Product Details

• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish
• Running time: 129 minutes

Amazon.com
Men of Honor presents a great role model for younger viewers, yet it's rated R due to abundant use of the F word. With appropriate discretion, parents should allow their preteen and teenaged children to see this rousing if altogether conventional biopic inspired by the life of Carl Brashear. Played with gravity and gumption by Cuba Gooding Jr., Brashear was the first African American to become a master diver in the U.S. Navy, despite the lingering effects of segregation, opposition from Navy brass, and the amputation of his left leg following a tragic on-duty accident. Robert De Niro adds marquee value and salty bluster as Billy Sunday, the drunken, redneck (and fictionalized) Master Chief who watches, with gradual admiration, as Brashear attains his ultimate goal through sheer force of will.

This is all quite uplifting on its surface, but in attempting to hit the requisite highlights of an inspiring biography, director George Tillman Jr. (Soul Food) reduces Brashear's achievement to a succession of clichés, forcing Gooding and De Niro to battle sentiment with their noteworthy performances. As Sunday's neglected wife, Charlize Theron is completely extraneous; Hal Holbrook's diving-school commander is a ranting caricature; and newcomer Aunjanue Ellis barely registers as Brashear's wife (in part because their obligatory romance is handled with an utter lack of finesse). There's no question that Brashear's efforts are heroic and worthy of recognition, so Men of Honor serves its basic purpose. Still, one can't help but wonder if Brashear's story would be even more impressive with a more authentic treatment. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
Robert De Niro's bizarre performance as a choleric Navy diver-spasmodic body movement and an out-of-the-swamp Southern accent-is the only real life in this exceptionally square military biography. An earnest Cuba Gooding, Jr., plays the real-life hero Carl Brashear, who overcame racist hazing to become the Navy's first black master diver in the nineteen-fifties. De Niro is the instructor who initially tries to discourage Brashear and then becomes his champion. Familiar as it may be, the story has stirring moments, although the screenwriter, Scott Marshall Smith, and the director, George Tillman, Jr., do their best to kill them. Each scene shows the hero facing some Challenge, which he sternly Confronts and then Overcomes. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

A TRUE AMERICAN HERO...
This is a wonderful, heartwarming film, as well as an indictment of the US Navy at a certain time in history. The story is a cinematic, biographical sketch of Carl Brashear, the first African-American to become a diver for the US Navy. Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Robert De Niro both give Oscar calibre performances in this gripping film.

The movie tells the story of Carl Brashear, whose parents instilled in him a determination that would cause him never to give up his dream of becoming a diver in the US Navy. He stuck to his guns, despite the overt racism that he encountered when he joined the Navy. The racism that he encountered would make it harder for him to achieve his life long dream.

Once he became a diver, Mr. Brashear upped the ante and strove to become a master diver. He struggled to do this against all odds, and just when he was on the cusp of achieving his goal, a tragic accident befell him, derailing him temporarily from the path to his ultimate goal. What he then does to fulfill his dream is radical, yet inpirational.

Cuba Gooding, Jr. gives a perfomance so moving and heroic, that the viewer feels like giving him a twenty one gun salute at the end of the film. Robert De Niro plays a racist master diver who is ultimately converted to the side of the angels, when he realizes that Carl Brashear is truly the best of the best. His performance is stellar.

The only problem with the movie is that most of the supporting roles pale in comparison to the two central ones played by Gooding and De Niro. Charlize Theron's role, that of De Niro's wife, is really superfluous to the story. Aunjanue Ellis, who affectingly plays Gooding's wife, has a more crucial, pivotal role than Ms. Theron, but remains a shadowy figure in the backround. Hal Holbrook's portrayal of a loony, racist Navy commander is rather one dimensional, more of a caricature than a character. Notwithstanding these small shortcomings, this is a riveting film that should not be missed.

An inspirational story with some shortcomings
Military training films are becoming so common that they are becoming a genre unto themselves. Among the more prominent we have, "Officer and a Gentleman", "Top Gun", "GI Jane", and now "Men of Honor". The fact that this one happened to be true doesn't change the fact that the formula is the same. This film is probably most like "GI Jane" since it focuses on the desegregation angle.

