The Guardian (2021) User Reviews

A surprisingly good film with problematic elements

[jameskwonleefilms · 7/10 · 6 October 2022]

The first two acts make the movie feel like a typical low-budget horror film with all the familiar Blumhouse-like tropes that include jump scares, mysticism, spiritual lore, shady romance, and scary images of long-haired ghosts.

This all changes in the last act, where the twist blows all expectations and horror stereotypes away. There is no spiritual element--all ghosts are representations of the protagonists' inner-guilt and fear over what she had experienced in the past. Also, aIl paranormal events are set up by the victims' family in order to extract the truth from our protagonist--from the surveillance bug inside the creepy doll, the the maid that would mess up the spiritual room to make it look like the demon baby did it. I would say the shocking reveals are almost on par with the final reveal from The Sixth Sense in that a second viewing of the film creates a different means to enjoy the entire movie.

The most controversial element though, is in how the protagonist is treated. She is a victim of rape but is also "narratively punished" in the end (she commits suicide) after having withheld information that could have revealed the evil men that motivated the pop star's suicide (they raped her). I would like to offer a contrarian viewpoint. I don't think the filmmakers believe she deserved to die. On the contrary, I think the film is portraying the bleak nature of falling victim to great evils, while showing how the pursuit of fame and glory lead to a dead end of sorts.

What I absolutely do hate though, is the last 5-10-minutes of the film where the protagonist's best friend becomes a social media star yet rejects an offer from a modeling agency, all so that she can "finish school". This arc is unnecessary and takes a piss on a powerful ending. Secondly, the fact that this character (who is not model-like at all) becomes a model is completely unmotivated. The overall message of this film is completely hijacked by this contrived epilogue.

Third act was quite interesting

[witra_as · 6/10 · 13 January 2022]

Gave it a chance because recent 'spirit dolls' trend in Indonesia. Not only little scares over long duration, Victor Vu also provided little insights on how these pretty singers get into showbiz easily. Final act and twisted ending were quite interesting tho.

Love the ending twist

[stardist · 7/10 · 12 February 2022]

Honestly I thought it's a boring horror movie until the twist in the end. Then I thought this is such a touching love story where everyone bond together to provide some justice for the poor gal. I love a good revenge tale. :) I'm still puzzled if it's the ghost or her hallucination at the end.

An OK Movie With a HORRIFYING Message

[paris-37949 · 1/10 · 21 December 2021]

TW: sexual assault (it's also in the movie)

This movie was good. I'm not going to deny that at all - the director & cast are obviously talented. Although one CANNOT condone the fact that it ultimately blames the girl (who is a victim of rape and blackmail) for her friend's suicide (caused by the rape and blackmail that both girls were the victims of) instead of blaming the perpetrators of the crimes. Honestly, such a plot is absolutely revolting and not a perspective that should be encouraged/uplifted in any sense (especially one as mainstream as a highly advertised Netflix-available movie).

Do better.

Also to parents - absolutely do NOT let your kids (teens or not) watch this, if they ever are victim of assault/know someone that is, this is a horrifying perspective for them to be advertised (especially with how impressionable kids are). Victim blaming to the extent of the victim being pressured to commit suicide because the assault is "their fault" is mortifying.

And to the teens/adults specifically - you know someone in your life that has been sexually assaulted (whether you're aware or not). Do not support a movie that promotes victim blaming, it's incredibly toxic and harmful (especially when people are trying to cope with something as traumatizing as a sexual assault). I wish that I had researched this movie beforehand instead of just clicking on it on Netflix, I disgusted to know I supported it (the revelation of plot being victim blaming does not show up until the near end of the movie, so I was not aware).

Even a victim of 20+ years of daily head trauma won't write this non sense!!

[prafsamb · 1/10 · 23 December 2021]

This is a movie written and directed by people who were in coma for 20 years due to head trauma, woke up and got accidentally kicked in the head by a donkey and wrote this while being extremely concussed.

Seriously, did the movie blame a victim for the crime? Did an entire family come together to enact vengeance on a girl who is a victim of a crime just like their daughter? To everyone involved in the writing of this abomination.... You suck!!

