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Review by Susan Granger
2 stars out of 4
Based on a true story, this is an old-fashioned,
inspirational military drama - which works for it and against it. Cuba
Gooding Jr. effectively plays Carl Brashear, who became the Navy's
first African-American master diver, while Robert De Niro, as Billy
Sunday, is the manic redneck instructor who torments and humiliates
him before becoming his mentor. "Why do you want this so badly?" he's
asked. "Because they said I couldn't have it" is Brashear's meaningful
reply. Hal Holbrook adds to the rampant racism as the terrorizing
commander of the Naval Diving School. Powers Boothe is the first
officer to acknowledge Brashear's deep determination to succeed, and
David Keith is the sympathetic officer who's there when a freak,
shipboard accident cripples Brashear, causing the eventual amputation
of his leg. Executive produced by Bill Cosby, written by Scott
Marshall Smith and directed by George Tillman Jr. ("Soul Food"), the
film obviously fictionalizes rather than depicts the various
biographical incidents that transformed Brashear's early life as a
Kentucky sharecropper's son ("Don't end up like me," his father
warns.) and his military career which began in the '60s with mess
duty. Gooding's and De Niro's wives are predictably played by Aunjanue
Ellis and Charlize Theron, respectively, while Michael Rapaport,
Joshua Leonard and Holt McCallany portray other trainees. Credit
cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond for capturing the danger and
undersea isolation of the divers and the taut tension of the diving
program's final exam. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Men of
Honor" is a well-intentioned, if melodramatic 5, slipping into sloppy
sentiment a bit too often as it extols Brashear's courage and
indomitable spirit. The R-rating comes from salty language and racist
comments.
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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