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Guardian, The
EMAILPRINTBuena Vista Pictures
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 89 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Action | Adventure | Drama
Written by: Ron L. Brinkerhoff
Directed by: Andrew Davis
Release Date:
Theatrical: September 29, 2006
DVD: January 23, 2007
Running Time: 136 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of action/peril, brief strong language and some sensuality
Starring Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher, Melissa Sagemiller, Bonnie Bramlett, Clancy Brown, Sela Ward, Neal McDonough, John Heard, and Brian Geraghty
After losing his crew in a fatal crash, legendary Rescue Swimmer, Ben Randall (Costner), is sent to teach at "A" School, an elite training program for Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers. Wrestling with the loss of his crew members, he throws himself into teaching, turning the program upside down with his unorthodox training methods. While there, he encounters a young, cocky swim champ, Jake Fischer (Kutcher), who is driven to be the best. (Touchstone Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
The Guardian is that rarest of cinematic commodities: an action movie displaying brains and heart and the opportunity for its stars to do something more than keep the narrative flowing between explosions.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
The Guardian doesn't offer too many surprises. Except for one: it's genuinely well-made and, at least when it comes to the character Ben Randall, kind of moving.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
The film's grueling training sequences have a perverse fascination, and, though he's nothing special here, Kutcher is probably the most appealing he has been in a big-screen role.
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
The overlong but involving drama has obvious cross-generational appeal.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt
A surprisingly engaging character-driven picture: not quite Ingmar Bergman, of course, but not Michael Bay either.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kate Taylor
With high seas and crashing waves created by Canadian special-effects company Fusion CIS, there's nothing wrong with the nail-biting side of the equation featuring a sequence of distinct maritime accidents; it's the rest of the plot that is taking on water.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves
Sometimes you want to buy an extra-large popcorn and settle in for a big budget Hollywood blockbuster replete with entertaining explosions, undemanding dialogue and completely unrealistic action sequences. If all that sounds like gloriously uncomplicated fun, The Guardian is your movie.
Read Full Review >Premiere Scott Warren
Ultimately a valentine to the unsung heroes of the US Coast Guard and it's probably long overdue.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
It's not easy being macho while you're shivering like a frozen puppy, but Kutcher pulls it off.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
At its best when its heroes race furiously toward their missions, most of which involve jumping out of a helicopter into surging waves.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter James Greenberg
That the film doesn't rise above the formulaic is a particular disappointment as these stunningly brave Rescue Swimmers deserve a film as daring as they are.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
An action movie, a basic training movie, a swaggering sea adventure, a home front melodrama and an inspiring tough-love heroic teacher fable. If the aggregate of all these movies is exhausting and occasionally overwrought, some of the parts are stirring and effective, though not exactly fresh.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
As a story of courage and personal growth, The Guardian is perfunctory, a saga of character building that could (and may, advertently or otherwise) serve as a Coast Guard recruitment vehicle. But it's far more interesting as a tale of two faces: Kutcher and Costner have a kind of visual chemistry that's just as elusive as the other kind. And the connection and contrast between them remind us that Hollywood isn't as forgiving of older male actors as we like to think.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson
Tries tremendously hard to win audiences over with manly derring-do, exciting action, and impossible-obstacles-overcome uplift. And it's undeniably compelling for minutes at a time
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The movie represents an earnest effort to compensate for all the love the media has shown to firefighters and other land-based first responders in recent years with little thought to the Coast Guard; the drama also crashes on wave upon wave of clichés.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
I'm not suggesting Costner and Kutcher should run out and remake "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" just yet, but in The Guardian, the two actors turn out to complement each other well enough to make a lot of this supremely derivative and formulaic picture go down better than it should.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Costner has the stoic routine down pat, and there are some spectacular action sequences of helicopter rescues on the high seas, but Kutcher is in way over his head.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The kind of inspirational movie that Hollywood made about the Army, Navy and Marines during World War II. Now, with inspiration in short supply, it's the Coast Guard's turn.
Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
The overly familiar plot points also make the film feel a little dated.
Read Full Review >USA Today Scott Bowles
Don't be surprised if, in the middle of The Guardian, you get an overpowering sense of déjà vu. Assuming you've seen "An Officer and a Gentleman," "Top Gun" or any of the myriad basic-training films Hollywood churns out, you've seen The Guardian.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
The only performance worth watching is Costner's. Now that he seems resigned to being something less than an A-list luminary, he is often modest and affecting.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Scott Foundas
The Guardian is neither serious enough to take seriously nor flashy enough to get by on thrills alone. Jerry Bruckheimer, where art thou?
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
There's nothing in The Guardian that audiences haven't previously been exposed to ad nauseam.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
When Costner is good, as he is here, his acting has a purity to it, an unspoken moral dimension. Underneath the sensitive, stoic facade is a loquacious, intellectually alert actor with an encyclopedic understanding of the film tradition he occupies: the rugged, humble movie hero, embodied by the likes of Gary Cooper and Henry Fonda.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The point of all this solemnity may be to pay serious respect to those rescue swimmers, who courageously look after errant kayakers or victims of Hurricane Katrina. But what we get in exchange is a movie that feels too much like a Coast Guard recruitment film. Who wants to pay to see that?
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
A predictable amalgam of every military-academy movie you can think of.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
Davis and company need to be taken to task for giving us a movie that makes rescue divers, arguably among the most death-defying of professionals, boring.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Ultimately, The Guardian veers off into slobbery touchy-feeliness, and the tone becomes mock-religious, almost liturgical.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
The men who made The Guardian strive to be the averagest of the average - and don't quite succeed.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 89 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Lisa L gave it a10:
This movie was AMAZING! I was so inspired and it just makes you realize how much we take for granted the amazing work people do. the acting was really good too. I'm reminded again of how great of an actor kevin costner and ashton kutcher are.
Andrew S. gave it a0:
What a horrendous movie! The critics were right when they said it was nothing special... The entire movie is a cliche piece of crap that tries way too hard to be epic and meaningful. The script is just laughable. The last twenty minutes were the best directed, but they were so boring and just full of action. Most people only like the film because of stupid action. It doesn't mean anything. Bad, bad, bad movie.
Bill b gave it a4:
When watching this movie, I feel like I'm just watching a more modern version of An Officer and a Gentlemen. Yes, some of the parts were inspiring and uplifting, but I've seen inspiring and uplifting and it's making me bored!
Daren W. gave it a10:
WOW, after this movie I realize we take the Coast Guard for granted. Great movie, entertaining!!! I saw the critics reviews; WHAT! The whole family loved this movie... Watch it and judge for yourselve... Also do not understand the negative reviews!
Name and address withheld gave it a0:
This had to be the worst movie ever! About some stupid loser who joins the coast gaurd. That falls in love with a ugly lady who is a drunk. It was such a crappy movie that Icried. I highly doubt that the true coast gaurds drink like pigs on there free time!
Martin W. gave it a1:
What an embarrassing movie. Scripts must be few and far between. I can understand Ashton Kutcher having to accept a part in a predictable movie such as this, because lets face it, he's really B grade. But, I thought Kevin Costner may have been able to pass. Has his career stooped to this? Flag waving, chest beating, hi five hand slapping crap!
Bj C. gave it a9:
Excellent. A good reminder of what Coast Guard (and others) goes through to save lives. Kevin Costner was great. It's so nice to have a movie that isn't all filth, violence, gore, and sex. I recommend this movie to anyone that wants to be entertained.
