The Guardian Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)September 26th, 2006
THE GUARDIAN
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2006 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
Sooooooo predictable, THE GUARDIAN is a formula film that follows a veteran put out to pasture to train new recruits to tackle dangerous missions. And, of course, it will end with the veteran saving and being saved one last time. In between two spectacularly filmed rescue missions at sea is lots of boot camp training. You've followed films like this many, many times before with TOP GUN being merely one example.
What THE GUARDIAN, directed by Andrew Davis ("HOLES"), gets right is the harshness of the environment and the bravery of the rescue swimmers of the Coast Guard, who live to save other human lives while risking their own. But as realistic and chilling as the training is, the movie's few potential twists are carefully and loudly telegraphed as far in advance as possible.
In basically a two person picture, Ashton Kutcher does a fine job portraying new recruit Jake Fischer, a championship high school swimmer who turned down a long list of Ivy League scholarships to join the Coast Guard and save lives. If you've guessed that he'll prove to have a tragic backstory, which won't be reveal until late in the narrative, you would be so right.
Bars are important to the by-the-numbers script. They serve to provide Jake a way to meet a token female, so he can have a throwaway romance. Drinking establishments also provide a place for a couple of traditional bar fights between rival services. You'll be shocked to learn that Coast Guard sailors aren't welcomed with open arms in bars filled to the gills with Navy sailors.
The more troublesome part of the casting has aging Kevin Costner playing an action hero. As Senior Chief Ben Randall, Costner has to swim against the strong, freezing waters off the Alaskan coast and save one life after another. Personally, I never bought it. But, when he plays the Coast Guard equivalent of a tough Drill Sergeant with a secret heart of gold, he is quite good.
Ben gets to have a token woman in his life too. As his wife Helen, Sela Ward ("House") is given absolutely nothing to do in the role, which is of the wife who leaves the husband because he won't leave his job. Or, at least we're told that's the reason. Why they split isn't clear or the least bit interesting.
The training exercises, such as the hypothermia training, are the only really interesting portions of the story, but they go on way too long. And there are just too many of them. Although the movie is almost two-and-one-half hours long, it could easily have been done in 90 minutes or so. More isn't better when it is so repetitive.
If you haven't seen many movies yet in your life -- maybe you're young or you've been stranded on a desert island -- you might find THE GUARDIAN worth your while. But if you've seen at least a hundred movies, you've probably already seen this one ten times or more. You don't need to see it again.
THE GUARDIAN runs 2:20. It is rated PG-13 for "intense sequences of action/peril, brief strong language and some sensuality" and would be acceptable for kids around 10 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, September 29, 2006. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
