The Bodyguard Movie Trailer. Deep inside the vague, unfocused excesses of “The Bodyguard,” the tale of a buttoned-down security agent hired to protect a glamorous pop star, there lurks the potential for a compelling film noir. Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner), the bodyguard of the title, could have been a loner in a last-chance profession, terminally alienated from his own past. Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston), the glittery singer, could have been drawn tantalizingly as both treacherous vixen and damsel in distress. Rachel could have been dangerously ready to confuse Frank’s brand of peace and protection with love. Frank could have fallen, and fallen hard.
And Rachel’s household of hangers-on could have provided a full supply of trouble. On the surface, all her minions — including a sly publicity agent (Gary Kemp), a senior aide (Bill Cobbs), an oafish security chief (Mike Starr) and a music executive who is also Rachel’s sister (Michele Lamar Richards), toady ceaselessly and devote body and soul to insuring Rachel’s happiness. But at least one of them also wants her dead.
As written by Lawrence Kasdan in the mid-1970’s, well before his “Body Heat” days, “The Bodyguard” could have capitalized on a mood of mystery and on the dark elements within each principal character. Handled thus, it might have made a lean romantic thriller instead of the long, sprawling semi-travelogue it has become. Mick Jackson, the director of “L.A. Story,” has placed the emphasis on the least interesting aspect of this material: the pampered existence of Hollywood royalty, as manifested by countless swimming-pool shots and much attention to grandiose architecture. (The home of William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies is used prominently.) While this is worth something in terms of pure voyeurism, it seldom does much to advance the film’s slender story.
The viewer quickly discovers that Frank Farmer has a tragic flaw: as a Secret Service agent, he was otherwise engaged (actually, at his mother’s funeral) on the day President Ronald Reagan was shot and has never forgiven himself for this “lapse.” Unaccountably, a sense of failure has led Frank to highly paid work in the private sector, which leaves his Secret Service friends feeling very jealous indeed.
As the film begins, Frank is hired to guard Rachel, who has received death threats, so he must spend long hours visiting her mansion and watching her concert act. In one such appearance, with Rachel dressed in metal as a kind of Mrs. Ben Hur, Frank becomes so apprehensive about the fans that he uses a fire extinguisher to keep them peaceful. It is from this sort of trumped-up action scene, interspersed with palmy glimpses of Rachel’s privileged existence, that the film has been patched together.
Romantic sparks between Frank and Rachel would have disguised much of the clumsiness, but those sparks are minimal. Sporting the close-cropped haircut he must have had in grade school, Mr. Costner plays Frank in the extremely muted, colorless style that befits Frank’s job description. A similar restraint translated wonderfully into slow-burning sexual tension when Mr. Costner appeared in “No Way Out,” but this time the effect is more wan. And as Frank, he spends a lot of time looking more watchful than the film’s events really warrant.
Ms. Houston, looking great and displaying the best set of teeth in movies, does better with Rachel’s imperious side than with her gentler scenes. Her character’s self-absorption may be lifelike, but it doesn’t do much for a love story. Two long hours and 10 minutes after this tale begins, Rachel and Frank seem no closer than seatmates on a long bus trip. It takes a dizzying 360-degree shot of them embracing, plus the swelling of the hit-bound soundtrack, to suggest any passion.
“The Bodyguard” kills time with some memorably transparent gambits, like a startling leap from Miami to the snows near Lake Tahoe (where Ralph Waite ambles into the film as Frank’s father) and a painfully poor facsimile of Academy Awards night. It also pauses, though only briefly, for a couple of perfunctory love scenes between Rachel and Frank. Unreal as these scenes seem anyhow, they are further undercut by the film’s failure even to notice that this is an interracial romance. Strangely enough, “The Bodyguard” comes from Warner Brothers, the studio that just released “Malcolm X.”
The sidelines of “The Bodyguard” are enlivened by Mr. Kasdan’s occasionally deft zingers (including the perfect rejoinder to a party pickup line), by moments when Mr. Costner’s wariness takes on some dramatic edge and by supporting performances geared to a film noir sensibility. Mr. Kemp, a sinister star of “The Krays,” and Ms. Richards are particularly strong reminders of what might have been.
The Bodyguard (1992)
Directed by: Mick Jackson
Starring: Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston, Gary Kemp, Bill Cobbs, Ralph Waite, Tomas Arana, Michele Lamar Richards, Mike Starr, Christopher Birt, Charles Keating
Screenplay by: Lawrence Kasdan
Production Design by: Jeffrey Beecroft
Cinematography by: Andrew Dunn
Film Editing by: Donn Cambern, Richard A. Harris
Costume Design by: Susan Nininger
Set Decoration by: Lisa Dean
Art Direction by: William Ladd Skinner
Music by: Alan Silvestri
MPAA Rating: R for language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: November 25, 1992
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