Peacemaker
Tags: cult

Plot synopsis:
In an Eastern Orthodox church in Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina, an unidentified man (later revealed to be a Bosnian diplomat to the UN) is murdered after being paged to meet someone outside.
At a missile base in Russia, SS-18 ICBMs are being decommissioned. Ten nuclear warheads are loaded onto a train and sent to a separate site for dismantling. However, Russian General Aleksandr Kodoroff, along with a rogue tactical unit, kills the soldiers on board the transport train and transfers nine of the warheads to another train. Kodoroff then activates the timer on the remaining warhead and sends the transport on a collision course with a passenger train. Minutes later, the 500-kiloton warhead detonates, killing the survivors and delaying an investigation.
The detonation immediately attracts the attention of the U.S. government. White House nuclear expert Dr. Julia Kelly believes that Chechen terrorists are behind the incident. U.S. Army Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Devoe interrupts her briefing to suggest that the crash and detonation were staged to hide the hijacking of the other warheads. A call to Devoe's long-time friend and Russian counterpart, Dimitri Vertikoff, adds credence to his hypothesis and he is assigned as Dr. Kelly's military liaison.
Kelly and Devoe try to track the terrorists through an Austrian trucking company which is a front for the Russian Mafia. When the Mafia realizes they are U.S. government agents, they send thugs to kill them. Vertikoff, attempting to pay them off, is killed. Devoe kills most of the would-be assassins, and he and Kelly escape. Information from the trucking company shows that the nukes are bound for Iran. Spy satellites place the truck in a traffic jam in Dagestan, and Devoe uses a ruse to identify it. The satellite, tracking in real time, is able to verify its license plate.
Stopped at a checkpoint, Kodoroff and his men kill the guards. Devoe then leads a special forces unit to stop them. Denied entry into Russian airspace, one of the helicopters is shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile battery, but the remaining helicopters are able to locate the truck carrying the warheads. A gunfight ensues in which Kodoroff is killed and the warheads are seized. Interrogation of the surviving member of the group reveals that one warhead was taken by another man.
Further work on the information from the trucking company leads IFOR to a Sarajevo address. Inside is a video cassette of a Yugoslav named Dušan Gavrić. Gavrić disclaims any allegiance in the Yugoslav Wars ("I am a Serb, a Croat, and a Muslim"), but blames other countries for supplying weapons to all sides in the war. Dr. Kelly realizes he intends to bomb a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York City and the city goes into lockdown. Gavrić arrives in Manhattan with the Bosnian diplomatic delegation. A flashback shows that Gavrić wants to avenge the death of his wife and daughter, who were killed in Sarajevo. He and his brother are finally found by the NYPD. When his brother is killed by Devoe, a wounded Gavrić is followed into a parochial school and then a church. Devoe confronts Gavrić, who commits suicide, knowing that the bomb is set to go off in a matter of minutes and cannot be deactivated. With only seconds to spare, Dr. Kelly is able to remove a part of the explosive lens shell of the bomb, preventing the primary explosion from establishing critical mass within the plutonium core. The primary wrecks the church, but the warhead itself does not detonate. Devoe and Kelly both survive with minor injuries.

Review: Aliens, non-stop action, and Hilary Shepard.
What more do you want?.
Due to budgetary limitations, this movie isn't quite up to the same standard as similar films from the Eighties/early Nineties that it was clearly influenced by (for example, THE HIDDEN, DARK ANGEL, and THE TERMINATOR).
The use of familiar stock footage from BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS to portray the alien's arrival on Earth is particularly disappointing.
However, despite these problems, PEACEMAKER is still a highly entertaining sci-fi/action hybrid that has been undeservedly overlooked and is ripe for rediscovery.
It's also one of the few films in which the gorgeous and talented B movie actress Hilary Shepard was given a leading role..
A fun cable surprise!.
Peacemaker came on cable one night.
Didn't know anything about it, but boy I'm glad I stayed with it!
Not only is it full of well-executed action, but the plot is ingenious - a good and a bad alien both land on earth, and each claim the other is the "bad guy" and we're kept guessing right up until end of the movie as to which is which!
Not terribly well-written, but the clever idea, tongue-in-cheek tone, and quality action count for a lot..
