Friday, September 5, 2014

Flick Pick: The Guardian

The Guardian
(Touchstone, 2006)

Solid intergenerational buddy pic, well directed by Andrew Davis, showcasing Kevin Costner at his best using understated talent, and with Ashton Kutcher going toe to toe with him and holding up his end. The supporting cast is similarly talent-heavy, and the street cred of using a large number of actual Coastie AST instructor cadre added no small part to the realism of the entire film. So did the serendipitous fact that they were filming this flick in Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina struck N'awlins, which put the exact Coast Guard ASTs the movie is about into the starring role of the decade on national and international news for two solid weeks. The critics who've never served painted this as a tired recruiting ad, but audiences disagreed. The movie is nothing so trite, and is in fact a worthwhile effort, ably executed, and genuinely entertaining.

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