movie review monday: the guardian

The Guardian

A decorated Coast Guard search and rescue specialist still haunted by the death of his teammates during a disastrous mission off the coast of Alaska is charged with the task of training the next generation of Coast Guard rescue swimmers in director Andrew Davis' ocean-bound adventure drama. Ben Randall (Kevin Costner) was the best swimmer of his graduating class, but upon surfacing as the sole survivor of an Alaskan rescue mission attempted during a Category Three storm, his outlook on life has grown increasingly jaded. Now, as hotshot young swimmer Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher) arrives at Coast Guard rescue school looking to accomplish something meaningful with his life, he will be forced to endure the rigorous training methods of a man who expects nothing less than the very best in order to become a member of one of the most elite rescue squads on the planet. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide




This movie is like the Coast Guard version of Top Gun.

With that said, I really enjoyed it. It was captivating and enthralling and the right amount of heart appeal without making it cheesey or otherwise overdone. I think Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher are fantastic and was also delighted to see Dule Hill for a minute or two on screen.

I liked the methods Randall used to train his group of students in an effort to close the gap between training and real life. I enjoyed the struggle and the background of the trainees and how similar Randall and Fischer were. There were a lot of great metaphors through the movie, but seriously, it wasn't cheesey.

I reccommend it, but I'm glad I didn't see it in the theater. It was kind of nice to be reading email and the like while watching.

Rating: 2 of 4 stars