Why I enjoyed Peacemaker.
This movie was one of the more fun ones that I've seen in a while.
There isn't 2 minutes that go by without explosions, gunshots, car chases, and other fun treats.
Peacemaker is a movie that, when you first start watching, you think will be a big waste of time.
Nope, just the opposite.
This movie is packed with testosterone pumped fun.
After about a minute, when the action started to pick up, I knew already that this wasn't going to be your average, boring B-movie.
Yep, it is a B-movie, but even though the plot is hokey, it manages to pull out a few twists and turns that keeps you guessing who the hero is, and more importantly, it keeps you interested.
One of the only flaws is bad dialogue, with some corny one-liners and such.
But, I suggest that if you spot this at your video rental store on a Friday night, and you're in the mood for some fast-paced action scenes, go for it..
Better than it ought to be..
Okay, the story is kind of dumb (funny how one of the aliens doesn't know what a "joke" is, yet he can use words like "rejuvenate") and won't please sci-fi purists, but if you're more of an action fan, you should find this film unexpectedly entertaining.
It has some truly amazing stunts (including the best motorcycle-passes-under-truck stunt I've ever seen), and it's clever in one respect at least: it jerks us around until the end regarding the question of which of the two aliens is really the "good" one.
"Peacemaker" is a prime example of a movie that is made with a little (money), but works hard and accomplishes a lot.
In fact, it's hard to believe that this film was directed by the same man who made the awful "Night of the Demons".
It's also hard to believe that it's so little-known.
"Starman" + "The Hidden" = lots of stunts!.
God help me, but I enjoyed this movie a great deal.
Jewell Shepard is funny and beautiful and irresistible when gratuitously tied up in phone cord (don't ask), Robert Forster does his usual sturdy work, there is an interesting flip-flop in character sympathies part of the way through and yes, there are some great car stunts and some great fight gags.It was entertaining in spite of its low budget and obviously derivative origins and looked good, too (in terms of lighting and cinematography).
It's nice to see people working in the movie industry that do a good job, a professional job, despite working on what is essentially a piece of junk..
Tenney can make a movie.
First of all, let me proclaim my bias: I am the President and CEO of the Kevin Tenney Fan Club, therefore I enjoy his work.
Granted, the man has never made a blockbuster, but his work is far more entertaining than anything Woody Allen or Michael Bay could ever dream of making.
That being said, I enjoyed this flick but not quite as much as I enjoyed Pinnochio's Revenge or Witchboard.In this film we have a doctor (Hilary Shepard) torn between two aliens, both claiming to be police officers from another planet.
Hilary has a hard time trusting the aliens in human form since they are both tricky and each have the same story - flipping roles to confuse Ms. Shepard.
Hilary changes her allegiance to the men on several occasions throughout the film, but you really can't blame her.
Although this isn't Tenney's finest film, it is much better than other sci-fi films out there.VIOLENCE: $$$$ (I swear, this film employed more stunt men than any other film in the history of cinema.
There are numerous car chase scenes, which I don't usually enjoy, but Kevin makes them great, as well as several explosions.
SInce the aliens can regenerate, Tenney shoots Robert Forster and Lance Edwards about a thousand times each).NUDITY: $$ (Hilary Shepard removes a robe and steps into the shower with one of the aliens and then makes love to him.
Tenney's love scenes are never gratuitous.
You hardly see any of the forbidden flesh).STORY: $$$ (Although the main premise is a recycled one, Tenney is a master story-teller with a superior knack for writing one-liners.
Most of the jokes are spoken through Hilary Shepard's character since the aliens don't have jokes and pranks on their planet.
Unlike most writers, Tenney doesn't write females as the helpless, screaming, wait-for-the-man-to-save-me characters.
He gives his female characters substance).ACTING: $$$ (The acting is alright.
I've always been a fan of the Dos Roberts - Forster and Davi.
Robert Davi's role isn't very substantial but he is solid in it.
Lance Edwards got on my nerves with his alien accent and his acting is a tad stiff.
Hilary Shepard proves to have a knack at delivery one-liners.
She could be described as a female Bruce Campbell.
She does a wonderful job with Tenney's dialogue)..
Boldfaced Ripoff of The Hidden.
As a director, Kevin Tenney's body of work is mixed at best.
