MovieChat Forums > The Guardian (2006) Discussion > Costner needs to let go of his hero comp...

Costner needs to let go of his hero complex

posted 16 years ago by Mccadoo
10 replies | jump to latest

I enjoyed this movie right up to the ending;

yes, it was riddled with cliches and I had flashbacks to Officer and a Gentleman, Armageddon, Top Gun, among others, which meant I saw some plot twists coming from a mile off.

But despite that I still liked the movie, right up until Costner's character died at the end. It was totally unneccasary to the story and was really just sentimental pap. The altnerate ending would have worked much better.

It seems to me that the movies in which Costner plays a doomed hero all fail; this one, Waterworld (he doesn't die but does sail off alone), Message in a Bottle, another one of his movies that was totally ruined by the ending in which he dies, also oh so predictable sentimental pap, and the ruin of an otherwise solid film...

Just a thought...

[–] drew_graham1 16 years ago

I thought the alternate ending was actually even more cheesy (if possible), but you're right, it was totally unnecessary that Randall died. I guess they wanted to play into the whole Guardian legend. But still, just after he started to get his personal life in order... he let go. Meh.

http://asg.homelinux.org , http://kuabci.blogspot.com

[–] crysjumar 14 years ago

Letting "everything" go was his way of getting his life into a different place...such as it was.

-That's all the time we have, thanks for playing.

[–] gnome-5 14 years ago

What would you suggest that they do for the ending? They only had three choices: he dies, the kid recreates his heroic deed by carrying him to the base, or they get off the boat without incident and return to base safely. Or heck, they could have killed the kid, I suppose. If you want an unsentimental ending... Kill them both if you're really jaded!

Anyway, the whole point of boot camp movies is getting the next generation ready to take over the burden of <fill in the blank.> It defeats the purpose if you go with an unconventional ending, because it doesn't pay off the premise.

[–] billgbg 14 years ago

Good points, and having Costner die isn't such a terrible outcome, since his life was in a shambles anyway, and then you have the film bookending the beginning, but what was entirely unnecessary was having the meeting at the school house, where neither character even wanted anything serious, then both magically deciding to change what the film had been developing all along. Then we're supposed to say, ahhhh, they're serious about each other after all.

Nope I can't buy that ending after the ending.

[–] cardinalsfan27 14 years ago

Lets not forget that Costner did not write or direct the movie so who's to say that he had anything to do with the ending?

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] cardinalsfan27 14 years ago

Yes very true but again, he did not write the screenplay for the movie or direct it. The character was written and it just happened to be him who played the character.

[–] jarheadgco 14 years ago

Just watched the alternate ending on the dvd, that would have ruined the entire movie. It was just awful and would have completely destroyed the character that Costner spent 2 hours building up.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] one189teen50five 12 years ago

This is a perfect example of how so misjudged KC is...thinking its an ego thing. OP do you actually understand script writing ot not? Obviously NOT.