The Bodyguard (1992)
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The Bodyguard Movie Review
The Bodyguard is a 1992 romantic thriller film directed by Mick Jackson and starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. It’s such a solid, very underappreciated flick.
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“I don’t trust discipline.
I know, at that crucial moment, I’d cop out“
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A famous pop diva hires a bodyguard to protect her as she has a very persistent, dangerous stalker. Although distant at first, the two eventually form a romantic bond. Yes, this is a very standard, clichéd plot that mostly goes in obvious directions, but it’s so charming and overall well made that I ultimately fell in love with most of it.
As a thriller, the film really works. I liked some of the more thrilling scenes, and in particular that Oscar sequence was very suspenseful in how it was executed. There are some truly strong thrills to be had here which is why I found it really troublesome that not all of the film was either romantic or thrilling.
I am talking about that second act which is so protracted and so incredibly boring that it hurt the entire flick in the long run. Nothing of substance happened there and I was very bored by its proceedings. The runtime of two hours was certainly unnecessary for this particular, simple story. One and a half hours would have been just fine.
So the third act is thrilling, the second one doesn’t work and of course the first act is a romance, and a wonderful one at that. Yes, the chemistry could have been better, but overall I really liked the character interactions between the two. I liked their cold/inviting dynamic, and it was a great modern twist that the woman actually pursued the guy and not the other way around.
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Yes, Rachel Marron is such a great, very memorable character. And she’s phenomenally acted by Whitney Houston. I am a huge fan of Huston’s music, but I personally did not expect to be this taken aback by her acting as well. She was much better here than Gaga was in her ‘Hotel’ season of AHS. Her debut is terrific, this is one of the better singer turned actress turns and she excelled in particular in her dialogue delivery. She’s wonderful and very beautiful throughout.
That’s why Kevin Costner besides here paled in comparison, even though he was the full-time actor of the two. He’s fine and the role is problematic as the man is too cold and boring, but Costner could have made him more interesting which he never did, and that lack of chemistry mostly comes from his part where he really failed to deliver sparks to the procedure.
The Bodyguard is famous for having the best-selling movie soundtrack of all time. And is it worth of that title? Not at all. Yes, I am a huge fan of Whitney, but this movie simply doesn’t have her best numbers. It has I Will Always Love You which is an epic ballad perfectly utilized here in that memorable final embrace sequence. I Have Nothing and I’m Every Woman are also strong songs, both well utilized in the movie itself. Run to You is a solid Oscar nominee, but all of the other numbers including Queen of the Night aren’t particularly good or memorable.
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The film has fine, though far from great dialogue. The romance is solid in parts, but could have been better overall. The direction, pacing and structure are very weak, but the mixing of these two genres was solid overall. I find the film fine for what it is, and certainly not deserving of a rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Bodyguard is an underappreciated flick which is definitely standard in its plot, overlong in runtime and particularly prolonged and boring in its second act, but the first act is quite romantic and fun whereas the third act has its well-executed thrills. The soundtrack is also solid. Kevin Costner is boring in his role, but Whitney Houston was simply stupendous for a debut film, and she’s wonderful throughout.
