In all its irresistible absurdity, this colossal 90s studio movie and global smash – like Titanic, mocked by the critics and loved by the public – is revived for its 30th anniversary. Directed by Mick Jackson, written by Lawrence Kasdan and shot by Andrew Dunn, The Bodyguard does sag a bit here and there, and Kevin Costner’s relationship with the “cocky black chauffeur” character jars.
But there’s no doubting the powerhouse punch of Whitney Houston’s showcase musical numbers, especially her passionate, declamatory cover version of I Will Always Love You, an originally a brisker and yet more downbeat country track written by Dolly Parton. Here, it’s radically reimagined – Houston and Costner even have a scene where they dance in a bar to the original version, and she comments on what a downer it is. And, of course, there is that outrageous big finish at the Academy Awards, where Houston, playing an Oscar nominee, is in danger of being assassinated right then and there in front of the tuxedoed crowd, and only her gallant bodyguard-lover can save her.
It’s a hokey yet irresistible romantic fantasy template, recently given a makeover by Jed Mercurio in the BBC TV drama Bodyguard with Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes. Costner gives a stolid performance as Frank Farmer, a Secret Service agent turned professional bodyguard haunted by his failure to protect Ronald Reagan from the 1981 assassination attempt on him. Houston plays Rachel Marron, a beautiful yet vulnerable singer and single mum who has recently made a break into movies, snagging an Oscar nomination for an acting performance (we never see a clip of this imaginary film; the task of differentiating her fictional acting attempts from the real ones might have tested Houston severely). Rachel has a creepy and potentially murderous stalker; she receives death threats, and Frank is called in as her bodyguard. It appears that the culprit has made it into her mansion and masturbated over her bed – a disturbing detail with a Silence of the Lambs tone that isn’t elaborated upon. Frank has to meet the various members of her spiky, rivalrous entourage, all tacitly offered up as potential “whodunnit” candidates.
Inevitably, after some meet-cute squabbling, Frank and Rachel fall in love, having gone on a date to see Kurosawa’s samurai bodyguard movie Yojimbo – the loose inspiration for this film. (Rachel herself is no cinephile slouch, having based her new video on Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.) Stern, unsmiling Frank is the gallant protector of the glamorous yet fearful Rachel, and though Costner and Houston’s mutual performances are a bit awkward, there is a kind of sweetness to their obvious incompatibility, in art as in life. The Bodyguard is still an innocent popcorn pleasure, all the way up to that over-the-top scene on Oscar night.
• The Bodyguard is released on 6 Nov in cinemas.
