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.
The Peacekeeper
1997
Action
The Peacekeeper
1997
Action
Plot summary
United States air force Major Frank Cross is in trouble with the "brass" again. This time he's made an unauthorized humanitarian relief flight ... dropping sacks of rice to starving Kurds. To the press, he's a hero. The Pentagon would like to court martial him, but can't because the President wants the highly photogenic media hero by his side--at least until after the next election. So Cross has a new assignment. He's to carry the "black bag"-- the President's high-tech briefcase containing the "go codes" and communications computer for launching America's nuclear ICBM arsenal in case of national emergency. It should be a piece of cake, but... On his first day on the job, a team of mercenaries steal the briefcase and drop Cross off a tenth floor balcony. Miraculously, he not only survives, but pursues the terrorists in a hijacked taxi. The ensuing car chase careens through the alleyways and streets of Chicago, up the ramps of a parking garage and then, unexpectedly, continues over the rooftops of the adjacent buildings! When the taxi takes a fiery plunge off one of the buildings, the mercenaries think they've seen the last of him ... but Cross has bailed out and manages to stowaway on the helicopter that plucks them, and the black bag, from the rooftops, into the night sky and onwards to their final target... United States Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Facility K-7. Disguised as one of the terrorists, Cross slips into the missile silo as the crack team murders the silo personnel and takes over launch control using the secret codes contained in the black bag. Led by ex-Marine Colonel Douglas Murphy, who went "missing in action" during an undercover operation in Iraq, they launch a terrifying warning shot: a Peacekeeper nuclear missile that destroys Mount Rushmore! Only then does Murphy call the President and make his chilling demand. The President is to kill himself in front of a live television audience, or the two remaining nuclear missiles will be targeted on Washington D.C. Only Frank Cross, Joined by the surviving commander of the Missile Facility, Lieutenant Colonel Bernard Northrop, can stop the madness that threatens the President and millions of civilians. The odds are overwhelming. The countdown has started. The PEACEKEEPER is ready to blast off!—anonymous
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Movie Reviews
Another Ludicrous Military Thriller
Breaking point...
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)
Dolph does 'Die Hard'
'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