The Guardian DVD Review

The decision to cast Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher in the leading roles of the same film seemed a risky decision considering both of their reputations. Kutcher has not yet established himself as a serious actor and Costner has slowly become the butt of many jokes, and although reputations have a way of changing when an actor is cast in the right role it seemed to be asking to much to try and change two at once. Although there are moments in the film when it begins to feel cliché and wooden, these moments are far more the script and less the actors involved. For what it is worth, they both do some of their best work. Often the performances are the most compelling component of the rather predictable plot.

Costner plays an aging elite Coast Guards Rescue Swimmer who is forced to take a break from the work after a tragic event takes the lives of his entire team. His break is a job training recruits and he immediately has problems with a cocky swim champ (Kutcher) who is mostly interested in breaking the records held at the school. A majority of the film takes place in the training, but what action there is in the ocean is quite dramatic and effective.

Some of the training sequences begin to feel far more like a music video influenced coast guard advertisement than a film, and this topped with a sufficient amount of cheesy plot twists in the early half of the film makes it difficult to be forgiving for the rest of the film. Fortunately the film does begin to improve as the cliché’s fade out of the film. Ben Randall could easily have become a villainous tough drill sergeant or the compassionate teacher, but somehow he is both in a warm and firm role that Costner easily plays in an understated manor. The more likeable Costner it is, at times makes it more difficult to relate to Ashton Kutcher’s cocky Jake Fischer. The attitude seems unjustified as fair and efficient an instructor Randall appears to be, although he does have a strong penchant for dismissing recruits.

The DVD contains a never-before-seen alternate ending to the film as well as a few deleted scenes. There are two featurettes; “Unsung Heroes”, which is a tribute to real U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers, and “Making Waves”, a basic making-of featurette. The audio commentary has director Andrew Davis and writer Ron L. Brinkerhoff swapping technical stories about the film.