recommended

Absolutely the worst movie.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The willingness to sacrifice oneself to save the life of another person is inherently romantic, which is the idea at the centre of The Bodyguard, a two-worlds-collide drama-thriller starring two of the hottest tickets of 1992's film and music scene, Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. While it might make an easy target for critics, The Bodyguard is a film that connected well with audiences upon release. Much of that comes down to the perfect storm of three elements; Lawrence Kasdan's script (it rattled around Hollywood for years), Kevin Costner's leading man status and Whitney Houston's incredible vocal performance - particularly the mighty power-ballad 'I Will Always Love You', which ate up the pop charts. These three elements are competently stitched together by British director, Mick Jackson, who captures enough chemistry between the leads to paper over the gaping cracks that emerge. Costner carries his brand of quiet man chivalry, which gives Houston room to find her character in their scenes, which are always engaging. You can only guess, but it doesn't seem a stretch to imagine the similarities between her character and what her life was like. The writing tries to examine what it's like to live in the cocoon of celebrity, but the direction of the narrative becomes increasingly about the thriller aspect of the story, leaving some, but not much to chew over. When the finale comes, it's a messy combination of awkward positioning and bad logistics, culminating in a predictable, mostly underwhelming conclusion. That said, given the right mood, The Bodyguard is entertaining mainstream cinema, held aloft by its star credentials.

***SPOILERS*** Kevin Costner as ex secret service agent Frank Farmer looks genuinely board stiff as his role demands him to be guarding the body of singer and actress Rachel Marron, Whitney Houston, as her bodyguard in "The Bodyguard". Coaster or Farmer walks around looking so deadpan throughout most of the movie that he seems to be suffering from a serious case of shell shock from his previous job as a secret service agent. It's a habit that he picked up over the years guarding both Presidents Carter and Regan in him being able to blend in with the furniture or background in him remaining inconspicuous, to any attempted assassins, on he job. Taking on an assignment at the insistence of his good friend Mr. Dewaney, Bill Cobbs, to be Miss Marron's personal bodyguard the company that he surrounds herself with get so intrusive in him doing his job that he almost quits before he begins. It's Rachel's sweet looks and bubbling personality that keeps him on the job guarding her and also the fact that those in her entourage of flunkies and hanger on being so completely incompetent in doing their jobs that makes him stay.We and Farmer know right away that someone out there is trying to do Rachel in but that fact is kept from her by those around her that makes Farmer's job that much more difficult. Acting as if she doesn't have a care or fear in the world Rachel doesn't realize that her life and body, the body that Farmer is guarding with his life, is in serious danger. It's only much later when Rachel gets a disturbing pone call, on her private phone number, that she finally gives in and lets Farmer do his job protecting her life. It's her obsessed fan and stalker who's planning to whack her at the biggest moment in Rachel's life when she's to accept the Academy Award for best actress with over a billion people watching the great event live and on TV all over the globe.***SPOILERS*** The love angle in the movie doesn't quite pan out with Farmer and Marron never really clicking in their love scenes that come across mechanical and not genuine at all. Farmer for one is so intense in all of his scenes that showing affection towards Rachel seems out of character for him in the movie. It's only in the last few moments that Farmer gets his act together in realizing who's out to knock off Rachel that he really seems to care for Rachel and tries to save her life even at the expense of his own. But by then she's so turned off by his almost zombie or robot like action that she almost allows her intended killer to do her in by not believing or responding to Farmers frantic attempts to save her life.Both Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston as Frank Farmer & Rachel Marro did their best to make their parts in the movie work and the final payoff with a by then a disgraced, in letting things get out of hand, Farmer saving Rachel's life which saved the film from being total disaster. It was sad that the film "The Bodyguard" in a way predicted its star Whitney Houston's actual death some 20 years later in 2012. It was then just like in the movie Whitney faced death this time in her hotel bathtub, not from an assassin's bullet, just before she was to receive a Grammy for her music like an Academy Award for her acting in "The Bodygurad". But this time in real life not in the movies the outcome was sadly a lot different.

I Will Always Love You will be remembered for a long time with this movie. In fact, singers imitating Whitney Houston are still winning Karoke Contests using this song 20 years later. The power of this song is perhaps more powerful than the film itself.Still I would argue this film is one of the roles which helped establish Kevin Costner's career as he is excellent in his title role. Whitney Houston gets to play herself in a lot of ways here which makes her acting very effective. There is a lot good about this film.The creepy part is hindsight. While the body guard in this has to deal with an insane killer trying to shoot Whitney, the reality is she really needed a bodyguard for an entirely different reason - to stop her substance abuse. Her line "I am not a morning person" is one of the cliché lines of a person with that problem. That makes the film creepy in a real retrospect fashion.When you look at Houston in this film, she looks as great as she ever has. She is actually portrayed as a beautiful young rock star who her fans and a lot of others would fall in love with. I have the same feelings for her here as many would in that her character portrays success in the way that it is often achieved, at the loss of a personal life for the star. The script then exploits that perfectly by having her fall in love with her Bodyguard. That makes all too much sense and I have felt often that singers who die too soon tragically like Houston has fit the way the script is written like a glove.

As the title states above, that's all I really think about with this movie: an incredibly boring and predictable plot. But the key to this movie's success is its multimillion-selling soundtrack by the incomparable Whitney Houston. Although, it has to be said, her acting was lackluster at the worst of times, her presence as one pop icon's biggest stars was why people went to see this movie and the reasons for its high gross: to see her sing some of the biggest ballads of the modern era.The lack of sexual chemistry between pop star Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston) – I know, not much of a challenging role playing yourself right? – and Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner) as her bodyguard is just one of the many reasons why this film didn't really work.It was obvious that this film wasn't going to win any Oscars for acting as it was simply lifeless. Instead, the pair relied on a relaxed approach to their scenes to try and ignite some kind of genuine or uncontrollable passion. However, I did not see any passion in the movie except for Houston's vocal numbers and perhaps (I'll give it to the movie) the kissing scene at the end of the picture before Houston's iconic rendition of "I Will Always Love You", an old country tune came bursting in at the credits.However, the fact Houston essentially played herself in this movie demonstrated how much it lacked in believability, I'm guessing the kind of message Costner and the producers were trying to put across was an unconventional love story. Instead the picture focused on Houston's vocals (amazing, mind you) and that's what sold this movie to millions of fans.Costner knew what he was getting himself in for when he cast Houston as the lead – mega bucks. What I will take away from this movie – a positive – is giving Houston the opportunity to give the world some memorable ballads that will stand to the end of time as some of the greatest songs every recorded.