 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: The Peacemakers • Year: 2021 • Country: New Zealand • Director: Svyatoslav Nikitin • Main cast: Noah Paul, Rick Didham, Kylah Carree, Kevin Powe, Aaron Catano-Saez, Erica Kroger • Runtime: 80 minutes • Production company: SinInc Films • TRAILER
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The Peacemakers (2021) is a science-fiction comedy as you can’t find many out there. A very personal proposition, with its also very personal execution, that won’t leave you indifferent. Visually astonishing, with a surface of silliness that could at first pushes you back, but with a potent philosophical and social content that keeps you staying on your seat meditating on what you have been exposed to after the running time is over and the final credits have rolled.
Because the movie is honest and transparent, but it is also a little tricky. Within its very first minutes, one can already see what are the characteristic of this exceptional trip that is The Peacemakers (2021). Constant not-very-funny Ryan Reynolds-like jokes mixed up with a witty sarcastic vision of the world we live in, all dressed up in an exceptional visual beauty. The first half of the movie is a machine gun of silly jokes and crazy situations (although, if we are fair, some of them are actually good and smart) criticizing the dumbness of the world we live in, our social structures, pointless greedy capitalism, and a politic system that obviously doesn’t work.
At first, it could seem the only goal of this movie is a blunt comedy, but the filming craft is already sensational from minute zero. The cinematography and camera work are sublime, music is contributing to empathizing every moment in every scene, and the special effects are simple but creative, which bring a special effectivity that a regular high-class CGI would not achieve. And, in global terms, the direction of all the elements, including the driving of the story and all those jokes first pretty annoying but soon grows a conscience on you, are very good cards being played in a master way. Svyatoslav Nikitin is the writer, producer, editor, cinematographer, visual effects supervisor, and director of The Peacemakers (2021), and his is the work of a film goldsmith.
In the visual aspects, The Peacemakers (2021) is simple but very original. Not only because of the digital special effects, but also the cinematographic crafts, the wardrobe design, the camera job, and almost every single element that is put on the screen. And in a storytelling sense, this is a way deeper film that works as an analysis of what is going on with us as the dominant species of this planet and criticism of the society we have been living in for the last century, these so-called “modern times”. And, it all, from the point of view of some extraterrestrials, some sort of Space Ranges, that are in charge of keeping the intergalactic peace but can’t see with good eyes what is going on in our little beloved Earth.
It is true that at moments so much talking can get a little distracted from the point. After all, this is not a book where all you do is read text, this is a motion picture and it demands movement, action, changes of visual perspectives, activity… But this is a movie where the text, the conversations, and thoughts shared by all the characters, mainly the two Space Rangers but also the Renegade, the theoretical villain of the movie, are what occupy the big bulk of the film. But, damn, isn’t everything they say so interesting and inspiring?
At the very start of the film, the first joke is already cracked: “Substance use is recommended by this film” followed by “but for legal issues we’ve changed the statement above” changing the verbal form “is” for “isn’t”. That’s smartass and funny, a good way to set up the mood for the audience. But after watching the entire picture, I think the sentence is not correct. This is not the kind of film to watch while you are high or you’re having a popcorn party. This is not a farts and dumb jokes movie, this is dense stuff, and the more aware you are the more you can enjoy the richness of the proposal director Svyatoslav Nikitin and his crew are offering.
A very recommended movie already available on Video on Demand. Go watch The Peacemakers (2021) if you can.
RATE: 7/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt9265556
