“The Bodyguard” has a simple concept. Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner) works as a bodyguard, and by bodyguard I mean he’s the best around at the profession. He’s smart, tactical, and tough. He operates with a variety of personal creeds and never takes a permanent position because it will leave him stale. Farmer is hired to protect Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston) a megastar pop and movie diva who is being stalked by a potentially deadly fan.
Kevin Costner was the cream of the crop in Hollywood at the time, and delivers a typical Costner performance. He looks and sounds like an everyman, and is fairly, though not completely believable as a bodyguard with seemingly marine tactical training. Costner does easily employ his typical dry sense of humor at times and it works at humanizing Frank Farmer. “Reagan got shot!” Someone states when Farmer reveals that his previous assignments included protecting the former president to which he calmly replies “Not on my shift.”
Whitney Houston makes her big screen debut playing a character that is essentially herself. You can tell she’s not a professionally trained actor but she’s not a liability in the story either. I also appreciated the depth to Rachel’s character in that she is a single mom, and the interactions between her and her young son are quite good. Rachel has an aloof approach to her fame and the dangers that come with it and we get the sense it’s how many celebrities operate.
Watching for the first time since I saw it with friends at the Uptown Theater on February 13, 1993 I was given a better appreciation of the movie/music blend that dominated the 1990s, the last great decade of both the aforementioned art forms. It’s interesting to witness the era before cell phones and social media, and the way the characters operate in this primitive realm. “The Bodyguard” has an amazing soundtrack full of numerous Whitney Houston songs that have grown to be far more popular than the movie they come from.
I’ll criticize its length for starters. While listed at 129 minutes, the repetitive nature and constant showcasing of songs makes it drag. Snipping out 10 minutes would have been a vast improvement. I also thought the reveal of the villains was handled in a clunky Deus ex Machina way.
“The Bodyguard” isn’t a bad movie. It’s a romantic thriller that follows along with the trend of the times. It has music and star power concealing a fun flick and while it has its issues, it plays out better than many so called critics give it credit for.
