Friday, September 29, 2006

The Guardian (***)


 ? Veteran Coast Guard rescuer Kevin Costner takes a gig teaching new recruits, including cocky Ashton Kutcher.
+ This is just like all of those military films in which a young private faces off against tough drill sergeant who seems to have it in for him. However, that these are Coast Guard rescue swimmers being trained in unusual skills like holding their breath and swimming in icy water gives the movie a novelty aspect that makes it more interesting. Most interesting is an offhand comment about how other branches of the military don’t respect the Coast Guard because they save lives rather than take them.
- Other elements, like the younger man’s obligatory romance and the older one’s foundering marriage, still feel overfamiliar. The ending is needlessly protracted and overly melodramatic.
= *** If you like military films, you’ll like this one.

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