Ben Randall (Kevin Costner) is a veteran Coast Guard rescue swimmer. His wife Helen (Sela Ward) is leaving him. He loses his friend during a deadly accident in a rescue. After injuries and possible PTSD, he is forced to be an instructor at the Coast Guard "A" school. The new recruits include an arrogant champion swimmer Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher) who is more interested in the swimming records. He meets Emily Thomas (Melissa Sagemiller) at a wedding. Ben is unconvinced of Jake's commitment and then he uncovers his hidden past.This starts with a couple of thrilling rescues. It puts the movie in a compelling spot. Then it turns into a traditional 'An Officer and A Gentleman'. It's a little too on-the-nose especially with Jake's story. I would have preferred a more interesting Jake performance. It also goes on a little too long. This shouldn't be over two hours long. It needs a bit of tightening including the climax. I may even suggest dropping the love interest but this is still Hollywood. It's a movie that starts strong and stays compelling despite its oddly strict-formulaic story.

Version I saw: UK DVD releaseActors: 6/10Plot/script: 5/10Photography/visual style: 6/10Music/score: 5/10Overall: 6/10You can imagine the production meeting. Costner and Kutcher were middle-sized names, with their own followings, so it seemed reasonable to put them together in a middle-budget film. Costner has moved on from action heroes and romantic leads to grizzled military types and father figures, and Ashton makes an effective cocky young recruit who will grow under his tutelage. Throw in the idea of shining the spotlight on a less glamorous area of the military, and the rest pretty much writes itself. Basically, it's An Officer and a Gentleman with helicopter sea rescuers instead of air force pilots. It's really that blatant.Presumably that is why they gave it to comparative screen writing novice Ron L Brinkerhoff, and he does a decent job of putting tab A into slot B, adding in some (I assume) well-researched details that enhance the Coastguard training academy scenes, and finessing some of the character interactions with a bit of extra metaphor and frisson. The whole thing plays to a moderately right-wing middle-American patriotic audience, with a soundtrack comprising mostly pop and country music.Both of the leads are accomplished but not inspired. Costner has the experience and charisma to come across as likable even while playing the unnecessarily cruel, hard taskmaster, and Kutcher does better as the cocky douchebag than the sensitive hero, but he stops well short of disgracing himself.The director is a safe bet. Andrew Davis is probably best known for action thrillers Under Siege and The Fugitive. He brings his skill with those action set-pieces to the couple of (presumably quite expensive) helicopter rescue scenes, generating a really visceral sense of the danger and discomfort. He can also be trusted to not make a mess of the character interaction dialogue scenes.I found the whole reasonably diverting, if rather forgettable. One to watch when you are feeling a bit fragile, and not in the mood for anything at all challenging.

This could definitely have been a better movie.It could have been a worse one too, but. Well.I am not trying to denounce what this movie attempted to do. I think it is brave to attempt to trace a frakked-up teenager's journey from a loud-mouthed, grieving kid whose sadness has turned to anger, into an excellent, brave and capable human being.I just happen to think that process is a lot more complicated than suddenly becoming great at something I happened to be great at anyway.I also think it's a lot easier to offer the sort of absolution, forgiveness and redemption this Teacher is offering to his Pupil when the pupil happens to excel at one of the things he is being taught.I think it's high time we as a society stop deeming sports skillz the kind of talent that makes somebody 'great' as a person, rather than simply as an athlete.Growing up as a man has got to come to mean more than succeeding at football or baseball--or, in this case, swimming. It has got to come to mean more than successfully throwing a ball or running faster than anybody else around. This movie only offers half the story.Yes, Ashton Kutchers' character does try to reach beyond the typical athlete persona by attempting to become a member of the Coast Guard.However, once there, he does nothing but screw up.Because he is "great" at swimming, however, he never once has to face the consequences. He simply sails along getting into barfights, snarling at his supposed teammates and mouthing off to his superiors.All in all, he clearly has some ambivalence about being a "hero." None of that matters because he is a great swimmer ergo he seems presumed by all to have every right to get into a 'few minor scraps' along the road to the sure success his superiors all predict for him.This cute, small-town white boy is thus taken under the wings of several older, good-ole-boy types and made into a man--or their version.Somehow, he is also surrounded by a team of other boys--and teachers--who look exactly like him. Oh, there is one black student and one black teacher just for the sake of paying lip service to diversity...but they have about six lines combined. The ONLY female rescue swimmer has got literally just about one line during the movie.The screenwriters pay no attention to the difficulties that any of these people would surely face in any military institution, nor to the complexity of the issues surrounding their entrance into it.Of course not.This is an easy movie, designed to provide easy answers to complex questions. It is designed to trace the 'hero's journey' of one white boy who really does not so much deserve the opportunities he is given.It is designed to give a second chance to a man who would not need it if he had not given in to his depression and hidden out for a year to begin with, then decided the solution to his internal agony was to "save" other people. This has never in the his- and her- stories of the world provided an effective solution to intense grief.Too bad we still have so many movies that suggest otherwise.

Having heard lots of good about this movie, I was kinda excited about it. It was awesome. A truly inspiring movie. I'm actually very surprised to see such a low rating here. The rating and the movie does not match at all. It's definitely underrated. The main reason probably is cause some people were left disappointed by the end. The story moved at a slow pace but ending was very fast-paced. Well, it didn't matter to me. It was still very emotional.Kevin Costner is an old fox. He just knows how to play someone who is good at what he does but not that good at personal life. Ashton Kutcher is great. He shows that he can be not just funny guy but a serious drama actor too.Swimming is a great activity. This movie here likes to anybody who fancies swimming. Guaranteed or money back. If you need a good amount of inspiration, this is your film.