The Guardian - PG-13

Waterlogged rescue flick is nothing new.

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Rating: PG-13 for for intense sequences of action/peril, brief strong language and some sensuality. Studio: Buena Vista Pictures Directed By: Andrew Davis Cast: Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher, Melissa Sagemiller Running Time: 136 minutes Release Date: 09/28/2006 Genre: Action/adventure

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this action drama includes several harrowing scenes of storms and sinking boats at sea. Rescue swimmers valiantly try to save victims, but some deaths occur on screen (not bloody, but sad and -- in one case -- quite disturbing). Kids with fears about water should probably see something else. Sailors and swimmers argue and draw blood in fistfights. A couple falls in love and is shown kissing and in bed (no explicit sex, but tumbling under blankets and some underwear shots). Protagonists drink, take painkillers, and use occasional profanity.

Families can talk about ways to deal with trauma. How does the movie make the case that focusing on the future (in the form of students to be taught and lives to be saved) helps Ben overcome his guilt, anger, and frustration? What are other ways -- both successful and unsuccessful -- that people deal with traumatic events? How do Ben and Jake's similarities (ambition, competitiveness, tragic pasts) make them ideal partners? What other movies have used a similar structure (tough veteran mentors young hot shot)? Families can also discuss the work of the Coast Guard, including the unit's heroic rescues on the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs

With a retread plot, plenty of boy-bonding action, and a shirtless Ashton Kutcher, Andrew Davis' THE GUARDIAN is a by-the-numbers crowd pleaser that's about as dull as a heroic redemption story could be. (Imagine Waterworld without the gills or An Officer and a Gentleman without Louis Gossett Jr., and you get the idea.)

Kevin Costner stars as Ben Randall, a veteran Coast Guard rescue swimmer who turns to teaching after a traumatic event leaves him unable to carry on as usual. Per formula, parallel redemption stories grant "emotional" moments to both Ben and Kutcher's Jake Fischer. Ben needs to recover his nerve, while cocky student Jake must learn to play nicely with others, including his girlfriend, Emily (Melissa Sagemiller). Both teacher and student have suffered; the revelations of that suffering lead each to his own sort of manly re-commitment.

When he arrives at the rescue-swimming training facility, Ben's red-lit nightmares are compounded by the fact that his long-suffering wife, Helen (Sela Ward), has left him. In between chewing Vicodins and slugging Wild Turkey, Ben grumps at the recruits, who, apart from Jake, range from ignorant to timid. For 18 weeks, Ben drills his trainees hard, in freezing water and for long hours. Ben's methods occasionally alarm and annoy his fellow instructors, including resentful second-in-command Jack (Neal McDonough) and skeptical presiding officer Larson (John Heard). During his down time, Ben calls Helen to beg forgiveness and helps Jake avenge a beating he received from disdainful Navy sailors at the "squid bar" where Coast Guard recruits aren't supposed to go.

Though the trainees' ranks do include a woman, the focus here is on boys learning to be men. Ben and Jake see themselves in each other, pretty much to the exclusion of anyone else. When Emily suggests to Jake that Ben may be "trying to push you to be better," Jake sets her straight: "He knows I'm better than he is!" By the time Jake has his big breakdown scene (he cries, though he doesn't actually say, "I got nowhere else to go!"), it's clear that, for all their earnest, actorly efforts, neither man has a chance against Ron L. Brinkerhoff's hackneyed script.

Families might also enjoy thematically similar movies like The Sands of Iwo Jima or Top Gun. And a better, more mature film in which Costner trains youngsters and recovers his honor is Open Range.

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content A fairly young couple engages in sexual activity, including passionate kisses and some playful rolling in bed, wearing underwear and mostly under the covers.
Violence Several violent storms at sea; flashbacks show the dangers of Coast Guard rescue-swimming; a rescuer has to punch a hysterical victim; a couple of rescuers die; a helicopter crashes and explodes; a trainer is punched in the nose and bleeds; a couple of barfights with Navy sailors leave Jake (and then Ben) bloodied and bruised; training is hard (in freezing water, holding breath, swimming to the point of exhaustion).
Language One "f--k" several other profanities ("damn," "s--t," "a--hole," etc.).
Message
	Social Behavior An arrogant young swimmer learns to support his team and make hard choices in rescue situations; a lonely veteran swimmer trains youngsters to take up his heroic legacy.
	Commercialism Wild Turkey liquor bottle is visible.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Characters drink in bars to get drunk; some vomiting; Ben chews Vicodins to kill physical and emotional pain; some cigarette smoking.