The Peacekeeper

The Peacekeeper
The Peacekeeper
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Frédéric Forestier
Written by	Robert Geoffrion; Stewart Harding
Produced by	Nicolas Clermont
Starring	Dolph Lundgren; Michael Sarrazin; Montel Williams; Roy Scheider
Cinematography	John Berrie
Edited by	Yves Langlois
Music by	François Forestier
Distributed by	October Films
Release date	December 12, 1997;
Running time	98 minutes
Countries	Canada; United States
Language	English
Budget	$16 million

The Peacekeeper is a 1997 action film directed by Frédéric Forestier, and starring Dolph Lundgren, Michael Sarrazin, Montel Williams, and Roy Scheider. The film follows U.S. Air Force Major Frank Cross, who is the only man who can prevent the president being assassinated. He must also prevent an impending nuclear holocaust. The threat is from a terrorist group, which has stolen the President's personal communications computer; it has the capability of launching the U.S. arsenal. The film was shot on location in the city of Montreal, Quebec.^[2]

Plot

United States Air Force Major Frank Cross is in trouble with the "brass" again, after making an unauthorized humanitarian relief flight, dropping sacks of rice to starving Kurds. The press considers him a hero, requiring him by the President's side during his election campaign and thus preventing the Pentagon from court-martialling him.^[3] Instead, they assign him 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 a national emergency.

However, on his first day on the job in Chicago a team of mercenaries manages to steal the black bag. Cross, however, manages to fake his death and infiltrate the mercenaries. Thinking they have seen the last of him, they fly with a helicopter from the rooftops of Chicago into the night sky and onwards to their final target: United States Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Facility K-7. A disguised Cross slips into the missile silo as the team murders the silo personnel and takes over the launch control using the secret codes contained in the black bag.

They are led by ex-Marine Colonel Douglas Murphy, whose unit was sent to kill Saddam Hussein during an undercover operation in Iraq before Operation Desert Storm and was then exterminated by the President, who was Army Chief at the time, for political reasons. Driven by revenge, he launches a terrifying warning shot and sends a Peacekeeper nuclear missile that destroys Mount Rushmore, killing thousands. Only then does Murphy make his chilling demand: unless the President kills himself in front of a live television audience, Washington D.C. will be destroyed.

All attempts to stop one of the missiles from leaving the silo fail. Finally, the President gives in to Murphy's demand, only to realise that Murphy lied to humiliate him, so that he then should helplessly watch Washington be destroyed as Murphy helplessly had to watch his unit be destroyed against his will by the President. At the first opportunity, however, Frank acts against the terrorists and, with the help of the last surviving member of the silo, Lt. Colonel Northrop, he is able to kill the mercenaries and prevent the destruction of Washington in the nick of time.

Cast

Dolph Lundgren as Major Frank Cross
Michael Sarrazin as Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Murphy
Montel Williams as Lieutenant Colonel Northrop
Roy Scheider as President Robert Baker
Christopher Heyerdahl as Hettinger
Allen Altman as McGarry
Martin Neufeld as Decker
Monika Schnarre as Jane Cross
Michael Caloz as Billy Cross
Tim Post as Nelson
Carl Alacchi as Holbrook
Chip Chuipka as Davis
Roc LaFortune as Abbott
Gouchy Boy as Robinson
Phil Chiu as Kong
Michel Perron as Space Command Controller
Serge Houde as Secretary of Defence
David Francis as Major General Harding
Vlasta Vrana as General Douglas
Frank Fontaine as General Greenfield
David Nichols as General Joseph
Mark Camacho as Presidential Aide #1
Susan Glover as Presidential Aide #2
Larry Day as Secret Service Agent Maxwell
Alan Fawcett as Secret Service Agent Samuels
Philip Pretten as Secret Service Agent Clark
Andy Bradshaw as Secret Service Agent Johnson

Reception

Critical response

AllMovie's Sandra Brenan awarded the film two out of five stars. She referred to it as a "well-wrought Canadian direct-to-video actioner" and made comparisons with the Die Hard franchise.^[4] Critic Douglas Pratt gave the film a positive review in his 2004 book Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More!. He writes, "the 1997 film's first half is outright excellent. Dolph Lundgren is the guy who carries the briefcase for the president that has all the nuclear war codes in it. Villains come in like gangbusters."^[5] The Peacekeeper was referenced in the 2022 book Four Scores and Seven Reels Ago: The U.S. Presidency Through Hollywood Films, with author Dale Sherman comparing its portrayal of the U.S. president to that of Air Force One (1997).^[6]

External links

The Peacekeeper at IMDb
The Peacekeeper at Rotten Tomatoes
The Peacekeeper at AllMovie
The Peacekeeper at the TCM Movie Database

References

^ Quebec Scene: Clermont, The Peacekeeper and Lundgren anchor Forestier debut Archived 2019-11-09 at the Wayback Machine Playbackonline.ca. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
^ "Ovguide". Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
^ Pulocker
^ https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-peacekeeper-vm463958
^ Pratt, Douglas. Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More!. United States, Harbor Electronic Publishing, 2005.
^ Sherman, Dale. Four Scores and Seven Reels Ago: The U.S. Presidency Through Hollywood Films. United States, Applause, 2022.