Slow paced, boring and uneventful...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 14 March 2023]

I hadn't heard about this 2021 Vietnamese movie titled "Thiên Than Ho Menh" (aka "The Guardian") from writers Kay Nguyen and Victor Vu prior to sitting down in 2023 to watch it. I stumbled upon the movie by random luck, and with it being an Asian horror movie that I hadn't seen, of course I opted to sit down and watch it.

Well, half of it anyway. Running at 127 minutes, this movie was slow paced, boring and uneventful. I have to say that it was quite a struggle to sit through just more than an hour of virtually nothing happening. Well, nothing in terms of being a proper horror movie that is. If you want to watch a drama movie about pop singers laced with some supernatural folklore, then this is a movie for you. If you watch it for a horror movie, you're in for a sore disappointment.

The storyline in the movie was just lacking drive and force. It took director Victor Vu forever to go nowhere. And I mean that literally. I gave up on watching the movie just after 1 hour into the ordeal. I just simply couldn't take more of the torment that is "Thiên Than Ho Menh", because nothing happened.

The acting performances in the movie seemed good enough. However, I wasn't really buying into what was happening on the screen, given the mind-numbingly slow pace of the narrative, and the fact that the script had zero appeal or horror contents. I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie.

Visually then you're not in for any particular outstanding treat here.

I have zero intentions of returning to waste yet another hour on this movie, because there was nothing to entertain me here. If you enjoy Asian horror movies, do yourself a favor and give "Thiên Than Ho Menh" a wide berth.

My rating of "Thiên Than Ho Menh" lands on a three out of ten stars, and that is mostly based on the production value of the movie and the acting in general.

Trash

[Movi3DO · 1/10 · 21 December 2021]

May con nay nhin giong nhu dong ho nha Annabelle.

I swear to god this is one of the biggest piece of crap that I have seen. This director should stick to drama. It's like he took an intro to horror filmmaking, learned some basic elements, dropped the class, and made this amateur movie.

After the first hour I basically checked out. The second hour was just suffering hoping this trash would end as quick as possible. No it didn't end quick.

A cringe fest in almost every aspect: acting, dialogue, horror, pacing, everything.

Overall, a crappy version of Annabelle, which is already crappy. 1/10.

Excellent music throughout!

[paul-ayres-60784 · 8/10 · 18 December 2021]

I must admit that during the first 30 minutes I wasn't enjoying it from a movie perspective. I found the doll obsessed girls creepy and I wasn't sure what direction the movie was going in. However, the charms and beautiful singing voice of Amee kept my interest.

The story got more interesting as the twists unfolded and I actually ended up really liking the movie.

The music is first class, the story interestingly different, the acting pretty good and the production very good.

unreason

[gkzvszr · 2/10 · 7 January 2022]

If there is no ghost in this movie, the motives and murder tactics are too unreasonable and boring. There is no explanation for why they can kill. The murderer's plan is too idiotic, and it is also very abrupt to give up killing the heroine. In the end, everyone walks out in a row, which is also inexplicable.

Another weak supernatural thriller effort from Victor Vu

[phanthinga · 5/10 · 29 January 2022]

After the commercial hit that is Dream Eyes (2019) followed by a dreadful year of the rampant Covid-19 pandemic, Victor Vu finally returns to his roots with the third unofficial installment of his famous Scandal franchise title The Guardian (2021) with yet, another tale about superstitious in the Vietnamese show business to little success because this is no doubt the most run off the mill movie he ever makes. The writing of The Guardian down to its characters beat and development is just a weak rehash version of the first Scandal movie only with a bigger budget now and although the first Scandal movie was ridden with plot holes it still accomplished what it set out to be while The Guardian strength relies on how much you know this famous guest star singer or care about the V-pop genre, to begin with. The movie got some nice spooky moments that will scare off the general audience who looking for a cheap thrill so watch it with caution.

