The Guardian

The Guardian_360P

I saw this movie at a sneak preview in Chicago on Saturday and I must say it is really good! I'm not a die hard Kevin Costner fan and I think Ashton Kutcher is good, but wow! Ashton is really a fantastic dramatic actor (He was a huge surprise in Butterfly Effect for me). The movie is also very funny. Lots of sarcasm and one-liners. The audience actually applauded at the end. For a 2 hour movie, I can honestly say, you won't be looking at your watch wondering how much longer you have to sit there. I might even go see it again when it opens nationwide. If Ashton keeps picking movies like this, he'll be right up there with Tom Hanks, Mel, the other "Tom", & Brad, someday. Hopefully he can do it without going off the deep end with some of those guys.

I was, in the beginning, very hesitant to go see this movie. Both of my parents had been in the coast guard. My father died and my mother is still alive. I didn't want it to bring back the memories of losing my father, but I went anyways. The movie started out a little slow, but as it got going, I was impressed. Costner did a wonderful job in his role and I was surprised I could take Kutcher seriously. He did his role alright as well. In the end, I walked out of the theater with soaked eyes. No, I will not tell you how the story ended. I would recommend this movie to anyone who has a heart. That's how much I enjoyed it. Go U.S. Coast Guard!

I'm sick and tired of no talent and over-rated actors that receive quality roles and continue to believe their own hype. Ashton Kutcher is a horrible actor; granted, he had some pretty funny moments on That 70's Show, but in all actuality anybody can play an idiot. I know he is very attractive and that draws a huge female crowd, but he can't act to save his life. He is the poster-boy for exceptionally good-looking actors with no skill what-so-ever receiving exceptionally good roles. Any movie that he is in is going to be all about a studio receiving large sums of money; it is not going to be about great acting and making the film in question the best picture live up to it's full potential. This problem is plague to the movie industry and hopefully people will eventually start to look beyond pure good looks and begin to observe talent and skill. Another problem with this movie is that is full of military movie clichés; I liked it better when it was called An Officer and a Gentleman. This studio should be ashamed and Ashton should quit stealing good roles from quality actors.

There's a point in 'The Guardian' where it reaches its logical conclusion and I expected the credits to roll and was mentally ready to leave, but they didn't and another section which could have ended the film followed, with another two after that. Ostensibly a recruiting film for the US Coastguard, 'The Guardian' works best when Costner is trying to get through to Kutcher just as others had tried with Tom Cruise in previous films. The 'Top Gun' meets 'An Officer and a Gentleman' via 'Men of Honor' ninety minute training section of the film works well and is entertaining, but when this is over it really drags.

This is a pale imitation of 'Officer and a Gentleman.' There is NO chemistry between Kutcher and the unknown woman who plays his love interest. The dialog is wooden, the situations hackneyed. It's too long and the climax is anti-climactic(!). I love the USCG, its men and women are fearless and tough. The action scenes are awesome, but this movie doesn't do much for recruiting, I fear. The script is formulaic, but confusing. Kutcher's character is trying to redeem himself for an accident that wasn't his fault? Costner's is raging against the dying of the light, but why? His 'conflict' with his wife is about as deep as a mud puddle. I saw this sneak preview for free and certainly felt I got my money's worth.

I was fortunate enough to see this movie on pre-release last night and, though I wasn't expecting to, actually really enjoyed the movie for the most part. The rescues and sea effects were amazing to watch and definitely provided edge of the seat tense moments, probably all the more so knowing that there are guys who do this for a living. The weaker parts of the movie revolve largely around using stereotypical set scenes. I'm not going to spoil the movie but this really follows along the lines of An Officer and a Gentleman and those moments give it a little bit of a cheesy aftertaste. Like I said over all this movie is pretty good and worth checking out as long as you can get past the clichés.

Wow, another Kevin Costner hero movie. Postman, Tin Cup, Waterworld, Bodyguard, Wyatt Earp, Robin Hood, even that baseball movie. Seems like he makes movies specifically to be the center of attention. The characters are almost always the same ... the heroics, the flaws, the greatness, the fall, the redemption. Yup, within the 1st 5 minutes of the movie, we're all supposed to be in awe of his character, and it builds up more and more from there. And this time the story ... story? ... is just a collage of different movies. You don't need a spoiler; you've seen this movie several times, though it had different titles. You'll know what will happen way before it happens. This is like mixing An Officer and a Gentleman with Backdraft, but both are easily better movies. Watch Backdraft to see how this kind of movie should be made ... and also to see how an good but slightly underrated actor, Russell, plays the hero.

Our family (and the entire sold out sneak preview audience) enjoyed "The Guardian". Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher gave convincing performances as the fictional helicopter rescue swimmer characters Ben and Jake. After seeing this movie, you can't help but imagine how difficult it must be to graduate from the USCG helicopter rescue swimmer school and one day take part in real rescues. Even though this is a fictional movie, it delivered rather convincing virtues of team spirit, dedication and bravery exhibited by all the members of the actual U. S. Coast Guard. The special effects used to create the rescue scenes were incredible. You actually felt like you were taking part in a real rescue. I feel the movie could have been made without the "Hollywood" bar scene (when you see the movie, you might agree) since the real Coast Guard does not condone such behavior. Very entertaining, very action packed, definitely worth seeing. Thank you, U. S. Coast Guard and the REAL helicopter rescue swimmers, "So Others May Live". I'd highly recommend this movie to everyone.

I've seen worse movies this year, but not many. One, actually: Rumor Has It, which also starred Kevin Costner. When I can guess how a movie will end before it begins (except films such as Titanic or The Diary of Anne Frank), I consider it a wasted evening. This movie was such predictable cheese that I literally groaned aloud. The movie can be summed up thusly: young pup learns lessons from old dog. Old dog dies. Boring. Not really even competently acted, unless one gives pity points to Ashton Kutcher. Anyone who has seen Terminator 2 knows how this film ended, but Terminator 2 was more emotional. The tacked on ghostly fisherman was such schmaltz that I felt lobotomized.