THE GUARDIAN — ** — Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher, Clancy Brown; rated PG-13 (violence, profanity, drugs, vulgarity).
The television ad spots and theatrical trailers for "The Guardian" apparently tell most, if not all, of the film's story in just a minute or two. The only thing that appears to be missing is the closing credits.
Which makes it ironic and a little sad that the film itself takes more than two hours to tell the same story. Especially since this Coast Guard tale is basically another rehash of rescue-services dramas, such as last year's "Ladder 47." With a liberal dose of "An Officer and a Gentleman."
But as cliched and familiar as the story is, "The Guardian" does boast one of Kevin Costner's better performances of late. He stars as Ben Randall, a U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer who's seen better days. When he is unable to save some of his colleagues during a mission, Ben's superiors give him time off to recover, sending him to a facility where he will train the next generation of rescue swimmers.
The main story here concentrates on Ben's antagonistic relationship with one of the recruits, Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher), a cocky former high school swimming champ who's out to break all of Ben's swimming, diving and rescue records. As to the various subplots, it's all too obvious where each one is going — especially Jake's romance with a local schoolteacher (Melissa Sagemiller).
Worse, the film's lengthy running time works against it. Had it been trimmed by at least 20 minutes, the film's flaws might not seem so glaring.
Still, there are a couple of stirring and thrilling moments. Director Andrew Davis ("The Fugitive," "Holes") and his stunt coordinators have done a good job staging the various rescue and training sequences. And he also gets solid performances from Costner and Kutcher — although Kutcher isn't asked to do too much beyond his usual smart-aleck routine.
The supporting cast includes Clancy Brown, Sela Ward, John Heard and Neal McDonough, each of whom is a welcome presence.
"The Guardian" is rated PG-13 for a couple of strong scenes of violence (boating mishaps, a barroom brawl and explosive mayhem), occasional profanity (including one usage of the so-called "R-rated" curse word), some drug content (use of painkillers) and some suggestive talk and language. Running time: 136 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com