The story is actually quite inspirational and is probably the best human-interest story among those mentioned above. Carl Brashear (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is unquestionably a man of great courage and principle, and his strength of character shines through brightly in this film. Unfortunately, director George Tillman, Jr. has tunnel vision in presenting the characters and eschews character development of various characters other than Brashear in favor of showing Brashear in a constant state of adversity. Billy Sunday (Robert De Niro) is a central figure, and except for the initial scene, the fistfight and a couple of scenes with his wife, we don't know much about him. For instance, Brashear sees the scars on Sunday's palms and we are to assume that he worked a plow, but there is no follow-up on that point. Mr. Pappy (Hal Holbrook) gets only one short scene by which we can judge him. The rest of his screen time shows him pacing around and ranting. If a director is going to make a human-interest story, he needs to humanize the characters.

Cuba Gooding Jr. gives an outstanding performance as Brashear. This is probably the best I've seen him. This is a role and a character that is far more complete than any part he has played before, and he rises to the occasion. In "Jerry Maguire", Rod Tidwell was a fascinating, but one-dimensional character with the depth of a rain puddle. Brashear is much more complex and grounded, and the issues he faces are life crises, making the part far more challenging. This is an excellent recovery from Gooding's last role in "Chill Factor", a film so dreadful that it was almost an act of professional suicide to take the part.

After a stint trying his hand as a comedian ("Analyze This", "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle", "Meet The Parents"), Robert DeNiro is back to his dramatic roots with an outstanding performance. DeNiro isn't a bad comedian, he is just such a great dramatic actor that it seems like he shouldn't waste his time doing comedy. DeNiro endows Billy Sunday with a rock hard personality belying a tortured soul. It is a pleasure watching him work.

It seems every film I watch lately has Charlize Theron in it. I saw "The Legend of Bagger Vance", "Men of Honor" and "The Yards" right in a row and I was beginning to wonder if she had a part in every film in 2000 (actually, she only did five). This was a minor role for Theron, but she carried it off well and managed to stay with DeNiro step for step. David Keith, who co-starred with Richard Gere in "Officer and a Gentleman", has a cameo here

The DVD has some interesting special features, including reflections by the real Carl Brashear and some deleted scenes.

I enjoyed this film despite the hackneyed plot and the one-dimensional presentation. I rated it a 7/10. I'm a sucker for underdog stories and I have a fondness for stories where strength of character is the central theme. This film is particularly strong in both areas and brings us two memorable acting performances that compensate for some of the director's shortcomings.

Inspirational!
It would not be wide of the mark, I don't think, to think of Mr. Carl Brashear as the Jackie Robinson of Navy diving. This movie is the true story of Brashear and his determination to fulfill his dream of becoming a Navy diver, despite all of the artifical and medical obstacles which lay in his way.

During the epoch covered in this film, African Americans were restricted by the Navy to only being either cooks or Boatswains Mates. Being a former Boatswains Mate myself, I can attest to just how unglamourous a position it is; kind of like the Navy's counterpart to Infranty in the Army.

Brashear was one of the first, if not the very first black sailors to break this pattern. As the first African American to be admitted to Navy diving school, Brashear was forced to endure a degree of the unwarranted prejudice, animosity and hatred that nobody should have to put up with.

Some of the other reviews have accused this movie of being cliche and commonplace. I could not disagree more. Have there been other recent movies that have depicted the trials & tribulations of this volatile time in American history? Most assuredly there have. Does that make this movie superfluous or unnecessary? Of course not. This is a very important movie that deals with part of who we are as Americans, as well as who we want to become.

Unlike many nations which have had difficulty with racial realtions, I believe that we (in the USA) have come a long way. The racial milieu we have created is far from perfect, particularly in the military. My time in the Navy can bear witness to that. However, thanks to pioneers such as Carl Brashear, we all live in a more tolerant, accepting and understanding nation than what it was a mere 40 years ago. The acrimonious relations have not subsided, but have at least not maintained being the "norm" of Navy life. Were it not for people like Brashear, it is not absurd to think that nothing would have changed at all. If anyone wants my opinion, I believe there should be more movies like "Men Of Honor," not fewer.