features one of his best casts. Both Roy Scheider and Michael Sarrazin are always welcome presences to such an action film and Lundgren is in fine form. The main flaws is that use of too many scenes of bomb disarming which gets tiresome, also the movie has some plot holes and the film's beginning doesn't fit with the rest of the movie but as it goes the Die Hard route the film works and even has a great climax. Montel Williams is also none too convincing but once again the movie is a solid B.movie take on Die Hard.

* *1/2 Out of 4-(Pretty Good)

'Die Hard' clones are awesome. Dolph Lundgren is awesome. Therefore, 'The Peackeeper', being both a 'Die Hard' clone and Dolph Lundgren movie, is awesome. I dare you to find a flaw in my logic, I dare you.

Dolph plays Frank Cross, an officer in the United States Air Force. After dropping food to some refugees in Turkey, Cross is threatened with a court-martial. Gotta love how the U.S. military operates. However, he is save by the President's campaign team, who hope to use his mini-celebrity status as a public relations tool. Cross is given the job of guarding the Black Bag - the means by which the President can order a nuclear strike. Naturally, on Cross' first day, highly-equipped terrorists steal the bag and threaten to launch a nuclear strike at Washington.

Basically, 'The Peacekeeper' is 'Die Hard' in a nuclear missile silo. It is not as awesome as 'Die Hard', but its still pretty awesome. The plot is pretty similar to that of 'Under Siege' with a change of setting and a slight change of characters. In fact, the main bad guy (Lt. Colonel Douglas Murphy (Michael Sarrazin)) is suspiciously similar to Tommy Lee Jones' character from 'Under Siege'...

'The Peacekeeper' boasts some very cool action sequences. One early scene involves a car-chase along some city roof-tops, and while the movie peaks there and turns into a series of martial-arts and gun-fights for the next hour, this is still a well-done action movie, and easily one of Dolph's better efforts.

'The Peacekeeper' is a very good action movie. Fans of Dolph Lundgren (all five of us out there) should enjoy it, as should anyone else looking for a good action flick - 8/10