Stars: Robert De Niro, Cuba Gooding Jr., Charlize Theron, Powers Boothe, Michael Rapaport, Hal Holbrook, Holt McCallany, David Keith

Director: George Tillman Jr

Summary: Based on the true story of Carl Brashear, the first African-American man to serve as a diver in the United States Navy. At every stage of his career Brashear comes up against racism. But his Commander, Billy Sunday, refuses to acknowledge the problem until one day he he offers Carl his support and together they become formidable allies.

A heroic life gets a suitably dramatic retelling in George Tillman Jr.'s docudrama MEN OF HONOR. Based on the true story of Carl Brashear, the first African American to become a United States Navy master diver, the film follows the conventional yet pleasurable against-all-odds narrative. Carl Brashear (played with noble grace by Cuba Gooding Jr.) is the son of a degraded southern sharecropper. Determined to succeed in the vocation he believes he was born for, Brashear enlists in the navy. Once there, however, the determined young man finds his dream inaccessible--thwarted by the antagonistic forces of institutional and personal racism. When, after a long and difficult struggle, he is finally allowed into diving school, he finds himself under the authority of Billy Sunday (Robert De Niro). A former master diver whose injured lung has left him permanently above water, Sunday simultaneously becomes Brashear's most vicious adversary and most loyal supporter, motivating him to succeed. The story that follows is a highly emotional wave of ups and downs--Brashear unbelievably overcomes one barrier only to be met by the next, even larger one. MEN OF HONOR is at times heartbreaking and painful to watch, but the triumphant ending makes for a deeply satisfying payoff.

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Originally, Men of Honourwas simply called Navy Diverand no doubt all involved held high hopes that it would be an award-winning biopic. Unfortunately, Carl Brashear's life as the first African-American Master Diver went through that vaguely distasteful contemporary Hollywood Marketing makeover and the result is not quite so worthy of its subject and intentions. The film's hopelessly clichéd tagline reads, "History is made by those who break the rules"; the direction is shot through with sunsets 'n' slow-mo; and the script is peppered with foreshadowing dialogue ("don't end up like me son").

The plot devices follow a predictable arc: family poverty, a swiftly sweet romance, a shock accident, court hearing and, naturally, a grisly antagonist. It's with the last of these that the movie comes to life. We may have seen DeNiro spit nails countless times before, but his saltily intractable Master Chief is a terrific screen creation. Next to him, Cuba Gooding Jr really does shine as the endlessly persecuted Brashear. All-too brief cameos from Charlise Theron and Michael Rapaport lend sparkle too. But the film's message about how social attitudes toward race have changed is lost in a murky haze of Hollywoodisation. As one character declares, "some things just don't mix".

On the DVD:Men of Honouron disc underlines the Hollywood marketing message by including the Music Video ("Win" by Brian McKnight) used to promote the film among the extras. A commentary from director George Tillmann Jr, Cuba Gooding Jr ("this is my Rocky"), writer Scott Marshall Smith and Producer Robert Teitel is crammed with anecdote and explanation. Twelve deleted scenes include an alternative ending dropped thanks to that Tinsel-Town makeover, and the commentary continues for this plus three minutes of storyboards and animatics. There's also a 13-minute HBO featurette on the film's making, a half-hearted five-minute mini-documentary in tribute of Brashear, a trailer and two TV spots. This transfer itself is pristine in 5.1 surround and 2:35.1 ratio. --Paul Tonks

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Directors Commentary With Cuba Gooding Jr George Tilman Jr Scott Marshall Smith And Robert Teitel, 12 Deleted Scenes Including An Alternate Ending All With Directors Commentary, Featurette The Making Of Men Of Honour, Mini Documentary A Tribute To Carl B
Subtitles:	Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish
Year:	2000
Release Date:	January 21, 2002
Runtime:	123 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	19937 D V D
Keywords:	Men, Honour, General, Honor, Wide, Screen, Navy, Drama, Diver
Genre:	Drama