The Guardian

In The Guardian, Kevin Costner plays Ben Randall, a legendary Coast Guard rescue swimmer. After losing his team in a helicopter crash in which he was the only survivor, the haunted hero reluctantly takes a job as a teacher at the Aviation Survival Training Centre. The new class of recruits includes Jake Fisch (Ashton Kutcher), a cocky swim champ with a dark secret of his own. It is no surprise their relationship is antagonistic from the start, as the aging Randall must teach Fisch everything he knows.

Randall’s ordeal parallels that of the weathered Costner, who passes the leading-man torch to Kutcher; though the latter proves he has screen presence, his character is so conceited he is hard to like. The underutilized Sela Ward plays Randall’s wife with aplomb, but deserves meatier roles. Melissa Sagemiller appears as Fisch’s love interest, but the coy and flirtatious banter between them brings the story to a screeching halt. The most engaging character is Hodge (Brian Geraghty), who is on his third attempt to pass the gruelling course.

It is nice that the overlooked Coast Guard finally gets it due justice in cinematic lore, with a story that is both gripping and believable. Freshman writer Ron Brinkerhoff balances the right amounts of conflict and humour but, in an effort to increase the female audience, dilutes the testosterone levels by trying to enhance the poignancy during the tender moments.

Director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, Under Siege) handles action well, and creates suspenseful sequences that raise one’s heartbeat. Unfortunately, the rigorous training scenes are marred by jerky camera work and grainy images that needlessly try to emulate home video footage. While the cinematography of the frozen Alaskan wilderness is only briefly stunning, the frequent voracious seas are satisfying compensation.

However, in such a cold environment, one should be able to see vapours billowing from the actors’ every breath, but the lack of such clearly indicates the close-ups were shot in heated tanks. (Couldn’t Touchstone afford to add them by CGI?)

Clichéd, cookie-cutter, and predictable, The Guardian is merely a glorified recruiting film that will be remembered only for boosting Coast Guard enrolment. Rating: 6 out of 10.