Very good, but...

Rating: Null/10 (9 January 2003)

Lawrence Kazdan has written a dozen of memorable films and directed some of them ( 'Body Heat'(qv) is among the very very best films noirs ever ). Here he selects the hate of Nikki for her extremely successful younger sister as the basis of his plot. Why not ? But difficulties arise when it comes to explain how a girl without connection with the underworld can get the services of a gun for hire. Kazdan tries it thus : full of guilt over the unwanted near-death of her nephew, Nikki confesses that ,-though so drunk as not to remember the name of the bar she went to -, she made enquiries and got in touch with a go-between , and hired a killer (perhaps the best one in the States, by the way!); and she paid the whole price (a quite sizeable sum ) in advance - when she could have been so easily swindled . The confession is conveniently stopped by the yapping of the watchdog; and immediately after, she is ( also conveniently ) bumped off when trying to stop the killer ... But " The Bodyguard " being a very well made and entrancing film, the foregoing shortcomings of the plot appear only long after the film has ended . The cast is quite satisfactory : I am not an unconditional fan of Costner's, but he manages well enough, and has some powerful chemistry with Whitney Houston; she is quite convincing in her movie debut, and her voice is a marvel. And all supporting actors are well selected , including reliable veterans Bill Cobbs and Ralph Waithe, and intriguing Tomas Arana. The film made quite a pile of money, but apparently did not help the career of its director, Mick Jackson.