The Guardian (2006)

Absolutely Fantastic

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

We've seen "The Guardian" many times before -- the young turk versus the old, dried up vet. But just because we've seen something done before doesn't mean the same story can't make a good movie.From 2006, The Guardian is the story of Chief Petty Officer Ben Randall (Kevin Costner), a rescue swimmer for the Coast Guard who is still working despite the retirement age of 40. After a horrific rescue situation during which his best friend died, Ben's boss finally gives him a choice - he can teach at a Coast Guard school or retire. He decides to teach. There, he meets a hot shot, Jake Fischer, a top swimmer with scholarship offers from everywhere.There are some absolutely terrifying rescue scenes in this - the power of the ocean is awesome against man - and the scenes take place at night. Scary as all get-out. It really gives one an appreciation for the Coast Guard and the work that they do. This aspect alone makes the film worth it.The dialogue is good, too, and Costner brings a gentle quality to his role. And the point made is good and true: the Coast Guard doesn't get the respect the other military branches get, and they should.The title refers to people drowning claiming to feel a presence helping them survive.You won't forget the rescue scenes. Recommended.

The first three quarters of the film were gripping, focusing on tough training, tension filled relationships, and a bit of romance. Then the last quarter focuses on actual coast guard rescues, which feels like it has been wrenched in to contrive a dramatic ending. From a realistic and tough training programme, we're suddenly fed some hokum about a magical guardian ghost who's saving people? Forget about it. I would have equally disliked the final scene having Costner and Kutcher escape safely though, because the film should have ended before that point. I largely forgive all this though, as overall the story is treated well enough.

So last night I got around to watching guardian. Mixed feelings. For starters it was not necessary to make that movie. There has been at least 20 like it and another 100 or so similar to it. The story itself was played out so many times that it was not interesting to watch at all. So lets start at the beginning. We have Kevin Costner.. OK I can live with that. He passes for a USCG swimmer. Then we have Ashton "Flamboyant" Kutcher in the same movie playing an overachiever. What? I mean seriously what? We can not take him serious, it would be like watching Jim Carey do a Kung Fu movie. You can not put Ashton in shoes of a serious role and expect us to believe and more importantly him to perform. That 70's show pretty much set his career of a goofball. Much like Daniel Radcliffe is forever Harry Potter, he is very much the same a Kelso. So that aside lets have a look at the story. Blah blah some guy having family problems, a sailor, big waves, people drowning, saving, his team dies, he needs time to recover, teaches some greenhorns, one of his students is weak, one is an overachiever, blah blah test of character, both together, one retires, dies and other guy continues then drops everything for "love". Have we not seen it before? Have we not seen it before many many times? Then of course the "green screen"... seriously? Why ohh why do people constantly resort to really cheezy computer animation. Watching this movie was like eating glass while sitting on glass and other people throwing glass at you. Painful to eyes, painful to ears because of dialogue and overall I think this movie deserves no more than a 4/10 even with Costner in it. This movie could have been a 10 or at least a 8 by my book if following criteria was met: Graphics equal to or better than what is shown on Discovery channel Alaska Crab Fishing shows. Actual props were used rather than green screen or at least less green screen. Different story that we have not yet heard. No Ashton. I bet you what really happened was Ashton got all upset about people not taking him seriously so he had a movie made just for him to fulfill his boy fantasy of being a tough guy and since nobody else wanted to be in the movie with him he had to beg fading movie stars to at least give his movie some credibility. Good thing that its only a rental and is on its way back to Netflix.

"Under Siege" director Andrew Davis pays tribute to the rescue swimmers of the U.S. Coast Guard in "The Guardian," toplining Kevin Costner as a legendary swimmer who trains an aggressive young turk, Ashton Kutcher, after Costner loses his entire crew during a daring high seas rescue attempt that ends in disaster. Ben Randall (Kevin Costner of "Dances with Wolves") is given the choice of either leaving the Coast Guard or taking time off to recover by training a new class of rescue swimmers in this bittersweet but heroic tale. When the action starts our hero is estranged from his long-time wife Helen Randall (Sela Ward of "The Day After Tomorrow") because they cannot spend enough quality time together. Ben is repeatedly being summoned for one more mission. After he manages to survive the debacle that wipes out his entire crew, including his best friend, Carl Billings (Omari Hardwick of "Kick Ass"), Ben bows to the stern wishes of his superior officer, Capt. William Hadley (Clancy Brown of "A Nightmare on Elm Street"), who reassigns him to the Coast Guard's 'A' training training center. For the record, the 'A' School is where recruits learn the ropes of rescue swimming. The training sequences with the swimmers carrying out strenuous underwater exercises in a pool are visually compelling stuff, especially the brick scene at the bottom of the pool. Two men are paired up per brick and they must slide it from the shallow end to the deep end. One of them must always stick with the brick while the other surfaces to replenish his air supply. Davis and his special effects team do a marvelous job of incorporating footage that they lensed in their six-foot wave tank with genuine oceanic footage. None of the actors in the rough seas scenes were in real waters; they were in the tank.Basically, after the opening disaster, "The Guardian" turns into just another boot camp movie with the seasoned veteran putting the recruits through the ringer, separating the ones who want to succeed from those who don't have the stuff for success. Of course, Randall's way differs drastically from the teachers at the 'A' School so he winds up ruffling some feathers. He encounters a record-breaking, high school swimmer, Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher of "The Butterfly Effect"), who wants to become the next Ben Randall. Gradually, the two men grow to understand each other, and Ben converts brash young Jake into a team player. Along the way, Ben learns Jake's dark secret about a car crash that killed Jake's entire swim team and alienated him from his hometown friends. Ben helps Jack out and Jake graduates at the top of his class. Despite all the grueling rigors that Ben put Jake through in the water, Jake finds time to romance a local elementary school teacher, Emily Thomas (Melissa Sagemiller of "The Clearing"), who demands that they keep everything casual because she knows that he is only temporary. She informs him early on in that his kind rotates through every 18 weeks. The problem with "The Guardian" is that Jake and Emily's romance develops less passion than the boot camp scenes. One subplot about a three-time repeat swimmer, Billy Hodge (Brian Geraghty of "The Hurt Locker"), who struggles to learn how to keep a tough swim instructor, Jack Skinner (Neal McDonough of "Walking Tall"), from drowning him in a simulated drowning exercise is good. Jake inspires Hodge's confidence after they bond during a brawl at a Navy bar. Not long afterward, Ben takes Jake back to the Navy bar and slams the pugnacious Navy squib face down into the bar. Davis and "D-Tox" scenarist Ron L. Brinkerhoff flesh out Costner's character so he can behave in a different light as he tempers his approach to Jake and Billy based on their identity. Costner gives one of his better performances because he plays a character of considerable nuance. Bonnie Bramlett of "Vanishing Point" is a revelation as bar owner Maggie McGlone who serves beer and sympathy in her saloon.The ending is tragic, but it wasn't the only ending that Davis filmed. Actually, nobody from the head of Disney to Costner himself liked the other ending, but Davis shot it anyway for protection. Amazingly enough, the focus group must have preferred the most dire ending. In the alternate ending, our crusty hero survives. Mind you, "The Guardian" is an above-average adventure, but it isn't top drawer entertainment. The rescues look convincing enough in the savage seas that swamp our heroes.