The film The Guardian turned out to be a lifesaver for me in a way. I went to see it yesterday and forgot about the blackout that was crippling Buffalo for five days.
I was expecting to see another version of young cocky recruit in the hands of old professional which has been done innumerable times in film. I was pleasantly surprised to see some real character development for those stereotypes.
Kevin Costner is the old pro here and he's been doing a job he loves for over 20 years as a rescue swimmer for the United States Coast Guard. But he's slowing up now and won't face the fact he's aging. He also was the only survivor of a rescue mission that in itself went down. He's reassigned temporarily as an instructor to train new rescue swimmers.
The top prospect at the school is a cocky kid played by Ashton Kutcher who was a high school swimming champion. The two of them clash, but then bond quite dramatically as Kutcher tells him of some demons haunting him as well.
For those of you who think of Ashton Kutcher as the lovable sexy lunkhead Michael Kelso from That Seventies Show you are in for a real shock. He turns in quite a good performance in a role that is miles away from Michael Kelso. Mr. Kutcher has a lot more talent than folks were giving him credit for.
The scenes of the various Coast Guard rescues at sea are well done as are those showing the rescue swimmer training. I'd also commend the performance of Brian Geraghty as another young recruit back for his third try at the Rescue Swimmer School.
I guess the best praise I could give The Guardian is that the Coast Guard ought to adopt this film for recruiting.
I was expecting to see another version of young cocky recruit in the hands of old professional which has been done innumerable times in film. I was pleasantly surprised to see some real character development for those stereotypes.
Kevin Costner is the old pro here and he's been doing a job he loves for over 20 years as a rescue swimmer for the United States Coast Guard. But he's slowing up now and won't face the fact he's aging. He also was the only survivor of a rescue mission that in itself went down. He's reassigned temporarily as an instructor to train new rescue swimmers.
The top prospect at the school is a cocky kid played by Ashton Kutcher who was a high school swimming champion. The two of them clash, but then bond quite dramatically as Kutcher tells him of some demons haunting him as well.
For those of you who think of Ashton Kutcher as the lovable sexy lunkhead Michael Kelso from That Seventies Show you are in for a real shock. He turns in quite a good performance in a role that is miles away from Michael Kelso. Mr. Kutcher has a lot more talent than folks were giving him credit for.
The scenes of the various Coast Guard rescues at sea are well done as are those showing the rescue swimmer training. I'd also commend the performance of Brian Geraghty as another young recruit back for his third try at the Rescue Swimmer School.
I guess the best praise I could give The Guardian is that the Coast Guard ought to adopt this film for recruiting.