The Guardian

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Actor(s):

Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher, Sela Ward, Melissa Sagemiller, Clancy Brown

Director(s):

Andrew Davis

Label: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Publisher(s):

Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone

Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Manufacturer: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Binding: DVD
Brand: Guardian
MPN: DISD50648D
Format(s): AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
List Price: $14.99
Our Price: $14.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Editorial Reviews

Description

Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher star in THE GUARDIAN, the powerful, action-packed drama that takes you inside the never-before-seen world of the elite Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers. Reeling with grief in the wake of a mission gone tragically wrong, legendary Rescue Swimmer Ben Randall (Costner) is given a mission he doesn?t want ? training raw recruits. Once there, he knocks heads with cocky Jake Fischer (Kutcher), a swimming champ driven by a painful secret, who?s more interested in breaking Ben?s records than saving lives. But Ben also sees Jake has what it takes to be the best of the best. Filled with spectacular rescues in the lethal waters of the Bering Sea, THE GUARDIAN is a riveting and compelling story that dives straight into the heart and soul of real heroes, the unsung guardians of the sea.

Amazon.com

The Guardian offers satisfying entertainment with a no-nonsense combination of Hollywood formula and good old-fashioned star power. While honoring the men and women who serve as rescue swimmers for the U.S. Coast Guard, this predictable yet appealing drama is a well-crafted showcase for Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher, who bring welcome depth and dimension to their formulaic roles. It's basically Top Gun for the Coast Guard, with Costner playing a legendary rescuer haunted by recent tragedy and the impending break-up of his marriage, and Kutcher as the hot-shot recruit whose bravado is tested when Costner takes over a grueling 18-week basic training course, where a 50% attrition rate ensures that only the best will make the grade. There's nothing particularly inventive about Ron L. Brinkerhoff's screenplay, but it's intelligently written and well-directed (by The Fugitive helmer Andrew Davis) as it shows how seasoned veteran and troubled but talented trainee build mutual respect while sorting through the trauma of accidents that left each of them as sole survivors, tormented by self-doubt and guilt.

Bolstered by a strong supporting cast including Neal McDonough, John Heard, Sela Ward and Clancy Brown, The Guardian is a bit on the long side (137 minutes), but it never feels slow, and a romantic subplot (with Kutcher wooing a schoolteacher played by Melissa Sagemiller) blends nicely with thrilling ocean-rescue sequences incorporating a seamless blend of CGI and footage shot in a 750,000-gallon water tank. Music fans will welcome the scene-stealing appearance of veteran singer Bonnie Bramlett as the owner of a jazz/blues club near the training base, where The Guardian serves up yet another staple of its genre: the barroom brawl. Although Hurricane Katrina prevented The Guardian from being filmed in New Orleans in 2005, real-life footage during the closing credits makes it clear that the Coast Guard was essential in Katrina's aftermath, and this rousing drama pays overdue tribute to those who risk there lives (to quote the Coast Guard's motto) "so that others may live." --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

A ROUSING, THOUGH UNORIGINAL ACTION-ADVENTURE

Though you've seen this formula concoction a myriad of times in various film genres, the acting is quite excellent, and the action pulse-pounding. I had assumed that Ashton Kutcher couldn't act before seeing this movie ( but he more than proved me wrong here ), and Costner definitely delivered the goods. The direction by Andrew Davis is crisp, and writer, Ron L. Brinkerhoff's dialogue is non-fatty, and on the mark. THE GUARDIAN is a long-overdue paen to the mostly unsung heroes of the Coast Guard Rescue teams.

Great depiction of what goes on behind the scenes of the Coast Guard...

I watched this movie around March 2007 and I am likely going to watch it again because of the great dramatic water rescue scenes and the well performed acting by actors Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher (I have to say I am in love with Ashton Kutcher's acting and he did it again very well in this movie). The movie does a beyond terrific job showing what goes behind the scenes of the Coast Guard. It should make the people who serve on the US Coast Guard and Navy feel very good to have them potrayed in a positive light, and we should honor their brave service to out country.

This is definitely a DVD worth owning and watching at least twice a year with family and friends. You might be able to buy it on Netflix for under $10.

Finally I recommend that you watch the special features of how the movie was made and what actually goes on behind the scenes of the Coast Guard. You will learn a lot from the special features secton. You will definitely love this movie and it is a classic worth owning. I just wish I watched the movie in a theater with other people.

