innocuous "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.

Woodyanders 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.

MarshallStax 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.

LuvsFood 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.