The Coast Guard gets its chance for a heroic movie tribute, but The Guardian does it no justice, borrowing cliche after cliche from other (and better) military branch movies.
The Coast Guard gets its chance for a heroic movie tribute, but The Guardian does it no justice, borrowing cliche after cliche from other (and better) military branch movies.
audience
83
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 402,530
A decorated Coast Guard search and rescue specialist still haunted by the death of his teammates during a disastrous mission off the coast of Alaska is charged with the task of training the next generation of Coast Guard rescue swimmers in director Andrew Davis' ocean-bound adventure drama. Ben Randall (Kevin Costner) was the best swimmer of his graduating class, but upon surfacing as the sole survivor of an Alaskan rescue mission attempted during a Category Three storm, his outlook on life has
grown increasingly jaded. Now, as hotshot young swimmer Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher) arrives at Coast Guard rescue school looking to accomplish something meaningful with his life, he will be forced to endure the rigorous training methods of a man who expects nothing less than the very best in order to become a member of one of the most elite rescue squads on the planet. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Kutcher and Costner have a kind of visual chemistry that's just as elusive as the other kind. And the connection and contrast between them remind us that Hollywood isn't as forgiving of older male actors as we like to think.
A workmanlike story, an unusual setting, a game cast and a righteous message kind of get lost in the film's excesses. And an imbalance in the leads hampers this by-the-book service-academy drama.
There's nothing particularly wrong with it, it's just very tedious. Originality doesn't seem to be important and maybe it doesn't have to be as The Guardian is dealing with something true but what that something is the filmmakers seem to know.
"The Guardian" is a pro-military propaganda movie from Hollywood that attempts to mask its agenda behind the life-saving rhetoric of Coast Guard rescue swimmers.
There is a breadth of quality about the acting, including a fine performance from Sela Ward as Ben's estranged wife - making a lot more of her role than her meagre scripting suggests.
Though the structure and conventions are familiar, the dialogue is believable enough that for the span of 139 minutes we're willing to forget that these are actors mouthing lines.
Will definitely rescue some moviegoers from the post-summer doldrums, but someone should have told Davis that there's going to be casualities if he leaves audiences in the water that long.
The Guardian isn't as boring as Annapolis and SWAT, but it's still a feature-length training montage about kids learning the importance of taking it to the limit.
It was a long film but I felt they didn't really show anything. There was no strong story line here, just two characters who have been through bad times trying to come out of it. It was very predictable and I just did not care what happened to them. It was sad thinking of what they had been through but there's not much
here to care about.
October 14, 2006
Sophie Burgess
Super Reviewer
A stirring, exciting, thrilling and exhilarating movie. A spectacular and edge of your seat action-packed drama. Great rescue/action sequences that are just plain gripping. It's a remarkable, riveting and satisfying film. Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Costner deliver powerful and awesome performances. Brilliant, sure-fire,
high-octane entertainment. An amazing non-stop joyride. A pure explosive, pulse-pounding and relentlessly exciting thrill-machine. A truly great film. It's Top Gun for a new generation.
No quotes approved yet for The Guardian. Logged in users can submit quotes.
Submit a Quote from 'The Guardian'
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
Top Critic
