Peacemaker (1990)

This one was brought to my attention by a reader via the Facebook page, which, if you don't already Like the Direct to Video Connoisseur on Facebook, it's a great place to get updates on what we're planning on doing, and to contact me with general comments and inquiries-- like recommendations or mentions of movies you think I should check out. Before we get started, I also want to mention that our friend robotGEEK hit this flick too, so go check out what he thought. (And I hotlinked your cover photo-- hope that's okay.)

Peacemaker-- or A Love Out of This World, as it's known in Romantic Comedy circles-- is a Rom Com about a woman who's a divorcée working as a coroner, planning to finish things up in the lab and spend the night alone with some wine and some episodes of Days she'd taped, when the stiff she's about to carve open comes to life and kidnaps her. In the parking lot, as they're driving away, Robert Forster attacks them, and he and the guy that kidnapped her fight it out. After a night spent tied up with the phone cord, our heroine finds she's falling in love with her kidnapper, and wants to help him take out Forster. Turns out Forster and her new boyfriend are aliens, and one is a cop-- known by them as a "Peacekeeper"--, and the other a serial killer. Problem is, she can't tell which is which. "Damn it, maybe mom was right, and I should've tried 8 Minute Dating!"



All right, as much as this hits the spots of a Romantic Comedy, it's also a really great action flick. It's the kind of one where you feel bad for the stuntmen, because they get sent through the ringer. Dumped from dirt bikes, tossed out of windows, flipped over in cop cars, hanging off of speeding trucks, it's all there. Forster is fantastic, and Robert Davi as the local cop that hits on our heroine is also great. This is pretty much everything you want in a DTV 90s actioner, from the actors you recognize, to the actors you don't, and the heavy duty action in between. An all around good time.

This is not the first time we've had an action flick that played out like a Romantic Comedy. Cyborg Cop is one example, where two opposites attract lovers meet in a banana republic, one looking to find out what happened to his brother, the other a reporter looking for a big scoop. They fight, he manhandles her, she doesn't like it, then she does, they make love, John Rhys-Davies kidnaps her, and she needs rescuing. Would've been great if not for David Bradley's fanny pack, right? Then there's Deadly Prey, which, I know it's a classic lazy man's joke to say action movies are metaphorical gay romances, but I think in Deadly Prey's case, it actually works. With Peacekeeper, it's one of those where, if you watch it from the Romantic Comedy viewpoint, it's even funnier, and makes the movie more enjoyable. I'm not trying to be ironic, the dynamic between the doctor and the alien cop feels very Romantic Comedy-esque-- only with a lot more violence and explosions, which is awesome.



Robert Forster is a guy whom everyone knows from all kinds of stuff, including Jackie Brown, for which he earned a well-deserved best supporting actor Oscar nominee. For my money, he made that movie. He brings some of that great Forster quality here in another supporting role as the serial killer or maybe not the serial killer, and it adds some nuance to the role, which it really deserved. DTVC favorite Robert Davi has a small part as the police sergeant that has a thing for our heroine. Like Forster, he has an ability to add nuance to roles that need it, but might not exactly have it written in. He's great as that guy who's kind of a jerk and a chauvinist, but is also stand-up and heroic. It's kind of too bad both guys weren't in the film more, but along with the solid action, they do an excellent job of propping up what otherwise would've been a bad Romantic Comedy.

Beyond the Romantic Comedy aspect, this also had the bad sci-fi aspect, and this commits the most egregious, yet most common, sci-fi movie gaff: the shifting rules gaff. A man has the strength to crush a telephone in his hands, or stop a car from running him over with his foot, but a thin woman with a purse can knock him over. A man is strong enough to cut his own hand off to get out of handcuffs, but not strong enough to break the handcuffs instead. Our aliens can only be killed by having trauma done directly to the brain, but somehow being blown up in a shack full of dynamite doesn't qualify for that. This is all of that bad sci-fi that, when a movie dwells on it and comes off proud of it, can really detract from the proceedings; but in a case like this, is used only to allow guys to be blown up and shot and crashed through windows multiple times, meaning it ups the action quotient, which is always a bonus.



Finally, I had to bring up the cameo of this Time/Life UFO book here, which was used as a moment of comic relief, but really brought back memories of these silly book collections. When I was really young, like six or seven, I remember staying up late on the weekends or during the summer, and seeing commercials for these books and being scared out of my mind. I had nightmares that I was being abducted by aliens, and would wake up as the tractor beam was lifting me to the ship. Then I grew up (turned 10) and learned that these Time/Life books and episodes of Unsolved Mysteries were total crap and I was a moron (even as a 7-year-old) for believing in them. Now what's the show, Ancient Aliens, a show about how non-white cultures couldn't possibly have ever created anything before the White Man arrived, so aliens must've helped them. Good stuff.

Unfortunately, the History Channel and Discovery don't play movies like this, but they should, because this is just great 90s DTV action. As far as I know, it's only used VHS, or, if you have a laser disc player, you can get it on that too. I say keep your eye out for it, or go to Amazon, because it's not that expensive there. This is a good addition to your 80s/90s action collection-- or 80s/90s Romantic Comedy collection.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100343/