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Last Updated: Sep 30th, 2006 - 10:25:53
The Guardian A POV Review
By Cynthia Kirkeby
Sep 30, 2006, 08:37 PST
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| Courtesy of Touchstone Pictures |
The Guardian rescues the season! Costner and Kutcher command the screen in obsessive roles of men, who each have a mission in life, as Coast Guard rescue divers. A fictionalized account of rescue diver, Ben Randall, brings out the best in soft spoken Costner as he mentors a brilliant trainee, played by AShton Kutcher.
Throughout his career, Costner has always shone in roles of men, who at first glance seem ordinary, but on second look transform into the quiet heroes who risk everything to save us. In The Guardian he is in his element once again. Kevin plays an aging rescue diver, who cannot let go of his mission even as his marriage and his body are failing.
When his entire crew is killed, Costner is sent to the Coast Guard school for rescue divers to help him dispel his deomons. It is here that he meets and mentors Ashton Kutcher, a cocky, albeit brilliant swimmer who has his own demons to exorcise.
The relationship between the two men is at times antagonistic, sarcastic, challenging, destructive, mentoring, and loving; all the complex emotions that come with finding someone too much like ourselves. Watching the relationship develop between the two men is a joy. It shows the bridging of the generations, the hand-off from the aging expert to the next up-and-coming protege.
The other thing that makes this movie work, is that each of the characters evolves. They aren't cardboard cut-outs stuck in two dimensions. Each has his own journey to complete, and those journeys humanize characters who might otherwise be too altruistic to relate to as an audience. As with many individuals who excel in their fields, there is a certain amount of posturing, and pomposity which grates on us mere mortals, but as you look deeper you find the human side that is driving them to be who they are, as they honor the motto "So Others May Live."
For anyone who loves movies that make you laugh, cry, and believe in heroes, The Guardian is a must see film.
Visit the official website for The Guardian.
Visit the U.S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue website.
© Copyright 2006 by Classbrain.com
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