Guardian, The

Yes, the romantic interest and character subplots are awfully familiar--the hard-drinking veteran with the troubled marriage that we've seen in "Backdraft" and so many other films, and the cocky "Top Gun" style camaraderie that leads to a hook-up between Kutcher and love-interest Melissa Sagemiller. But we'll accept a little familiarity when there's enough action and interest elsewhere that are done so well. The towering waves in the rescue sequences set (but not filmed) off of Kodiak, Alaska are as "perfect" a storm as you'll see on your television sets, and the special effects look totally real and fabulous on Blu-ray. I enjoyed this one, as did my wife.

Video:
Boy, Blu-ray sure looks great with disaster films. The waves look menacingly real, and every detail is so super-realistically clear that it heightens the effect. The picture is presented in 1080p Hi Def at a 1.85:1 aspect ratio that fills out the full screen of 16x9 televisions. Even some of the bonus features are in 1080p and 1080i High Definition. The colors look natural and there's strong enough black levels to pull out plenty of detail, even in nighttime situations (of which there are plenty). What more can I say? It's just a nice, nice picture.

Audio:
The audio is even stronger, with the feature option a 5.1 uncompressed PCM Dolby Digital, and alternate soundtracks in standard English, French, and Dolby Digital 5.1. Every splash and sway comes across on the speakers, and there's so much rear-speaker action in the action scenes that you feel surrounded by water . . . and impending disaster. Subtitles are in English SDH, French, and Spanish, with the bonus features also available in English SDH.

Extras:
Here's a bonus for PS3 owners and PC owners with compatible software: a filmmaker Q/A that's only available through those media. I don't have either, so I can't comment. But I can tell you that the main feature--a commentary with director Andrew Davis and writer Ron L. Brinkerhoff--is pretty standard. It's solid, but nothing earthshakingly memorable comes out.

Also included are two short features, "Making Waves" and "Unsung Heroes" that focus on the huge effort it took to create those real-looking special effects and some information on the heroes that inspired this film. We're told that out of all the people in the Coast Guard across the nation, there are only 280 rescue swimmers. Talk about an elite breed. Both of the features are quite good, and really help you appreciate the film all the more.

Rounding out the bonus features are an alternate ending and four deleted scenes, each playable with or without commentary. Let's just say that for the way the film ended, I thought the director made the right call.

Bottom Line:
No one will mistake "The Guardian" for a classic film. It doesn't rise above the conventions enough for that. But it's a solid entry in the mentor/trainee genre that presents characters we care about and breathtaking action sequences.

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