Starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman Directed by Mimi Leder Rated R, with profanity and violence Running time 122 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 8 out of 10

(Sept. 26, 1997) -- The new Hollywood studio, DreamWorks, makes its theatrical debut with a fast-paced foray into the espionage world of Tom Clancy and James Bond.

The Peacemaker is a smart, glossy, action-packed thriller in which a U.S. intelligence officer (George Clooney) and a government nuclear scientist (Nicole Kidman) try to stop an Eastern European terrorist from detonating a nuclear bomb.

The screenplay is by Michael Schiffer, who wrote Crimson Tide. He imagines an oft-voiced fear -- that some of the nuclear arsenal of the former Soviet Union might fall into the hands of terrorists. In this case, it's Dusan Gavrich (Marcel Iures), a victim of the Bosnian conflict who has witnessed the deaths of his wife and child. He is determined to blow up a bomb to announce his frustration to the world.

The film starts with a well-engineered bang -- an attack by arms profiteers on a train carrying nuclear weapons across Russia. Though first-time director Mimi Leder only has television experience, this long, complex, well-staged action sequence is proof positive that a capable new feature director has arrived.

The attack ends with a spectacular collision and a 75-kiloton nuclear blast that dwarfs the Chernobol incident. U.S. officials become quickly concerned.

Taking charge is Dr. Julia Kelly (Kidman), the young but brilliant head of a White House agency that monitors worldwide nuclear activity. Soon at her side is Lt. Col. Thomas Devoe (Clooney), an intelligence officer with a reputation as a fast-acting renegade operative.

They form an unlikely but effective team, though their personalities ricochet off each other like the split atoms of a warhead.

Once Devoe realizes the nuclear explosion was designed to cover up the theft of weapons, he and Kelly head to Eastern Europe, hoping to pick up the trail of the missing nuclear weapons. The high-intensity chase eventually brings them back home -- to the crowded mid-day streets of Manhattan.

Though The Peacemaker contains echoes of a score of espionage thrillers, Leder and Schiffer make their story more realistic than the standard 007 romp, and also find ways to define and expand their central characters. The villain, for example, is not merely a cardboard nut-case terrorist; he's a passionately disturbed man, emotionally scarred by a brutal war that destroyed his family.

With fluid camera work and taut editing, Leder and her crew maintain the film's high level of energy. Just when you catch your breath from the opening train escapade, you're in the middle of a rousing car chase. And just when you've calmed down from that, there's a breathtaking foot race through crowded streets in Manhattan.

The Peacemaker offers well-developed characters and high-tech plotting.

But it succeeds most obviously as an upscale action flick.