Movie Review (The Guardian)

I had wanted to see this movie since I first saw the commercials almost two years ago and just never made the time. I rented it last night from one of those $1 kiosks at Kroger which I think is a fantastic invention. Anyway, I finally grabbed it last night and started it around 2130 last night.

The cast is pretty star studded and I think that several of the instructors they used were actual coasties. I wish this would have been pointed out somehow. The cast was great and everyone did their best, but the movie is just not written or directed well. Several scenes come off as disjointed as they try to reel you in with Top Gun or Officer and a Gentleman type scenes. The scenes never seem to play all the way out before the director shifts gears to the next, usually unrelated, scene. Ashton Kutcher didn't suck near as bad as I thought he would and paced Kevin Costner, brilliant as usual, very well. This movie has enormous undeveloped potential to pay tribute to the coasties, who often go unnoticed. But really, what do you expect when you are in the Department of Transportation? I think the movie falls a little short and the ending was quite stupid. The movie has two endings wrapping up two separate story lines and both came off as goofy to me. One of the "endings" also seems a bit pointless but that's just me. They also did not do a good job of portraying how difficult SAR school is. That may have been the lack of athleticism on the part of certain cast members.

Unique to coasties the movie shows women attempting to become rescue swimmers. Female coasties must meet the exact same requirements as their male counterparts for this position. As a result, there are currently only three qualified females in the field. In other services females are either not allowed to serve in certain jobs or they are not required to meet the same physical standards. I like the CG model.

I do not recommend this movie.