53
Metascore
29 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam ArnoldSeattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam ArnoldThe film's grueling training sequences have a perverse fascination, and, though he's nothing special here, Kutcher is probably the most appealing he has been in a big-screen role.
- 70VarietyJoe LeydonVarietyJoe LeydonThe overlong but involving drama has obvious cross-generational appeal.
- 63Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneSometimes you want to buy an extra-large popcorn and settle in for a big budget Hollywood blockbuster replete with entertaining explosions, undemanding dialogue and completely unrealistic action sequences. If all that sounds like gloriously uncomplicated fun, The Guardian is your movie.
- 60The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottAn action movie, a basic training movie, a swaggering sea adventure, a home front melodrama and an inspiring tough-love heroic teacher fable. If the aggregate of all these movies is exhausting and occasionally overwrought, some of the parts are stirring and effective, though not exactly fresh.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumThe movie represents an earnest effort to compensate for all the love the media has shown to firefighters and other land-based first responders in recent years with little thought to the Coast Guard; the drama also crashes on wave upon wave of clichés.
- 58The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonThe A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonTries tremendously hard to win audiences over with manly derring-do, exciting action, and impossible-obstacles-overcome uplift. And it's undeniably compelling for minutes at a time
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceThe Guardian is neither serious enough to take seriously nor flashy enough to get by on thrills alone. Jerry Bruckheimer, where art thou?
- 50ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThere's nothing in The Guardian that audiences haven't previously been exposed to ad nauseam.
- 50Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerThe only performance worth watching is Costner's. Now that he seems resigned to being something less than an A-list luminary, he is often modest and affecting.
- 40Washington PostStephen HunterWashington PostStephen HunterUltimately, The Guardian veers off into slobbery touchy-feeliness, and the tone becomes mock-religious, almost liturgical.