This character-driven drama about redemption feels fresh, mostly due to good storytelling and two fine lead performances
Comment
11/24/06
The Guardian (2006)
37
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:142
Fresh:52
Rotten:90
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: The Coast Guard gets its chance for a heroic movie tribute, but The Guardian does it no justice, borrowing cliche after cliche from other (and better) military branch movies.
Runtime: 2 hrs 19 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $54,983,983
Synopsis: Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher team up in this torch-passing tale of the brave men and women in the Navy Coastguard elite rescue diver unit. A catastrophic rescue mission leaves him wounded after... [More]
Starring: Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher, Clancy Brown, Sela Ward
Director: Andrew Davis
Reviews for The Guardian
1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; Australian critics are listed first)
Top CriticThe Guardian is further proof that there really is nothing original left in Big Studio (BS) Hollywood.
09/28/06
The Guardian is so petrified over disrespecting the United States Coast Guard that it stifles itself. Like one of its trainees stuck under water, it can't breathe.
09/28/06
I'd have given it an A-. But it goes on & on, off the deep end into the even hokier. But since it choked me up earlier on, I'm calling it a weak B .
02/19/07
A pleasant enough distraction, although like so much of Costner's work it is far too long.
09/29/06
Despite the movie being overly long and fairly cliched, it makes a strong showcase for Kevin Costner's seasoned charisma.
09/28/06
Director Andrew Davis aims straight and true with his rescue scenes, churning ocean and emotion with a flair for good theater.
09/26/06
Not that I was expecting much, but I found myself irritated at the recurring basic training clichés that Andrew Davis had floating throughout "The Guardian."
09/28/06
Take a little of An Officer and a Gentleman and a little Top Gun and throw in some waves and underwater sequences, and you have The Guardian -- only with less charismatic actors, more tame sex scenes, and a lot less energy.
09/28/06
The Guardian is a male soap opera with echoes of An Officer and Gentleman and enough military movie clichés to fill a book of regulations.
09/30/06
Kutcher may soon be ready to anchor a Hollywood sea voyage. But for now, he's still a touch out of his depth.
09/29/06
Top CriticThe first hour of The Guardian gives every indication that some sort of contemporary Greek tragedy is about to be played out. And then the film goes right off the rails.
09/29/06
If it had ended at 90 minutes this film would warrant a salute.
10/02/06
Costner comes through swimmingly.
10/02/06
Director Andrew Davis and scripter Ron L. Brinkerhoff ... pummel us with the shameless ending we dreaded from the moment the opening credits appeared on the screen.
10/02/06
An inspiring look at the Coast Guard's Rescue Swimmers whose motto is "So others may live."
09/28/06
So old-school it actually has roles for both Clancy Brown and John Heard, The Guardian feels like an assembly-line summer programmer from somewhere circa 1987.
09/26/06
Watching The Guardian is like treading water in a cold tank when you'd rather be sun-basking on a raft in a tranquil cove.
09/29/06
Pure Hollywood hokum, the sort of picture the Duke might star in today. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Aside from lazy screenwriting.
09/28/06
The best way I can describe The Guardian is the Coast Guard version of An Officer and a Gentleman, although I doubt this film will be remembered as fondly.
09/29/06
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