When Kevin Costner Ruled The World

Rating: 8/10 (19 August 2016)

Bodyguard (1992)
Plot In A Paragraph: Frank Farmer (KC) a former Secret Service agent takes on the job of bodyguard to a singing superstar Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston)
Whilst I do not rate The Bodyguard as high as some people do. It is an enjoyable movie, I happen to have watched it a lot in recent years, and I always like it, but I can go years without feeling the need to revisit it.
It is hard to say what I don't like, as it's nothing in particular, I just find the directing a bit flat, and at times the actors are poorly framed. I remember I loved it when it was released, but by the time I watched it again on video, my opinion if it, had dropped considerably.
The soundtrack is very effective, all the new songs are catchy and for the second year in a row, the single to a KC movie dominates the charts. I knew the song I Will Always Love You from the Burt Reynolds/Dolly Parton movie The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. And whilst I still call it a Dolly Parton song, I know many call it a Whitney Houston one, and think of her version as the definitive one.
Of the cast, in her first movie Houston is very good. I'm surprised she didn't make more movies (she only made 4 more) as the talent was there. It's another less is more performance from KC, similar to his performance in The Untouchables, but it's still effective here, and he has some good, witty lines. All the supporting cast are fine too.
The film had to undergo some hasty re-cutting when test audiences hated the original ending with Farmer dying after saving Marron. I remember KC saying in an interview, that he didn't even understand the new ending to the movie.
Sadly for me the tacked on happier ending ruins things a bit!! As Farmer is clearly shot in the chest and gut at Oscars, but he turns up at the airport with his arm in a sling.
It was another $100 million plus grosser for KC as The Bodyguard finished the year the 7th highest grossing movie of 1992, with a domestic gross of $121 million.
8/10 for this reviewer.