"Guardians of Life" is an American and British co-production in the English language that was released ine arly February 2020, so it is a pretty new movie. I must still say that given the big name in the cast i thought this would generate more clicks as it is still under the 100k mark. Writer and director is prolific documentary filmmaker Shaun Monson and even if he is not the most famous filmmaker, it is very possible that you have seen some of his stuff and the main reason is that he collaborated with Joaquin Phoenix on several occasions already and the latter narrated Monson's story. This also explains why Phoenix is part of this one we have here and he plays a head surgeon as we watch him and his team of doctors perform an operation on a victim lying on the table. We do not find out what said victim is, but if you know Phoenix' (and Monson's) background, then you know what it's gonna be. Or at least the outcome at the very end is not too surprising. I think the message is alright, but this is not what I am about to evaluate today. I am taking a closer look at the quality of this movie and honestly I must say I was not won over. The biggest issue I had here was basically the one female character at the end coming to the rescue and making the impossible happen. To be fair, this felt like taken out of a bad hospital television series and all the good that may have been brought by the revelation about who/what is on the table, the scene about the miracle rescue I just mentioned makes more than up for it in a negative sense and the face paint is not helping either the way they wanted it to. Everything before that wasn't too great either to be honest. If there is any reason to watch this one, then it is for the (predictable) twist towards the end. Not enough. There are many pretty famous actors in here, which is no surprise because starring next to Phoenix is a big thing these days, even if they are hidden behind their surgical masks from beginning to end. This movie was just released days before Phoenix won his Oscar for "Joker", even if it was a safe win weeks, if not months, before the actual ceremony already. Okay, this would be all then. At 3.5 minutes it was a really short movie, especially taking into account that about one third, i.e. over a minute, here are closing credits. I must say I am a bit disappointed by this one, not only because I really like Phoenix, but also because I have seen Monson's "Earthlings" and I believe it is such a powerful movie. This one here is nowhere near that level, but closer to the other end of the quality scale. Phoenix is also only in it because his name guarantees publicity, even if, like I said, I am surprised that really this was not seen by too many. With a less popular actor, hardly anybody would have watched I suppose. So yeah, the subject deserves better. It's a thumbs-down for me here.
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