ou've seen it a hundred times before: A hotshot Military recruit falls in love with a local girl, leaves, then rushes back in the final round to collect her – and all to a gushy, theatrical soundtrack. Clocking in at a boring two-and-a-half hours, The Guardian is just that: Another "Officer and a Gentlemen"-ish rendition.

As countless films have done before, The Guardian borrows from the movie formula about the hard-headed instructor and the stubborn recruit who gives the officer a hard time. This time it's Kevin Costner in the title role as Senior Chief Ben Randall, an expert rescue swimmer who caves in under the pressures of his job. After a disastrous mission that leaves him the only survivor, he finds himself transferred to the Coast Guard training school to teach humanity to new recruits.

The instruction is demanding and the failure rate is dangerously high, and Randall is contemptuous in having to spend his valuable time training these kids who will eventually take his job from him. But even he can't help but notice the standout in the class; talented but cocky Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher, enjoying the Richard Gere role of the troubled hotshot). Fischer is a champion swimmer who vows to shatter the records set by Randall.

Both Randall and Fischer conceal dark pasts, and as the two men gradually learn more about each other, so does their deep-down respect. It's all very Officer and a Gentleman-like, but the tension between the performers gives the clichés a bit of a new spin. The script by Rob L. Brinkerhoff gives each character a mandatory love interest, but the romantic subplots just add to the film's length.