A thriller that needs to find a main focus

Rating: 5/10 (7 July 2012)

Romantic thrillers can work, they just need to have good direction. But for this film, directed by Mick Jackson, did not keep a steady eye on where the plot had to be. Much of the time I was trying to figure out what on earth was happening with the plot that seemed to go on endlessly.
The story of the bodyguard is about Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner), a veteran in the art of protection and now only takes care of special VIPs. Sadly, the character of Farmer is so thinly written that nothing ever changes for the better in this man. His entire outlook on his job is strictly to be emotionless. The audience isn't even explained to why the only beverage he drinks is a glass of orange juice.
Co-starring Costner is Whitney Huston, a pop culture icon ironically playing a fictional pop culture icon named Rachel Marron. Her character is eccentric and snobby but it works. At least she tries to excite Mr. Farmer, but even she is not able to get him to come out of his cage of cautiousness. It's almost as though the lines written for Huston's character were supposed to be more entertaining than Costner's.
The problem with these two characters is that the connection between them just didn't feel or look like it was there. That and the fact that the film focused more on these two people more than the plot. The main plot here was to about Farmer protecting Marron from a psychotic killer whom when, on screen, seemed like he had some serious issues. Turns out though, this creep is hardly ever focused on at all. And it's because of this that the tension in this "romantic thriller" is lost. Nothing gets tense at all until the finale.
The music, which was for the majority of the time provided by Huston, nonetheless has energy but all this does is support the fact that Huston is better at singing. Of course her acting is good but her voice is the top gun that she has. The rest of the score was produced by Alan Silvestri and once again, just like Unlawful Entry (1992), was a let down by the fact that there was not enough music to keep the scenes tight. But then again, who could blame him; how could you produce a score for a thriller film that rarely focuses on the thriller aspect of it?
Huston isn't bad at acting here but all this does is prove that she should stick to singing. Not to mention, the lack of balance in romance and thriller makes this film hard to enjoy.