Review of Guardian

Introduction

Every now and then you read the back of a DVD box and think to yourself "hmmm, this one sounds just that little bit different", such was the case with this movie, Guardian.

The start of the movie sees the release of an ancient demon, Tel-Al, from a tomb deep in Iraq. A US Marine, John Kross (Mario Van Peebles), is on the scene at the time and barely survives. Twelve years later Kross is a detective with the LAPD and after a spree of killings he starts to suspect a connection between the events of twelve years ago and a new drug ravaging LA called Chaos.

Well that`s the very bare bones of it. Sounded like an interesting mix of the "demon on the lose" horror movie and an LA Drug / Crime thriller. Shame it doesn`t work out that way really then.

Video

The anamorphic picture is of mixed quality. For the large part most of the well lit scenes are reasonably sharp and colourful however once the light dims a little you do see areas that look less well defined and a little grainy. Better than VHS, of course, and not too bad for a straight-to-DVD movie.

Audio

I can be a bit of an audio snob when it comes to DVDs, if it`s not Dolby Digital 5.1 I`m usually not happy as a rule. This disc is a welcome exception to that rule however. The Dolby Pro-Logic audio is very engaging throughout thanks to some great use of the rear channel and some good separation across the front speakers.

The subject matter helps considerably with each of the numerous gun shots being used to maximum effect along with some eerie multi-channel voice effects on the demon characters.

Features

Cast filmographies, why bother?

Conclusion

This is a movie with allot of problems. From an interesting premise everything goes downhill further with each minute that passes in the movie. I think my biggest criticism has to be the story, or lack thereof.

After watching the movie you would wonder what happened to the movie that was supposed to be in this DVD box, you know the one that was written about on the back. Any resemblance to that story virtually disappears after the first 5 minutes.

You see the unearthing of the demon`s coffin but you have no idea why it`s being dug up. Also you have not the faintest idea what two US Marines are doing there, deep in Iraq. Twelve years later and the main character is now a detective with the LAPD with a wife who`s in a coma. Like what on earth is going on? There`s no explanation at all about this. Next up there`s an introduction of a child who is supposed to save the world from Tel-Al who`s being watched over by some sort of good demon. Explanation? Forget it. Right through to the ending nothing is explained. The ending also leaves you scratching your head twice as hard wondering what the hell just happened, and more importantly why did I just waste 90 minutes?

The acting is also similarly dreadful. Mario Van Peebles is one dimensional and incredibly stiff in this role. In fact I`m not sure that it was a full dimension to be perfectly frank, I`ve seen more emotion on the face of a goldfish.

So a crap story and crap acting, anything else? Well the special effects / stunts are laughable for two reasons. Firstly there`s a notable lack of anything you`d call even slightly special and secondly any scenes that involved any sort of stunt work were a joke. Watch the "high speed" chase and see if you can see any vehicle breaking the 15mph limit!

Many parts of this movie reminded me of the infinitely superior Fallen (starring Denzel Washington) so if you want a decent movie involving an evil demon do yourself a favour and get Fallen instead cause the Guardian stinks, and I don`t just mean that it needs a clean pair of pants.