The Guardian (2006 film)

The Guardian
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Andrew Davis
Produced by	Armyan Bernstein Lowell D. Blank Zanne Devine
Written by	Ron L. Brinkerhoff
Starring	Kevin Costner Ashton Kutcher Melissa Sagemiller Clancy Brown
Music by	Trevor Rabin
Cinematography	Stephen St. John
Editing by	Thomas J. Nordberg Dennis Virkler
Studio	Beacon Communications
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s)	September 29, 2006
Running time	139 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million
Box office	$94,973,540

The Guardian is a 2006 action-adventure drama film starring Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher, and Melissa Sagemiller. The film was released on September 29, 2006, and was directed by Andrew Davis, director of The Fugitive. The setting for the film is the United States Coast Guard and their Aviation Survival Technician (AST) program.

Plot

The plot follows Ben Randall (Kevin Costner) and Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher) at the United States Coast Guard's Aviation Survival Technician (AST) Program. Randall is the top rescue swimmer who continues to work against regulation past the age of 40. Fischer is a hot-shot candidate for AST who was ranked as a top competitive swimmer in high school with scholarships to every Ivy league college and university but opted to enlist in the Coast Guard. The film's title is introduced by a mythic tale: people lost at sea often claim they feel a presence lifting them to the surface, breathing life into their bodies while they are waiting for help to arrive. They call this presence "The Guardian."

Ben, who has been juggling his home life and work as a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, is confronted by his wife asking for a separation due to his frequent time at work. During the argument, he receives a page for an immediate rescue. Out at sea, he loses his rescue team in an HH-60J Jayhawk helicopter mishap, and while waiting in a survival raft, his best friend, Chief Petty Officer Carl Billings (Omari Hardwick), dies due to injury, cold, and shock. Additionally, a victim Ben had placed into the helicopter's rescue basket was abruptly pulled under with the sinking helicopter and was never seen again. Shaken, he is forced to either retire or to teach at a Coast Guard training school; he reluctantly chooses the latter. Here, Jake arrives as a hopeful AST candidate at "A" school. Ben is considered a legend with a countless number of saves.

Actual Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers in a training exercise

Ben goes against protocol as an instructor and teaches, while Jake is the usual arrogant, but good-hearted student. During the training, Jake meets a local schoolteacher, Emily Thomas, and begins a "casual" relationship, as they both know his time there is limited. Once the initial, grueling weeks of training are over, and more than half of the students dropped (the school's Commandant almost boasts of an attrition rate of more than 50%), detailed instruction begins at the academy. After sleeping at his girlfriend’s house, Jake arrives late to class and is confronted by the waiting Ben. Unexpectedly, Jake is not dropped, although he is punished for his tardiness. Ben tries to force Jake into quitting, but he later sees his persistence and dedication. Meeting Emily in a bar, Jake tells her about him beating all of his instructor Ben Randall's records. However, Maggie the barkeep (Bonnie Bramlett), an old friend of Ben's, tells Jake of an unbreakable record: On a rescue at a ship fire (the Aegis), Ben worked tirelessly to save all the victims. With one man left and a broken winch, Randall held the man by his fingertips for the entire flight to land, resulting in extensive injuries to his hand and shoulder, a record that could never be broken. Jake is humbled.

That night, Jake and Emily are at her house and Jake proposes they go on a date. Emily refuses the date with Jake, in order to stick to their "casual relationship" but later gives in to the date and they sleep together again. Later, during instruction, Jake's friend Charlie Hodge is unable to cope with panicked victims in the water and is afraid of failing school, so Jake takes him out for a drink before his date with Emily to cheer him up. After ending up in a Navy bar, they get involved in a fight and land in jail, leaving Jake's girlfriend stood up. Jake arrives back at base beaten and bandaged where he takes the blame entirely.

Ben confronts Jake as to why he left his prospects as a competitive swimmer to join the AST program, and tells Jake what he learned about Jake's past: on a late night out, Jake, the designated driver, got into an accidental automobile crash, resulting in the deaths of his high school relay team. After a moment of sorrow, Ben and Jake share common ground, now they both know how it feels like to be the only survivor. Jake asks what Ben's real number of saves is; no answer is given. Instruction is nearing completion and Jake takes to the role of leader during exercises. At graduation only a handful of the original candidates remain. Emily comes to see her boyfriend graduate, but the two must say goodbye because Jake is leaving town. Jake and Emily find saying goodbye to each other overwhelming by sharing a hug and kiss, then they slowly walk away from each other.

Jake is assigned to CG Air Station Kodiak, Alaska for protection of the Bering Sea, Randall's old post and the same post Jake wanted to be assigned to in the first place. On a mission together they are sent to rescue two kayakers trapped in a cave. Fischer enters the cave and lights a flare. This brings back painful memories as Ben flashes back to his crew's disaster. After rescuing the first victim, Jake returns to find Ben locked up unable to move. Ben's victim had hit a log and had a head laceration, which reminded him of the night he lost his crew. Jake continues to rescue both the second victim and Ben. At this point Ben realizes he cannot continue. Against his commander's wishes he retires. Jake again asks Ben what the number is. Twenty-two is the answer, the number of people Ben couldn't save, the only number he kept track of. Finding his wife's house, Ben goes in to apologize. He gives her the divorce papers and his wedding ring while they both act remorseful. Ben reveals that he has retired and slowly makes his way out. Ben returns to station to clear his office when he hears the radio chatter of a rescuer needed. Jake is to be sent to rescue four sailors trapped on a sinking vessel.

Three seamen are rescued while the ship's captain is trapped in the hull. While Jake refuses to leave the captain, the chopper leaves to refuel. Finally freeing the captain, the door to the room is sealed shut by water and debris. Trapped in the room the hull begins to fill with seawater. Moreover, waves hit the vessel, causing the captain to hit his head against a pipe.

In addition, an oxygen tank falls on the captain's body, killing him in the process. Ben Randall is the only rescue swimmer available to save Jake. He promptly begins to gather his gear. On scene, Ben is lowered onto the vessel. Getting snagged on the mast he is forced to unhook and climb down. At this point Jake has very little breathing room. Finding the sealed door, the water is released and Jake is freed. Back on deck they both hook to the rescue cable. Halfway up, the winch jams and the cable begins to unravel. Ben, realizing it can't hold both of them, unhooks and tries to fall. Jake catches and will not let him go, holding onto him by his glove simply saying "I won't let go". Ben understandingly replies "I know" and unstraps his glove, plummeting from a fatal height into the ocean. Jake is desperate to go in but is not allowed, as the only cable they have is broken and they are afraid to lose him as well; the spotlights never see Ben resurface.

In the epilogue, Jake narrates the final part of the movie, wondering what happened to Ben, as opinions differ. Yet, when he saves an unknown sailor from the deep, the sailor swears that with him was a man who "never let go," saying that he would wait for help. It ends with Jake commenting on how there is a man who lives under the sea, a fisher for men. They call him "The Guardian".

In the film's final scene, Jake interrupts Emily at her elementary school. She asks "What are you doing here?", and Jake answers "I lied to you—I can't do casual". There, Emily kisses Jake happily.

Cast

Many of the supporting actors, including ASTC instructors, helicopter pilots, and support personnel, are actual U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmers, pilots, and ground personnel. Several characters, including Kutcher's, identify themselves as Airman. An Airman is the enlisted rating of a Coast Guardsman who is undesignated and/or currently undergoing training in an aviation related field. Similar ratings within the Coast Guard are those of Seaman and Fireman.

One of the students was Mark Gangloff, an Olympic swimmer who received a gold medal in the Athens Olympic Games. *Clancy Brown "reprises" his role in The Guardian as another "Captain Hadley" — in the film adaptation of Stephen King's The Shawshank Redemption, Brown played the chief of the prison's guards as Captain Byron Hadley.

• Kevin Costner as Senior Chief Aviation Survival Technician Ben Randall
• Ashton Kutcher as Airman/Petty Officer 3rd Class Jake Fischer
• Neal McDonough as Chief Aviation Survival Technician Jack Skinner
• Melissa Sagemiller as Emily Thomas
• Clancy Brown as Captain William Hadley
• Brian Geraghty as Aviation Survival Technician Third Class Billy Hodge
• Sela Ward as Helen Randall
• Omari Hardwick as Carl Billings
• Michael Rady as Zingaro
• Peter Gail as Airman Danny Doran
• Shelby Fenner as Airman Cate Lindsey
• Damon Lipari as Bennett/Damon Bennett
• Bonnie Bramlett as Maggie McGlone
• John Heard as Captain Frank Larson
• Dulé Hill as Airman Ken Weatherly
• Brian Patrick Wade as Mitch Lyons
• Joe Arquette as Co-Pilot Antunez
• Andrew Schanno as Pilot Henry Mitchell
• Tilky Jones as Tilky Flint
• Daniel Molthen as Richard Wakefield
• Bryce Cass as Manny
• Chicago Catz as the bar band

