Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
● Cliches and conventions from several generations of basic-training scenarios are proficiently recycled in The Guardian, a shrewdly updated version of classic (and not-so-classic) military-themed pics.
— Joe Leydon, Variety
● The Guardian is Top Gun in a swimming pool, and thoroughly mediocre with it.
— Paul Arendt, BBC
● There’s nothing in The Guardian that audiences haven’t previously been exposed to ad nauseam. Take a little of An Officer and a Gentleman and a little Top Gun and throw in some waves and underwater sequences, and you have The Guardian — only with less charismatic actors, more tame sex scenes, and a lot less energy.
— James Berardinelli, Reelview
● The Guardian has the feel of a Sunday feature in a newspaper more than a drama. Like a long Sunday feature, it assumes you’re really interested. Like most Sunday features, it probably assumes wrong.
— Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
● Sometimes you want to buy an extra-large popcorn and settle in for a big budget Hollywood blockbuster replete with undemanding dialogue and completely unrealistic action sequences. If all that sounds like fun, The Guardian is your movie.
— Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune
