the movieGOOMBA

Ashton Kutcher is kind of like this weird character actor. You know how Jim Carey always has to do that weird Jim Carey thing, even if the film is serious? It's kind of like that. "I'm Ashton Kutcher!!! I'm awesome!!!" with his sort of Ashton Kutcher flail and the wide eyed, eye brow raised, crazed look on his face. So it's obviously kind of hard to take him seriously.

In The Guardian, you really want to try and get into it. Jake Fischer, played by Kutcher, AKA Goldfish, is a young and cocky swimmer who wants to join the National Coast Guard. Ben Randall, played by the aging Kevin Costner, is an old, almost retired Guard Swimmer, whose career has glorified him to legend. The humble and haunted Randall becomes the Coast Guard Boot Camp trainer, and forms a love-hate relationship with Fischer, eventually leading to mutual respect.

If you think the plot sounds pretty dull and has already been done under the guise of a different backdrop then you're right. I did enjoy learning a little bit more about the Coast Guard. I had no idea that it took similar army-like training. However, other than that, both Costner and Fischer gave mediocre performances. There wasn't a lot of, out-in-the-open-sea-save-me-scenes as the trailers wrongfully advertised, and I thought that some of the subplots were pretty corny.

Don't be fooled by the CG, distracted by your fear of drowning in a sinking ship(<---my worst nightmare) or Ashton Kutcher's mannerisms, or blinded by your amazement at the physical hardship the Coast Guard Swimmers have to endure. It's just a movie that had a huge budget and made some money, but that doesn't make it good.