Combine treacherous oceans, gorgeous men in uniform, helicopters, boats, action, a beautiful woman for the guys and a great story of friendship, heroism and success, and you have a winner of a movie.

The storyline of The Guardian may seem to some reminiscent of many other military themed films like An Officer And a Gentleman, Top Gun, or Annapolis with a Perfect Storm spin. However, The Guardian has a lot to offer its viewers. It is the story of a top-class high school swimmer, Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher), who turns down Ivy League scholarships in order to join the Coast Guard. Fischer meets up with legendary Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer, Ben Randall (Kevin Costner) at “A” School, which is an elite training program for rescue swimmers. Both come to the school, Fischer as a student and Randall as a teacher, with haunting pasts they can’t seem to shake. However, these pasts are what eventually unite them.

The two get off to a rocky start. Fischer seems to have no concept of the word “team,” and Randall seems to have it out for Fischer from the start, training him and the other students using somewhat unconventional methods. In the end, they begin to see eye to eye, and they build a relationship based on a common desire to save lives. Kutcher shines in this role, and gives one of his best performances yet. Costner steals the show and wins over the hearts of the audience with his passionate portrayal of a true and uncompromising hero. This movie will give any viewer a much deeper and heart-felt appreciation for the sometimes forgotten Coast Guard. It really is worth seeing at least once, and, perhaps, many times over.