“The Guardian” (Touchstone Pictures)
Another Waterlogged Costner Epic
Kevin Costner seems to have his worst luck in movies about water (“Waterworld”) that are too long and too predictable. Although he teams up in his new film “The Guardian” with hunk of the month Ashton Kutcher, this movie about Coast Guard rescuers sinks!
Costner plays Ben Randall, one of the best of the elite Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers. On one fateful night in Alaska he loses his partner and most of his crew. While he recovers from this event, his Commander (Clancy Brown) sends him to Louisiana to instruct a new group of Swimmer recruits. His wife Helen (Sela Ward) does not make the trip with him.
The cockiest of the new group is a hotshot named Jake Fischer (Kutcher). He is determined to break every record Ben set. In retaliation Ben throws every obstacle he can find his way. The two men snarl and fight but eventually become best friends. Are you surprised
Everything about this movie is that predictable. From the opening sequence to the last frame it all follows a predictable script, and that does not make for an exciting or even enjoyable film. Plus the training sequences are shown in such detail this movie could operate as a Coast Guard training film. You get detail on top of detail and that gets tedious and then some.
There is a supporting cast who play the other recruits but none of them stand out. At the end of the training course most of Jake’s fellow recruits are missing but I challenge you to try to think who they are/were.
Costner does an adequate job of playing Ben. He gives him the right combination of confidence and insecurity. Kutcher on the other hand is all bravado and is not believable in the more emotional moments. He can cry on cue but his heart just doesn’t seem to be in the emotional scenes.
Costner and Ward look like a good match so more scenes between the two of them might have given some heart to the film, but Ward’s appearances are few and far between. Melissa Sagemiller plays Kutcher’s love interest but there is no heat or chemistry between the two of them.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and violence.
The film has its heart in the right place as the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers are a brave group. Still good intent is not enough when you are making a movie. It has to be entertaining too, and “The Guardian” is not. The movie is too long, too predictable, too boring – and too much like a million other movies you have seen in the past.
I scored “The Guardian” a watchful 4 out of 10.