6 minutes have passed and it's obviously trash

[deathofagod · 2/10 · 22 December 2021]

Do you need to watch a whole film to know whether it is good or bad? Well, that depends on the film. Sometimes a well-made yet bad film will only reveal itself to me upon reflection after the end credits, this however, is clearly awful. Let's start with the opening scene, a woman unconvincingly committing suicide - I immediately found myself exclaiming "down the street, not across the road!", the lack of blood and consistency between shots just made it all the more unconvincing. In our next scene, we see a young woman singing possibly the worst lyrics I have ever seen, accompanied by an out-of-tune ukelele. That's really all I, or anybody else, needs to know.

The absolute best

[zeeking · 10/10 · 23 December 2021]

The absolute best movie in terms of a perfect mix of horror, suspense, direction, acting and background music. The plot twist was something I did'nt imagine coming. Vietnam has it all going and beats US film makers.

One of the movies that gave me a great mood!

[lyandaquil · 10/10 · 19 December 2021]

Although I have been angry with so many movies, and I don't regret watching this one! I thought it will be a typical horror film, but I was wrong! The plot twist was so unexpected. I didn't see it coming!

BEST PLOT TWIST EVER!!!

[v-86934 · 10/10 · 27 December 2021]

I'm surprised by this, wow this is the best horror in Vietnam so far. Horror in Vietnam is either corny or lame but this brings my perspective to another level. Surprisingly good because I didn't have any expectations from here, hoping in the future there'll be more Vietnam horror like this it is so catchy and Thailand-like I like it so much. Very well done Victor Vu!

It's not the best Vietnamese movie I've seen.

[sacagen · 8/10 · 29 December 2023]

I'm not really into anything that is similar to this movie but honestly as a Vietnamese person, it was not bad but not good, despite the inappropriate parts, which this movie has a ton of in my opinion. It's a good movie and all in my opinion but not my favorite. On terms of all of the horror movies I've seen, this has to be the best. This movie beats all US horror films, but like I said, I'm not into horror or anything similar. I wouldn't recommend anyone under the ages of 21 to watch this. This is not the best thing to expose to young adults or teens. I hope this makes sense and helps other people (English isn't my first language but I try to make an effort).

Refreshing but culturally challenging.

[jonfmac · 8/10 · 22 December 2021]

I didn't expect much after seeing the written reviews here and a failed rating. Frankly, after watching this film, I am shocked. It was evident from the opening frame that this production sets a gold standard for production and story telling. The production values were exemplary and the production designer is worthy of a world class award such as an Academy Award.

The story itself is obviously challenging to some due to some of the unfamiliar religious and cultural practices enshrined by the movie. However, intelligent viewers should have no more difficulty with these concepts any more that viewing stories encompassing Voodoo or Catholicism (and related elements such as religious symbols like the cross or storey extensions such as Dracula).

In spite of it's billing's, this is not a horror. It's a who done it/drama/criminal investigation that only seems to have supernatural elements.

The cast was excellent, especially Truc Ahn, ably supported by Amee and Salim.

Under the direction of Victor Vu, this story is masterfully inventive, supremely entertaining, and tremendously well crafted. It appears to have been shot in 4K and the sets are frankly beautifully put together. The sound design and performances by the actors are immaculate, especially the singing and dancing sections. Eye candy all around!!!

I would have given this review a higher rating had lit been reduced by 15 or 20 minutes. Still, I have absolutely nothing negative to say about it. I am very impressed by this Vietnamese outing. It really makes me wonder what other gems from there that are out there.

Great movie

[coltjessica · 9/10 · 29 December 2021]

Can't say I've watched many Vietnamese movies but this one was pretty good. I took off one star for the victim-blaming although they seem to understand that it wasn't her fault they just couldn't fully commit to saying it wasnt during the confession ending.. poor girls were typical young girls chasing Fame get raped and try to hold it all together all the while they have the public and personal people taking Revenge and looking to tear em down.

Minus the social issues the movie wqs legit and well done on all facets from sound to cinematography to special effects to acting. Bravo! Haters gonna hate when they don't grasp the big picture. Give us another one.