Though the Guardian opens with a nod or two to Three Kings, it really offers a cut-down version of Fallen, with Los Angeles Detective Kross (Mario Van Peebles) facing Telal--a body-hopping Sumerian demon he encountered at an archaeological site in Iraq during the Gulf War--entrusted by ritual scarification with the task of protecting a 12-year-old boy who will grow up to unite the three great monotheistic faiths (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) and thus set the Devil's work back millennia. A sub-plot deals with a red powder drug ("Chaos"), imported by the demon's minions,... which catches on in LA sending coke-sniffing agents into murderous frenzies (the funniest scene) and briefly giving guest star dealer Ice-T superpowers until an ambiguously angelic hit lady (Stacy Oversier) tosses him off a building. There are elements of The Matrix stirred in, with Oversier and Telal dead ringers for the Carrie-Ann Moss and Hugo Weaving characters, but it inevitably boils down to a Fallen-style formula. It's stripped-down demonology--ever since The Evil Dead, those Sumerian demons have been getting a bad press--with direct-to-video action, but is by no means unlikeable. On the DVD: Along with the trailer, this disc offers IMDB filmographies for Van Peebles, Remar, Ice-T and John Terlesky (who used to be a busy B-actor in the likes of Chopping Mall and Valet Girls and now directs quickies such as Guardian). The transfer is augmented for 16:9 and looks significantly better than the video version, giving this low-budget effort a relatively lush feel, though the Iraqi desert does look as though it was an hour or so drive out of Los Angeles. --Kim Newman [show more]
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