Guardian, The Review

"Guardian, The" reviews

Movie

Guardian, The

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-10-06 22:47:09

Rating

2/5

Provider

CinemaSource

Review

The Guardian wants more than anything to be a summer blockbuster. But as a fall movie in earnest--clocking in at well over two hours, no less--the movie is stripped bare and revealed as a middling action flick without much action.

Story

As a legendary Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer, Ben Randall (Kevin Costner) was all heart and no regret. But it all comes undone in the span of one night when he goes out to the menacing seas with his crew to make a rescue, and he is the sole survivor. Following that fateful night, he's ordered to teach at "A" School--a demotion for a man of his stature and seniority--an elite training program that helps turn the best recruits into the best Rescue Swimmers. Randall teaches the cocky students the only way he knows how, and his tough, tough love is initially met with skepticism by his fellow trainers who think of him as a has-been. But one student in particular, Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher), catches his eye and draws his ire. Fischer is cocky, hotheaded and highly skilled--just the right pedigree to make a great Rescue Swimmer and a lot like Randall was at his age. Randall rides him extra-hard while Fischer only hopes to one day be in the same boat as his mentor. Be careful what you wish for, Jake!

Acting

Costner's always been an acquired taste--sometimes a downright noxious one on first bite--but there's no denying he slides right in here. Roles that feature him as the aging provider of wisdom are now his true calling, and the sooner he accepts it, the better. And even still, Costner gets to flex his action muscle a bit. As for Kutcher, the only thing he shares in common with Costner is the last two letters of his last name--as actors, these guys are each other's antitheses! And in a weird way, they strike a nice chemistry because of it, one that is borderline exciting to watch. As a standalone actor in The Guardian, Kutcher is a bit misplaced and seems to know it. He nails the physicality of the role, but while the character's attitude and brashness befit Kutcher, the peak dramatic scenes with Costner leave something to be desired. A pleasantly surprising turn from relative unknown Melissa Sagemiller (The Clearing) as Kutcher's girl toy and reliable supporting performances from Sela Ward and Neal McDonough round out the cast.

Direction

Director Andrew Davis' proximity to his career peak, The Fugitive, cannot be measured in time: He's a lot further away from the mega-hit than a mere 13 years. But in Hollywood, if you have a Fugitive under your belt, you'll never run out of chances to replicate it. That's the current juncture for Davis--one last shot at Fugitive glory...till his next last shot. It's hard to say what The Guardian will do at the box office, but Davis' stodgy direction doesn't necessarily help its chances. The movie can be boiled down to awful pacing: the first and last 15 minutes are high-octane action, and everything in between is low-octane Top Gun (the non-action scenes!). That blame belongs to Davis and writer Ron L. Brinkerhoff. But only Davis can shoulder the other flaws, such as a single scene of dubious camerawork--filmed to look like handheld-montage style, completely deviating from the movie's context--and the special effects during the somewhat cheesy action sequences, which may remind you of a theme-park tour during which you learn how they filmed a boat scene...in the '80s!

Bottom Line

Hollywood.com rated this film 2 stars.

Movie

The Guardian

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2000-01-18 00:00:00

Provider

MyMovies

Review

Don't let the rubbish title fool you - this is basically "Top Gun", only wetter. Kevin Costner stars as decorated Coast Guard rescue swimmer Ben Randall, who's traumatised by a dramatic accident that wipes out his entire team. As if that wasn't bad enough, his wife (Sela Ward) is leaving him because he prefers saving lives to interior decorating. Or something.

Assigned to the Coast Guard's A School, Ben is put in charge of training some elite cadets and it isn't long before he's locking horns with cocky cadet Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher), who clearly has the right stuff but keeps getting side-tracked by women (Melissa Sagemiller) and barfights with Marines.

Costner is pretty good as Randall, even if you can detect an undercurrent of resentment at having to play mentor roles to the younger, prettier generation. Kutcher proves that he's more than just an absurdly good-looking grinning machine (he handles his 'Big Emotional Speech' well enough), while Sagemiller makes the most of her largely underwritten girlfriend role.

The action sequences are extremely well done, especially the accident scene, which is genuinely terrifying. However, the film is predictable, cliched and at least thirty minutes too long, thanks to a highly tedious final act. It's also riddled with appalling dialogue that includes lines such as "I guess it's time for me to try and rescue myself".

In short, "The Guardian" is well made and never less than watchable but it's also poorly written, uninspiring and wetter than one of Kutcher's wetsuits.

Movie

The Guardian

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-10-06 15:00:44

Provider

Review

Kevin Costner's career has been stuck in reverse for a decade or more now. But it seems the American public's post 9/11 benevolence towards their rescue services knows no bounds, so what better way to reignite it than with another film paying tribute to those selfless ordinary men who do a dangerous job for minimal pay (etcetera etcetera).

Sadly for Costner firemen flicks have been exhausted, cop movies are a never-ending production line and he's already tried one about the men who deliver the mail (sorry Kevin, couldn't resist). Help is at hand, though, since the Baywatch movie is still a work in progress, and anyway, The Guardian is no ordinary lifeguard, but one of the US coast guard's elite rescue swimmers.

Still in the water at an age when his contemporaries have all hung up their trunks, Costner is both swimmer and instructor, passing the baton here onto young protégé Ashton Kutcher, a cocky young maverick (will an action flick ever feature a young hot-shot who plays by the rules?). Gradually we see Costner's initial mistrust of the arrogant champion swimmer give way to grudging respect.

Directed by Andrew Davis (The Fugitive), The Guardian is more than capable when out to sea, his command of action sequences being as exemplary as the rescuers he's depicting.

But the film drowns in a tidal wave of clichés: the token, and wholly perfunctory, love interest, Costner's tough-love instruction role, the flashback nightmares...

As if all that's not enough, the Guardian even closes with a Bryan Adams song. You may feel you've been here before.