MOVIE REVIEW: Despite choppy waters and editing, ‘The Guardian’ manages to stays afloat
The tagline for this film says, “When lives are on the line, sacrifice everything.”
Obviously, that doesn’t mean you should sacrifice pieces of the screenplay in order to save audiences from boredom.
The screenwriter, Ron L. Brinkerhoff, seems to have done this. And when it feels like pieces of the story are left out in this film, making it seem directionless, “The Guardian” starts to sink.
After surviving a disastrous rescue mission working for the Coast Guard, Ben Randall (Kevin Costner, “Rumor Has It”) takes some time off from saving lives and moves to an Alaskan military base to teach hopeful youngsters how to be tough rescue swimmers like him.
Ashton Kutcher (“Guess Who”) proves to be his most gifted student and a bond of torturous training and manly empathizing develops between the two.
You won’t be alone when you ask yourself, “Where is this story going?”
After so many montages of draining exercise and grueling tests of strength in the swimming pool, it’s easy to feel like you’re watching an instructional video about how to prepare yourself for enlistment in the Coast Guard.
While we slowly drift along with the aimless current of the plot, a scene surfaces here and there in which we actually witness significant progress in the story and in the characters. This helps “The Guardian” to stay afloat most of the time.
Director Andrew Davis (“The Fugitive”) proves he still has a knack for intense, agile action scenes. But his treatment of more emotional material isn’t breathtaking or powerful, just average.
I’m sure if he had more help from the screenplay, Davis could have crafted a more well-rounded drama/adventure film with more than just sweeping action scenes and eye candy for the ladies.
Anyone who proclaims to be an Ashton Kutcher fan will find it hard to keep their tongue from hanging out of their mouth during this film.
A lot of it showcases him dripping wet, shirtless or both. Thanks to crafty cinematography, Kutcher is often filmed in a way that accentuates his square jaw, making him look more like a maturing adult than his usual appearance as a frivolous teenager.
He does his best to portray a cocky ladies’ man secretly healing from a tattered past, and he gets by adequately despite lacking support from the screenplay.
Costner is mostly two-dimensional in this film and doesn’t come off as anything except crusty, stubborn and sarcastic.
Since the tagline for this film emphasizes sacrifice, it’s easy to foresee that people will die and hearts will be broken.
But there’s nothing that a little romantic sub-plot can’t repair. Having a few drops of a light-hearted love story helps the film to have more variety, but doesn’t save it from its unevenness.
Flighty supporting characters and uninspired dialogue also keep the film from greatness. But “The Guardian” manages to be fun and effective when it isn’t being nauseatingly choppy, and we manage to smile at Kutcher’s charming performance.
Casey T. Allen is The Statesman movie critic. Comments and suggestions for what movies to reveiw next can be sent to him at
caseyal@cc.usu.edu.