The Guardian (2006)

Who: Bill & Melanie
What: The Guardian
Where: Rented DVD from Netflix
Why: Melanie said it looked like a decent movie

Ben Randall (Kevin Costner) is a legendary rescue swimmer for the United States Coast Guard’s Aviation Survival Technician Program (AST). His successful rescues at sea number in the hundreds. But Ben is aging and his marriage is failing. When one rescue goes tragically wrong, he is forced to either retire or become an instructor with the AST’s training program. Reluctantly choosing to teach he soon confronts an eager, arrogant, but good-hearted young candidate named Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher). Ultimately Ben and Jake discover they have much in common. The story follows Jake’s progress through training and ultimately beating the odds to become a rescue swimmer, while Ben finally decides to retire and work on saving his marriage.


On DVD, The Guardian has two different endings-- the version that was actually used, and an alternate ending that was filmed in case the original wasn’t well received by studio executives at Touchstone Pictures or preview audiences. While we personally did not like the actual ending, it is more realistic and when you see the director’s reasoning for it, you understand why it was chosen.

Overall, we liked The Guardian, although it should have been at least a half-hour shorter. An unnecessary subplot involving Jake and a “casual” girlfriend (played by Raising the Bar’s Melissa Sagemiller) adds little to the overall story. Still, Costner and Kutcher are very good and convincing in the lead roles. The supporting cast also boasts familiar faces; notably, Sela Ward as Ben’s wife Helen, and Dule Hill (Psych) as fellow trainee Ken Weatherly. A number of actual Coast Guard rescue swimmers are featured as extras. A DVD rental is recommended, particularly for the bonus features which detail stories such as Kutcher’s participation in the AST’s training program and the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the film’s production.