>>REVIEW
THE GUARDIAN
STARRING Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher
DIRECTED BY Andrew Davis
Opens Friday, September 29
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Hey, look at that – Ashton Kutcher borrowed Tom Cruise’s old Top Gun shades for his opening shot in The Guardian. And that’s kind of weird because that movie was about a cocky young pilot going to the ace school for pilots to prove he was the best and this movie is about a cocky young swimmer going to the ace school for Coast Guard swimmers to prove… hey, wait a minute.
Perhaps it was the filmmaker’s way of making a fun, yet subtle, connection to that ’80s blockbuster so that they could let audiences know that, yes, they’ve seen some similar movies before, but this one is worth sticking around for.
Andrew Davis’ newest film seems like another predictable effort from a couple of big stars. It’s all here – the grizzled veteran, the aforementioned cocky rookie, deadly situations, life lessons and all the other things that make for standard Hollywood fare. Even though this movie isn’t all that different from what audiences will be expecting, it still manages to be entertaining for 140 minutes.
Kevin Costner is at his best when the movie he’s in isn’t a Kevin Costner production and he instead shares the storyline and spotlight with someone else. Ben Randall is a troubled and emotionally taxed rescue diver reduced to teaching after a devastating incident, and Costner gives his character a sad, stoic demeanour as he buries his feelings far away from himself and everyone around him.
In the role of Jake Fischer, state swim champ turned Coast Guard recruit, Kutcher proves he’s an actor of substance. As well as giving Fischer the right touch of arrogance, he manages to go a little deeper and give audiences someone to care about. At the same time, he’s also able to create a chemistry with Costner that works even with the cliché of the "old guard passing the torch" hanging over them both.
One of the biggest reasons that The Guardian is able to keep its head above the "been there, done that" water is the interesting backdrop of the Coast Guard, where the rescues are daring and the adrenalin is pumping. Audiences are treated to a fresh and exciting setting for a dose of some good ’ol group bonding, relationship sub-plots and a whole lot of flashbacks to childhood swimming lessons. |
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