“Pretty much the exact same story setting up The Bodyguard as we had with Reality Bites. Black Friday sale. Meant to blog over Christmas. Didn’t get to it. Watched it while doing other things not intending to blog. Got absorbed in it. Etc etc etc.
Actually, funny (to me at least) story. I knew that it was a long movie, so I put it on during the week, intending to only watch half of it, and hitting the other half the next day. I didn’t expect to get so absorbed in the movie that I just had to stay up (slightly late) to finish.
I guess you can infer from the above that I’d never seen this before. Yes, there’s an early 90’s classic that was new to me. But keep in mind, having been in 2nd grade when this came out, A) no way would I have been allowed to see this R rated picture and B) I wouuld have had no interest in such a classically romantic film. However, I of course knew the theme song, I Will Always Love You because what person that existed in 1992 didn’t?
Okay, so for the uninitiated, The Bodyguard stars Kevin Costner as a former Secret Service agent now working security in the private sector gets hired to serve as a bodyguard/head of security for Whitney Houston’s actress/pop star character. And of course they don’t get along until they do, yadda yadda mushy stuff. Yeah, it’s about as cheesy as you’d expect, and yes I could predict pretty much every beat of the film. So why couldn’t I stop watching? There’s a reason cliches become cliche, and that’s because they work, and this movie is the epitome of them working well.
The characters were engaging, the performances electric, the chemistry palpable. Even though I knew how it would all play out, I had to see how it would all play out. Also, keeping in mind that 20+ years ago, we weren’t as jaded with blockbuster movies as we can be today, so this really was edge of your seat entertainment. And it kind of does stand the test of time, just because this is such a well known comtemporary classic. For a couple hours, you can transport yourself back twenty years and just enjoy some pure entertainment, not to mention the killer soundtrack vocals, courtesy of Ms Houston”