In Search of a Good Seagoing Flick
I'm no Kevin Costner fan but I took a chance the other night, fortified by a good bottle of red wine from Washington State (2002 Stella Maris) and slapped "The Guardian" on the tube. For those unfamiliar, the movie - billed as "Top Gun" meets "An Officer and A Gentleman" for the U.S. Coast Guard - is about a long time rescue swimmer Ben Randall and his upstart successor, played by Ashton Kutcher. The ocean rescue scenes were very cool...though I don't recall any that stood out involving a sailboat...but the plot was a real snoozer. Even hotty Melissa Sagemiller struggled but ultimately failed to "rescue" it.
I'm sure I'm not alone when I wonder aloud...how come nobody can make a modern sailing/seagoing movie (Master and Commander, Captain Ron & Dead Calm excluded) worth a damn? I mean "Wind" was abysmal (1992 w/ Matthew Modine). Is it just that sailing doesn't translate to film? Or maybe it's so niche that good film makers aren't attracted to the topic? Or maybe I'm wrong...it's happened before.
3 comments:
If you didn't like The Guardian and couldn't see the painstaking effort that went into the making of this movie, not to mention the recognition or a great body of people that risk their own lives continuously to save others, I have to wonder how much wine you downed before you watched the movie.
Try it again with Gingerale or OJ, or even a combination of both.
Enjoy.
As best as I can tell, Wind was just another generic feel-good fight-the-good-fight sports movie, and yacht racing just happened to be the sport at hand. You have your requisite tragic moments (but what the heck did Spider go up the mast to fix, anyway?), and the sappy love story, and all of that, but no real connection to actual sailboat racing, aside from an insulting portrayal of a captain who seems to be a composite of Ted Turner and Dennis Conner.
I actually do have an idea for a movie about sailboat racing, and maybe when my kid brother becomes a big name in Hollywood, I can get a chance to see my idea become reality.
Then, perhaps, you can get your wish.
(BTW, Master and Commander, Captain Ron, and Dead Calm are all among the DVDs we play most often.)
Thanks Carol Ann for your thoughts...
shumanitutankaowachi - I would never want you to think I have anything but ultimate respect for the brave men and women of the USCG. I was merely commenting on the execution of the movie, which I thought (personally) was only fair to middling.
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