El guardaespaldas

Bodyguard (1992)

Plot In A Paragraph: Frank Farmer (KC) a former Secret Service agent takes on the job of bodyguard to a singing superstar Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston)

Whilst I do not rate The Bodyguard as high as some people do. It is an enjoyable movie, I happen to have watched it a lot in recent years, and I always like it, but I can go years without feeling the need to revisit it.

It is hard to say what I don't like, as it's nothing in particular, I just find the directing a bit flat, and at times the actors are poorly framed. I remember I loved it when it was released, but by the time I watched it again on video, my opinion if it, had dropped considerably.

The soundtrack is very effective, all the new songs are catchy and for the second year in a row, the single to a KC movie dominates the charts. I knew the song I Will Always Love You from the Burt Reynolds/Dolly Parton movie The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. And whilst I still call it a Dolly Parton song, I know many call it a Whitney Houston one, and think of her version as the definitive one.

Of the cast, in her first movie Houston is very good. I'm surprised she didn't make more movies (she only made 4 more) as the talent was there. It's another less is more performance from KC, similar to his performance in The Untouchables, but it's still effective here, and he has some good, witty lines. All the supporting cast are fine too.

The film had to undergo some hasty re-cutting when test audiences hated the original ending with Farmer dying after saving Marron. I remember KC saying in an interview, that he didn't even understand the new ending to the movie.

Sadly for me the tacked on happier ending ruins things a bit!! As Farmer is clearly shot in the chest and gut at Oscars, but he turns up at the airport with his arm in a sling.

It was another $100 million plus grosser for KC as The Bodyguard finished the year the 7th highest grossing movie of 1992, with a domestic gross of $121 million.

8/10 for this reviewer.

Despite a few dumb twists, The Bodyguard is a really good romantic drama. Kevin Costner is great in the lead role and Whitney Houston is really good in her debut role and they have good chemistry. It's well paced, well filmed and Mick Jackson's direction is good. The music by Alan Silvestri is really good and the soundtrack is excellent.

I just recently watched The Bodyguard again and i forgot how good it was.

Costner plays the role of the obsessed bodyguard perfectly and Houston's first feature film performance was flawless.

This story of an obsessed stalker terrorising a famous performer and the bodyguard trying to protect her at all costs, was made in a refreshing way, even to compete with todays movie standards

Mick Jackson's The Bodyguard is a great movie to watch over and over again even when you find out whodunnit .

After keeping the secret safe for 30 odd years I finally let it slip to my fiancée that I hadn't seen this.

So that ended up being my Sunday afternoon.

I am pleased to say that this is actually pretty good.

In some ways not an awful lot happens in this (like a lot of 90's movies) but the characters are engaging and the story is lean and holds it all together without getting too complicated.

I was surprised that there was some action, Kevin does a few roly-poly's through windows and there are some fisty-cuffs but this is mostly romance with a dash of suspense.

It is strange seeing something for the first time that is firmly ingrained into pop-culture.

After seeing poor old Whitney dragged out for public appearances in the last stages of her life it was startling to see her in her full, magnificent glory.

The "I will always love you" moment was ever-present in my mind like a shark circling a life raft.

But when it came it was still pretty impactful.

This has three special effects in it and two of them are really bad by todays standard - but mostly I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this and I think it stands up.

The Bodyguard is fundamentally a love story between two contrasting characters with their own idiosyncrasies. The plot is intriguing enough to carry the film through and the romance between Costner and Houston builds steadily and realistically.

With some decent action scenes, a decent cast and a great soundtrack, i found the Bodyguard to be an enjoyable movie.

Clearly this film is not for everyone, it doesn't have enough action to satisfy the action fans, it isn't thrilling enough to be a thriller and as a pure romance film it is fairly weak; but i have to admit it does balance between these 3 genres quite well without excelling in any one of them.

7/10