The Guardian

Leftie paper battles conservative society in this…Sorry, if you were hoping for a film about the liberal newspaper, you’re not going to find it here. The Guardian in this case is ‘the guardian of the seas’ – a romanticised look at the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers who risk their lives “so that others may live”.

Costner plays Ben Randall, a veteran swimmer who is going through a divorce and in a tragic accident ends up losing his entire crew at sea. He is then sent to a training camp for a few months to sort himself out.

Here he meets cocky newcomer Jake Fischer (Kutcher) and recognises his potential immediately, but knows he needs to combine the recruit’s raw talent with the dedication and responsibility necessary to “be the best”.

The film fuses elements of Top Gun and An Officer and a Gentleman with documentary footage of coastguards training, culminating in a decent film that ultimately lacks dramatic edge.

As a vehicle to show off the swimmers, the training schedule, the tough life, it does well, but there are too many training sequences and while they are interesting, there are only so many times you can watch someone do a press-up or swim a length of the pool.

The film assumes you want to know the exactitudes of the training programme, and doesn’t seem to realise that a montage sequence is used to create pace and speed things up and after long, tedious montages, you feel you’re ready to graduate as a coast guard swimmer yourself.

However, the rescue scenes are incredible – the director’s skills clearly lie in filming dramatic, gritty action sequences. When on dry land, however, things aren’t plain sailing – Fischer’s fling with Emily (Sagemiller) seems like an afterthought. The film also only dips in and out of Randall’s relationship with his wife Helen (Ward), which is a shame as these offer some of the better dramatic scenes.

The ending is also rather odd - there are a lot of false starts, then they seem to settle on a wave of clichés both Hollywood and seafaring. You can almost feel the battle between the director and the studio; realistic ending and leave it on a sad note or wistful, cliché-ridden ending full of hope and legend. You know which won out.

Costner, known for his overly long films, is perfect as Randall, playing him with a certain gravity and sensitivity. Kutcher, perennially slated by critics, is good as Fischer – he portrays his determination well.

As a film about coast guards, it is successful, but as a Hollywood action film, you would expect more dramatic tension. In short, the coastguards are the stars of this film, the relationship between Randall and Fischer a bit of a wet fish.

The film is enjoyable, but could be so much better with a few tweaks of the script and a floor full of cuttings.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment have announced the UK Region 2 DVD release of The Guardian for 19th February 2007.

Extras include:

• Audio Commentary By The Filmmakers – with Director Andrew Davis and Writer Ron L. Brinkerhoff
• Making Waves - The Making Of The Guardian
• Unsung Heroes – A tribute to the real life USCG heroes who literally jump into life threatening situations every day
• Alternate Ending – with on Camera Introduction by Andrew Davis
• Deleted Scenes – By Director Andrew Davis and Writer Ron L. Brinkerhoff