But as a writer it's clear that he has no problem stealing the plots of other movies.
This is a blatant ripoff of a 1987 movie called The Hidden, which had the same storyline but much better action sequences.
His later film, Endangered Species, is clearly a ripoff of Terminator.
Witchtrap ripped off The Haunting and Hell House and his own Witchboard, which featured an equally cheesy villain.
The opening set-up of the one Night of the Demons script he wrote (#3) was his attempt to steal Quentin Tarentino's crime action thunder, mixed with his usual rehash of plot points from the original film in the series.
With all the struggling young writers out there trying to make a buck, you'd think that Tenney would throw away his keyboard and hunt for original material.
Looking over his credits on this site, his best films were written by other people..
Hokum.
PEACEMAKER is a not-bad B-movie slice of pure hokum from director Kevin Tenney, the man who brought us NIGHT OF THE DEMONS and WITCHBOARD.
The plot is heavily derived from THE TERMINATOR and sees a woman caught between two men who are aliens masquerading as humans.
One of them's a cop, one's a killer, and she must work out which is which.It's a mixed bag of a movie in terms of execution but the mystery angle of the plot keeps it going, just about.
There's plenty of violent action here, carried out reasonably well on a low budget, and a sense of momentum which means that the narrative is never boring despite the sometimes repetitive nature of the scenes.
Cast-wise, the only actor to really shines is the always-fun Robert Forster, although Robert Davi also shows up in support as a cop..
A very lively, exciting and entertaining sci-fi action romp.
This pleasingly straightforward and unpretentious low-budget sci-fi/action rehash of "Starman" and "The Hidden" depicts two alien adversaries -- brutal escaped convict Yates (the almighty Robert Forster in peak nasty form) and dedicated cop Townshend (hunky Lance Edwards) -- landing on Earth and proceeding to duke it out between themselves, causing a great deal of death and destruction in the process.
Caught in the middle of the aliens' lunatic fray is Dr. Dori Caisson (the gorgeous, but extremely annoying Hilary Shepard), a fiery, tart-tongued pathologist who cuts loose with an endless stream of groan-inducing stupid one-liners ("The only difference between a brown nose and a s**thead is depth perception") and dutifully doffs her duds for the obligatory gratuitous sex scene.Efficiently directed in a taut, punchy, streamlined fashion by underrated B-movie maestro Kevin S.
("Witchboard," "Night of the Demons") Tenney (who also wrote the derivative, but functional script), "Peacemaker" has the right rousing stuff to pass muster as a really satisfying flick: a peppy, barnstorming pace which rarely flags, accomplished, hyper-kinetic cinematography by Thomas Jewett (the manic Steadicam work is especially strong), a furiously pile-driving score by Dennis Michael Tenney, fine acting from an able cast (besides Forster and Edwards in powerhouse leads, pockmarked tough guy Robert Davi as a gruff police sergeant, Bert Remsen as an amiable coroner and Wally Taylor as a friendly hospital security guard are on hand to give sturdy supporting performances), copious and often quite gory violence, and, most importantly, the wildly out-of-control and adrenaline-charged full-bore action scenes are executed with tremendous hair-raising verve (said action includes frenetic foot chases, guys crashing through doors and glass windows, mucho painful hand-to-hand combat, frenzied firefights, heavy falls from high places, and one particularly awesome protracted automobile pursuit set piece).
Only a lousy sense of tiresomely smartaleck humor detracts somewhat from this otherwise nicely dynamic, heart-racing and entertaining little winner..
Pretty decent flick for the budget..
"Peacemaker" joyfully rips off "The Hidden," "Highlander," and half a dozen other S-F flicks, but you won't really care.
This could be a pretty straightforward thriller without even resorting to the S-F elements.
(This is a good thing, too, because it's obvious that the director and producer have no desire to shoot major S-F scenes.
The arrival of the "rover" ship is stock footage...you never see it on the ground.
The one scene of an alien healing his hand is pretty simple stop-motion.
There are no futuristic weapons.) On the other hand, there are plenty of car crashes.
Good, old-fashioned physical effects rule the day.The plot and writing are so-so, but serviceable.
I'm used to being yanked several different ways during a movie, but I honestly didn't know for sure which alien was "good" and which was "bad" until about 2/3 of the way through the film.Robert Forster and Robert Davi turn in satisfactory performances.
