Men of Honor Review
by Max Messier (cnull AT mindspring DOT com)November 10th, 2000
Men of Honor
A film review by Max Messier
Copyright 2000 filmcritic.com
Diving movies rule!
I just can't seem to get enough of the thrill of the being submerged in
hundreds of feet of water with the ever-present threat of drowning all
around me. You know, that feeling of small animals crawling into my
wetsuit or larger animals deciding to eat me whole. The intoxicating
sensation of my lungs exploding from gas build-up in my lungs. How can
you argue with that?
There have been hundreds of diving movies made -- The Big Blue, The
Abyss, and all those Ester Williams movies in the fifties. But wait --
the latest Hollywood diving opus has arrived, just in time for Oscar
consideration and to salvage -- pun intended -- one actor's career from
the murky depths of B-movies.
Men of Honor, based on a true story, tells the tale of Carl Brashear,
the first African-American to reach the rank of Master Chief Diver in
the U.S. Navy (taking place during the pre-scuba 1950's and 1960's).
It's a valiant attempt to tell a thought-provoking story about
overcoming racism and working through the political machinery of a white
man's Navy (while being harassed at every turn by Robert De Niro). Cuba
Gooding Jr. - shaking off the bad memories of such films as Chill Factor
and Instinct, portrays Brashear, a hardheaded, black, Southern son of a
sharecropper, who heads off to the Navy to pursue dreams of glory beyond
the life of his father and the farm. In the Navy, Carl encounters
racist work conditions and Mr. De Niro - who plays gruff, racist Master
Chief Diver Billy Sunday with an over-the-top performance.
Eventually receiving the recognition of the ship's captain (a small bit
part by the great Powers Boothe), Brashear is given the duties of white,
enlisted men. Two years later, Brashear is accepted at the Navy Diver
School run by that gruff, racist Master Chief De Niro. You can imagine
what follows: The guilt-ridden drive to achieve the dreams of his
father, the trials of acceptance into white society, the conversion of
De Niro into a sympathetic character, the Oscar speeches about not
giving up and striving forward, and the near-death of our young hero.
You know what I mean, the standard Hollywood drama stuff.
The most surprising element of the film is the strong performance by
Cuba Gooding Jr. His brooding face and stout movements give great depth
and pose to the character. Too bad that Robert De Niro's characters are
becoming pieces of other characters from past movies he's been in. His
Billy Sunday is a combination of Cape Fear's Max Cady, Mean Streets'
Johnny Boy Cervello, and Casino's Sam Rothstein. Charlize Theron and
Aunjanue Ellis are strong as the quiet and supporting wives but stand as
the most underdeveloped of all of the characters.
It's a real shame that instead of investigating the era's racism, Men of
Honor just paints broad strokes -- people from the South or from
Brooklyn must detest all black people in the film. Instead of fleshing
out these issues, the film is full of scenes that have now become
clichés. The black man refuses the authority of the white man's rules.
One man is determined to triumph over all obstacles in front of him.
Too bad that after two-plus hours of meandering about, nothing in the
movie leaves you with much determination to do anything except go to the
bathroom.
Three stars out of five
Rated R
Director: George Tillman Jr.
Writers: Scott Marshall Smith
Starring: Robert De Niro, Cuba Gooding Jr., Charlize Theron, Hal
Holbrook, Michael Rapaport, Aunjanue Ellis, Powers Boothe
Producers: Bill Badalato, Robert Teitel
http://www.menofhonor.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=filmcriticcom&path=subst/video/sellers/amazon-top-100-dvd.html Movie Fiends: Check out Amazon.com's Top 100 Hot DVDs!
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