The Guardian [HD]

Surprised by a Good Movie
Despite mediocre reviews and having struggled through An Officer and a Gentleman and Top Gun I decided to watch The Guardian with every expectation that I would not make it through the movie... I am glad that I went, one of the best movies I've seen in awhile. It's easy to find fault in any movie and The Guardian is no exception; the rescue scenes are bigger than life which should be expected in a military/disaster movie; but the overconfident and somewhat arrogant trainee (Ashton Kutcher) is believable at his age, and Kevin Costner was at his best since the late 80's (The Untouchables & No Way Out). Despite my surprise when learning that my college age children watched The Guardian, I was even more astonished that they discussed aspects of this movie - Service, sacrifice, relationships, and perseverance. In an office where I very rarely see 7 thumbs up; The Guardian got the grade.

Fiction Not TOO far from Truth (4.5 stars)
First, as a movie watcher who rarely likes what hits the screen these days, I truly enjoyed this film. True, it would have been better 15 minutes shorter, but it wasn't so long as to really bother me. I think the love interest for Kutcher was unneccessary. But the movie held my attention and interest and I left the theater thinking, "Man, that was good."

Now, as one of the lucky people that have one of those cool Coast Guard jobs, (a fact that does create some bias) I was suprised by just how close to reality the action stayed. There were plenty of "hollywood" moments, but many of them were necessary. I wont bother to explain them all, but the operations center of most air stations is a desk with a couple of phones. There are video monitors in some of them, but they play movies and football games...no live video feeds from the scene...sorry.

The rescue scenes are very realistic, and the school scenes are not too out-of-line with the actual training...

Finally the Coast Guard
As a retired Coast Guardsman, I watched the movie with great anticipation-hoping that they would "get it right" and night just have another hollywood production. After experiencing 30 years of service and seeing a lot of what is portrayed in the movie, I believe they have. Even though others may not think the the intertwined love story is necessary, I believe that it adds a sense of realism and personal sacrifice to the storyline. These are situations that are faced not only by rescue swimmers, who may have the most physically challenging job in the Guard, but by every person in the Coast Guard who has every had to go out in rough seas, board boats, coduct rescues at sea, do drug interdiction or a myriad of other taskings in less than ideal conditions. The movie does an excellent job exposing those who are are unaware to one aspect of the Coast Guard mission. I hope it makes them that much more aware of the sacrifice freely given on a daily basis in the saving of lives and...

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