The Guardian is a 2006 film starring Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Costner, directed by Andrew Davis, released on September 29, 2006. Other cast members include Omari Hardwick and Melissa Sagemiller. The setting for the film is the United States Coast Guard and their aviation survival technician (AST) program.

The plot follows Ben Randall, who had been juggling his home life and work as a Coast Guard rescue Swimmer, after he became separated from his wife and lost his whole rescue team in an accident while at sea. He is sent to teach at a Coast Guard training school to get sorted out. There, he meets Jake Fischer who is a rescue swimmer hopeful at the academy. Jake beats all of Randall's previous records. Ben starts to like Jake and sees some of himself in Jake.

Jake graduates and he and Ben work together in Alaska. While on a rescue mission, Ben loses it and just stops moving while trying to save two kayakers. He finds that he is no longer cut out for rescue missions anymore and resigns from the Coast Guard. Ben decides to try out fishing, something a friend once suggested to him. Life goes on, but one day during a rescue mission Jake gets trapped on a boat and there are no rescuers available to help. So, Ben goes out to save Jake. However, as they are getting pulled up into the helicopter, the cable starts to break. Ben, realizing it can't hold both of them, starts to drop. But, Jake won't let him go and holds onto him by his glove. Ben says he has to and takes off his glove, plummeting into the ocean depths.

Two weeks later, Jake is rescuing someone and when they pull him up, the man says that someone helped him and said that they'd "never let go." Jake realizes this is Ben and how he will be immortalized as "The Guardian" who lives in the ocean depths.