Water rescues and exploding ships usually mean a visually stimulating film, which “The Guardian” can be considered even though it bores to no end.

There are three or four times when the movie could be over, but it keeps going and getting more and more cliché.

Kevin Costner plays a United States Coast Guard rescue swimmer who ends up teaching a class of new recruits. With his unorthodox teaching style he plans to get the best of the best to become the next generation of rescue swimmers.

Ashton Kutcher plays a hotshot student with real talent who realizes he needs to learn from his teacher. These two characters have a tumultuous relationship until they return to the site of a bar fight in which Kutcher was beaten and then taken to jail.

The bar is filled with Navy personnel.

When Costner takes the head of the man who beat up Kutcher and pounds it into the bar, it seems the two are about to be murdered. A ranking officer recognizes Costner — whose character is a legend — and stops the soon to be brutal massacre.

This movie should have lasted an hour and a half — maybe. But it plays out over two hours.

Kutcher continues to amaze, with a talent to make millions of dollars without actually being able to act.

While Costner seems bored with his role.

Many times a movie about the military is to excite people, which this movie is seemingly meant to do. It recognizes many people view the Coast Guard as a weak subset of the military because it does not go into battles. “The Guardian” tries to show its strength and necessity.

A good portion of the movie is dedicated to showing training the recruits must endure and how hard it is to become a rescue swimmer.

This portion continually drags on.

Many times a movie will use a montage to expedite the time spent on an aspect not essential to the plot. But this movie devotes a long time to this part.

It almost feels like a long, drawn-out U.S. Coast Guard commercial.

When the movie ends one almost expects to see a sign saying, “Paid for by the U.S. Coast Guard.”