Lance Edwards makes a valiant attempt to simulate some weird speech impediment throughout the film, but doesn't really pull it off.
(He's just learned to speak English by watching TV all night...sound familiar?) Hilary Shepard just plain chews up the scenery.
Still, they all work together and nobody stands out as being way superior or inferior to the other members of the cast.It's a B-movie that stands just a little bit taller than most of the other dreck out there..
A mysterious alien lands on earth and is seemingly unstoppable by the cops because on the planet he comes from, any kind of wound can be quickly healed.
He ends up convincing Dori Caisson (Shepard) to help him get back to his home planet.
Learning English overnight from watching TV, he ends up calling himself Townsend (Edwards).
You can't really blame him, Robert Townsend was huge at the time.
But there's trouble in the form of fellow alien Yates (Forster), who Townsend claims is an intergalactic serial killer and must be brought back to justice.
But it's not going to be easy, as the two are causing all sorts of havoc all over L.A. But who can Dori trust?
Both claim to be "Peacemakers", their planet's version of police officers.
One must be lying, and Dori is caught in the middle.
Meanwhile, Sgt. Ramos (Davi) is trying to put law enforcement into the middle of this mess, all the while hitting on Dori.
Who is the real Peacemaker?
Find out today!
Fries Home Video was never a major player back in the video store days.
They were just one of many labels vying for the patron's dollar.
Peacemaker seems to be their attempt at competing with very similar but higher-tier titles like I Come In Peace (1990), The Hidden (1987), The Borrower (1991) and even Critters (1986).
Plus Lance Edwards' accent and overall demeanor is unquestionably Terminator (1984)-esque.
Thankfully, it's all done with enough energy, enthusiasm and humor, ensuring that this movie is not a slog at all; it's actually quite enjoyable.
In our personal estimation, one of the main reasons for that is that it's more of an action thriller, and the sci-fi elements, such as they are, aren't oppressive, they're just enough to support the plot.
Stunts (courtesy of BJ Davis and Mike Norris, among many others), chases, shooting and other action scenes firmly place Peacemaker in the action camp, and we're grateful it weighs more heavily on that end of the scales.Robert Forster looks cool with his bomber jacket and giant gun, and fan-favorite Robert Davi puts in an interestingly low-key performance.
We were also very thankful that the character of Dori was not annoying.
So many times before we've seen situations where that type of character is always irreparably confused or whining the whole time.
But Dori is likable, perhaps because she was a classic 90's-style jokester.
1990 was when having a wry, referential and somewhat cynical sense of humor was cool, before it became overdone, and before things were dripping with irony.
Dori, like the movie itself, hits that sweet spot before things went to hell because of MTV and such.
Come on, apparently this movie was made at a time when cops at the precinct still smoked pipes for goodness' sake.
Pipes!
Well, at least one guy did.
This "PipeCop" as we called him, intrigued us and we wished we knew more about him.
Perhaps a spin off TV show would have answered all of our questions.
Sadly, to date this has not happened.
But with Hollywood dredging up everything from cartoons to board games because they're bereft of ideas, hasn't PipeCop's day truly come?
Peacemaker is well-made and fun to watch.
Peacemaker is well-made and fun to watch.
While they may have overdone the twist of "who's really the bad guy?" (you can't keep doing that over and over - it would have been more effective if they had done it less, in our opinion) there are far more positives than negatives here.
We say check it out..
One of the many regenerating alien that never dies movie's....
1st watched 10/18/2001 - 4 out of 10 (Dir- Kevin Tenney): One of the many regenerating alien that never dies movie's has some good scenes and a little bit of whodunit(being tricked into who is the bad alien and who is the good alien).
Despite a few good scenes, overall this is pretty much a retread from many of the same kinds of movies.
It has a few car crashes, chase scenes, violent fights with of course the ever-popular regenerating aliens which we've all seen before, and of course there has to be alien-sex (leaving the possibility for a sequel.)   And finally, an Arnold Schwarzenegger sound-alike complete with speech impedement who happens to be the good alien.
If this all doesn't sound familiar you haven't been watching some of the most popular science fiction movies of all time.
Go back and watch them instead.