Production

A wave pool used during filming

A ship located on a hydraulic gimbal used for filming

• The production company hired local contractors to build a massive indoor wave pool for production.
• Following the series of hurricanes in the southern United States in 2005, production moved to Shreveport, Louisiana. Some of the "base" scenes were filmed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, Louisiana, and also at Camp Minden in Minden, Louisiana.
• The film was revised after Hurricane Katrina, with the addition of several comments on the storm and the rescues following. The end credits are replete with "glory" shots of U.S. Coast Guard helicopters conducting rescues in the greater New Orleans area. The DVD contains a special feature on U.S. Coast Guard rescue operations, especially in the aftermath of Katrina.
• Some of the scenes that were supposed to be filmed in Kodiak, Alaska were filmed at CG Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, instead. 60,000 pounds of ice were needed on the set.
• The training pool used in the movie was LSU-Shreveport's natatorium.
• The 3D fluid effects (ocean surfaces, cresting waves, splashes, bow-spray, boat wakes, rain) were created by Flash Film Works in Hollywood with the expertise of Mark Stasiuk (RealFlow expert) at Fusion CI Studios in Los Angeles.

Historical relevance

The mishap where Randall loses his crew is loosely based on an actual U.S. Coast Guard aviation mishap in Alaska. The aircraft was an HH-3F Pelican (USCG variant of the Jolly Green Giant) instead of the HH-60J Jayhawk (USCG variant of the Blackhawk/Seahawk) pictured in the movie.

Release

Box office

The film earned $18 million on its opening weekend, and almost $95 million worldwide by January 4, 2007.

Critical reception

The Guardian received average reviews: Rotten Tomatoes currently has it at 37% rotten (141 reviews: 52 fresh, 89 rotten) while Metacritic rates it a 53/100 based on 29 reviews. Stephen Hunter pans it in The Washington Post, calling it "a good little film" for the first hour then it "begins to overload its frail reed of a structure with giant sloppages of cliches from other movies, some so bad it's almost comical", concluding that the movie "veers off into slobbery touchy-feeliness, and the tone becomes mock-religious, almost liturgical." Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe called it "dutiful but dull." For The New York Times, A.O. Scott notes that participation by actual members of the Coast Guard "lends an air of authenticity" and concludes "[i]t’s not a great movie, but it’s certainly one of the finest Coast Guard pictures you’re likely to see anytime soon." In a Variety review, Joe Leydon says the movie is "overlong but [the] involving drama has obvious cross-generational appeal." Ed Blank in The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review acknowledges there is plenty to snipe at yet also adds The Guardian "regurgitates formulaic elements in a way that pays off repeatedly and potently."

In November 2011 the United States Coast Guard changed their main chant "The Guardian Ethos" to "The Coastguardsman Ethos", removing the word "Guardian" from it entirely. One of the reasons this happened was because the USCG did not want the public just to see the Coast Guard as just AST's as in the movie.

Home media

Alternate ending

In an alternate ending found on the DVD, Randall survives. As he unhooks and tries to fall, Jake again grabs him and vows not to let go. Instead of unstrapping his glove, Randall lets the cable pull them up and it breaks just as they get into the helicopter. This ending was added because some of the writers were worried that the original ending was too strong for viewers. Nonetheless, it was scrapped when Disney chairman, Dick Cook, applauded the original ending.

Soundtrack

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
iTunes	link

The soundtrack was released on September 12, 2006. The soundtrack uses a variety of music genres, including R&B, Country music, Rock and Soul blues.

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Never Let Go" (performed by Bryan Adams)	5:05
2.	"Something To Talk About" (performed by Shedaisy)	3:54
3.	"Saturday Night" (performed by Ozomatli)	4:01
4.	"Love & Happiness" (performed by Bonnie Bramlett)	4:32
5.	"The Mockingbird" (performed by Lisa Lavie)	3:07
6.	"Hold Tight" (performed by Tad Robinson)	4:03
7.	"Tri-Me" (performed by Abby Ahmad)	4:33
8.	"Hold On, I'm Coming" (performed by Bonnie Bramlett)	2:57
9.	"Shake Up The World" (performed by Stevie "Funkworm" Butler)	4:09
10.	"Friday Night" (performed by Cheryl Wilson)	3:00
11.	"Run Me In The Dirt (Throwdown)" (performed by Butch Flythe & Joseph "Butch" Flythe)	3:29
12.	"The Guardian Suite" (performed by Trevor Rabin)	7:39
Total length:		50:29

External links

• Official website
• The Guardian at the Internet Movie Database
• The Guardian at AllRovi
• The Guardian at Box Office Mojo
• The Guardian at Rotten Tomatoes
• Official website (DVD)
• The real stories of fatal Coast Guard aviation accidents
• The Guardian at Gery.pl — Film (pl)
• Photos from the premiere of The Guardian at Yahoo Movies
• The Guardian full production notes