Our Flick of the Week is “The Peacemaker,” in which first-time feature-film director Mimi Leder breathes life into a tired genre — the stolen nuclear warhead thriller — and a previously listless actor, George Clooney, who may be a hunk but was a boring one in his past two films, “One Fine Day” and “Batman & Robin.”
I don’t know how filming TV’s “ER” prepared Leder to do action sequences, but she proves to be an original talent in staging both the hijacking of a trainload of bombs in Europe as well as a street-level manhunt in Manhattan. As for Clooney, he doesn’t say much, which is a help. But he also seems actually interested in what he’s doing here — tracking a Bosnian terrorist hell-bent on taking his cause to the world stage. Out to stop the terrorist is a duo consisting of Clooney, a U.S. Army Special Forces colonel, and a high-ranking White House aide in charge of tracking nuclear weapons, played exceedingly well by Nicole Kidman. She is not new to the action genre — she was absolutely credible under attack at sea in “Dead Calm” — but here she brings a brainy, restrained power to the party.
“The Peacemaker” has been reviewed negatively by some critics who have pointed out that it’s the first production of the new entertainment company created by Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg. I wonder if, because of that link, those reviews have an extra edge. Rated R. (star) (star) (star)
– THE ASSIGNMENT. An overwrought thriller set in the 1970s in which Aidan Quinn plays a naval officer recruited by CIA Deputy Chief Donald Sutherland to eliminate the notorious terrorist known as “The Jackal.” The special wrinkle in this story is that the training begins to consume and alter Quinn’s personality. What happens thereafter is anybody’s guess because the screenplay purposefully frustrates us. Because a great “Jackal” movie already exists, my suggestion is to rent Fred Zinnemann’s “The Day of the Jackal” (1973) instead. R. (star) (star)
– THE EDGE. What is David Mamet’s elegantly blunt dialogue doing in a movie like this? Anthony Hopkins plays a supremely intelligent billionaire who accompanies his spectacular model wife (Elle Macpherson) on an Alaskan wilderness shoot and ends up going mano-a-mano with her stud photographer (Alec Baldwin). Both men also go “mano-a-claw” with a big bear, who ridiculously gets the first on-screen credit as the movie ends. The ending of the picture is a coin flip as to who shall live and who, if anyone, shall die. That it makes no difference and that the choice seems so arbitrary only indicates our lack of interest in the characters themselves. R. (star) (star) 1/2
– SOUL FOOD. An engaging family drama in which a child ultimately conspires to bring his quarreling family together through the tradition of their Sunday night dinners. Vanessa L. Williams, Vivica A. Fox and Chicago actress Irma P. Hall (so good in “A Family Thing”) are part of an ensemble cast that expresses joy constantly. R. (star) (star) (star)
– A THOUSAND ACRES. Three grown daughters of a tyrannical farmer (Jason Robards) are thrown into turmoil when he deeds them the family land. But instead of exploring the fresh problem of family businesses, this story, based on Jane Smiley’s prize-winning novel, ploughs the familiar ground of a deep family secret — child abuse. How can something so horrific be turned into a cliche? Many movies are doing it, this one included. Wasted are strong performances by Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jennifer Jason Leigh. R. (star) (star)
– = New this week
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