The Guardian

"How do you choose who to save?"
"I swim as fast and as hard as I can, for as long as I can. And the sea takes the rest."

After losing his team to the sea, lauded Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Ben Randall (Costner) is benched from active duty.  With his marriage to Helen (Ward) in ruins, and unstable emotions, he is ordered to serve as the lead teacher, the Master Chief, of the Rescue Swimmer school.

At the school Randall throws his students into the deep end, making them tread water for an extended amount of time and testing other skills they will need as a Rescue Swimmer.  If they can't keep up, they get cut.

"Can you die from chlorine poisoning?"
"I can't feel my legs. I'm serious."
"I don't know about you guys, but I feel good."
"This Randall guy, he's operating on some whole other cylinder. What is it, two weeks, and he's failed half the class already?"

The best student, beating every record, is Jake Fischer (Kutcher), who can't seem to get on Randall's good side.  With a no-tolerance policy, will anyone survive Randall's teaching methods and graduate Rescue Swimmer School?


Have the tissues handy for this one... there are a few tear inducing moments.  Don't try to hold it in, everyone else with a heart will be crying as well, especially if this is your first time watching the film.  Maybe it is a tad formulaic, like most of this genre, but it works here.

The acting is alright... Costner and Kutcher aren't great actors, but they do alright here.  The female characters, Sela Ward as Costner's wife Helen and Melissa Sagemiller as Kutcher's love interest Emily, don't get to do much.  They are around to love the men and give them a reason to survive their dangerous jobs.  The rest of the cast doesn't get to do much either, but there are some funny and memorable sequences at A-School.  A decent movie... always enjoyable.

The Guardian (2006) 139 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Director: Andrew Davis
Starring: Kevin Costner as Ben Randall
Ashton Kutcher as Jake Fischer
Sela Ward as Helen Randall
Melissa Sagemiller as Emily Thomas
Clancy Brown as Captain William Hadley