Cliched but makes up for it with heart

Andrew Davis' The Guardian is impossibly cliched, built from the blueprints of other great military academy movies (An Officer And A Gentleman, Top Gun, and so forth) and offering almost nothing new or original. Still, while straightforward and predictable, it's written, directed, and acted with genuine heart. Kevin Costner plays the aging warrior, Ashton Kutcher the headstrong apprentice, and their relationship forms the meat and potatoes of the film. Growing up, falling in love, and learning to fight as a team (I use the word "fight" metaphorically as the film involves the US Coast Guard, which aren't a combat arms division of the military) are all here, and while nothing about the film leaps out at you as being remarkable, it's got fine performances and done well-enough to make it enjoyable. The film's ending threatens to push the cheese-factor over the top, but even that can't ruin a film that earnestly believes in its message and the people it represents. It might not be a massive blockbuster like Top Gun, but The Guardian has more emotional depth and on that level is a more rewarding film.

The music and exteriors are also quite breath-taking.

watch for the rescue and training scenes

The Guardian wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible either. It was pretty much a standard military movie, on the order of, say, Top Gun, or a dozen others. Every bit of plot was predictable, from the best friend dying at the beginning, to the cocky kid the instructor is extra tough on because he reminds him of himself, to the romance, right down to the ending.

Kevin Costner plays a Coast Guard rescue swimmer whose wife left him, and his best friend died in a rescue gone bad, and when he gets out of the hospital, he's sent to the school to train rescue swimmers. Ashton Kutcher is the cocky kid.

The beginning, with the wife leaving, sparked one of my rants--it was never explained, beyond a general "he was married to his job", and since they'd obviously been together a long time, there really needed to be a precipitating factor. I could believe there had been one, but not being privy to it, I couldn't feel sympathy for either of them. It reminded me of the Tom Clancy books with the inexplicable wives. Because women, you know, don't really have reasons for the stuff they do. (told you I ranted--be grateful I already got it mostly out of my system)

The other part that really bugged me was the romance Ashton Kutcher's character had with a local school teacher. There was zero chemistry between the characters. In short, I didn't believe either relationship thread, and they seemed tacked on to fill in a checklist. It was a long movie--136 minutes--so I wouldn't have missed it if they'd just cut those parts out entirely.

The rescue scenes and the training scenes, and the Coast Guard itself, were the real stars of the movie. The Coast Guard is really underrepresented in movies, and it was nice to get a picture of them.

Quibble: why, why, why, does every single movie with a disaster at sea have the scene with characters in a room slowly filling with water, and the water always gets almost to the ceiling before they're rescued? It always happens. And in The Guardian, it went on far too long. There's a point in an action scene where tension turns to boredom. This scene passed that point.

As for the acting, I like Kevin Costner, generally, and he was fine in this movie. I've no complaints. Ashton Kutcher was fine in the action/adventure scenes, but in the romance scenes, he had the same emotional depth as in the classroom scenes. It was like Tom Cruise in Top Gun, but without the charm.

Secondary characters: I did enjoy the bartender (played by Bonnie Bramlett)--she wasn't a stock character, and had a lot of the funny &/or insightful lines in the film. I also liked the other instructor (played by Neal McDonough), mostly because he surprised me. I expected the usual rival, but instead, he behaved the way I'd expect the character to in real life.

Bottom line: if you like this kind of movie, you'll enjoy The Guardian. Just don't expect anything new.

The Guardian - Blu-ray Info

Version: U.S.A / Region A
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
MPEG-4 AVC BD-50 / High Profile 4.1
Running time: 2:19:05
Movie size: 30,35 GB
Disc size: 33,29 GB
Average video bit rate: 16.76 Mbps
Subtitles: English SDH / Danish / Dutch / Finnish / French / German / Icelandic / Norwegian / Spanish
Number of chapters: 12

LPCM Audio English 4608 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 16-bit / 4608kbps
DTS Audio German 1536 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 24-bit / 1536kbps
DTS Audio Spanish 1536 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 24-bit / 1536kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio French 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio German 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps

#Commentary by Director and Writer
#The Guardian: Making Waves (11 minutes)
#Unsung Heroes (4 minutes)
#Deleted scenes (7 minutes)
#Alternate ending

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