Men of Honor

Rating:
Summary: Tries too hard
Review: This movie tried too hard to be inspirational. I like a movie where the inspiration creeps up on you, instead of getting shoved in your face.
At times it was slower than slow, and I just wished they'd get on with the movie. I'm not too big a fan of Cuba Gooding Jr., and although his acting was okay, he didn't help make the movie any better for me.

Rating:
Summary: No surprises, but quite a good example of the genre.
Review: I am a complete sucker for military movies. I'm sure this has a lot to do with my upbringing, what with father who's worked in or with the military in one way or another for most of my life. But I think that there is something more fundamental about it to me. The basic precepts appeal to me. Honor, respect, loyalty.

This movie was pretty much what one would expect. Cuba Gooding, Jr. plays Carl Brashear, a young black man who wants nothing more than to be a Navy diver. But, well, he's a young black man. Did I mention that this is in the 40s? Against all odds (a required element in this sort of things), he manages to get to dive school, where he is faced with Billy Sunday (played by Robert DeNiro). Sunday has no interest in passing this upstart young black man, but is slowly won over by Brashear's determination. With the help of Sunday (who was demoted for his trouble), Brashear passes, and begins the slow climb to the rank of Master Diver. As one would expect, Something Major happens, and Our Hero is faced with Mighty Adversity, and his Former Nemesis comes to his aid.

Seriously, though, there are no surprises in this movie. It's all very formulaic. You have all the right elements. The bad guy turned good. The legions of people who learn to overcome their racism, inspired by the young hero. The hero builds up to a pinnacle, then is broken, only to be built up again. The stern, smarmy, unpleasant persons in positions of power. The loving wife.

However, the fact that this movie follows the rote doesn't necessarily make it a bad movie. I think it's a pretty good example of the genre, actually. And it pains me to say this, since I generally don't care for Cuba Gooding, Jr., and he really made the movie. He played his role to a T. Of course, you can't overlook DeNiro. He's getting to be rather good at this sort of role. Maybe it's the gray hair.

All in all, if you're fan of the patently sentimental military movies, this is a good one to watch. If you're not... you probably won't miss anything if you don't see it.

Rating:
Summary: Personification of Grit and Determination
Review: This movie is full of character. Cuba Gooding Jr has done justice (a very convincing performance indeed) to his role of a small town guy trying to defy all odds to be the first black in US naval history to be a master diver. Robert de Niro is superb as usual.
After all, If you will it - it is no dream. This is a story about shaping your destiny against all odds.
An excellent movie to show the kids, as movies with character are out of fashion these days and movies with a lot of special FX and sound effects but lacking substance are sadly the in thing. This movie proves that you do not need a big budget to make a great movie.

Rating:
Summary: Not terribly inspiring
Review: I'm possibly a bit jaded, but in much the same way I'd recommend The Fugitive over US Marshals, I'd recommend A Few Good Men over the recent Men of Honor or Rules of Engagement. It's simply more of the same, and not nearly as driven.

Rating:
Summary: Truely the best
Review: Once again, De Niro proved his solid performance and unbeatable acting. Amazingly, this is one of the 'men' movies my wife enjoys. I strongly recommend this great movie.

Rating:
Summary: An flawed but Well Made Drama.
Review: A young man by the name of Carl Brashear (Oscar-Winner:Cuba Gooding Jr.) goes to the Sea to become the U.S. Navy`s Diving Corps. Since Carl is African-American, he faces Racism and a Tough Redneck Instructor (Two Time Oscar-Winner:Robert De Niro), whose Bogotry, he most Overcome.

Directed by George Tillman Jr.(Soul Food) made a Strong Drama, which is Based on a True Story. Written by Scott Marshall Smith made this film Earnest and Well Thought. The film is Grim, it`s does have some Flaws-Including having too many Climaxes too far Apart but the Performances of Gooding Jr. and De Niro are Strongly Effciate in this Drama. DVD`s has an strong anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer and an clean Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD`s Extras are:An running Commentary Track by the Director, Writer and Actor:Gooding Jr., Deleted Scenes with/without Commentary by Tillman Jr. and More. This is a Terrific Film. Joe-Dunton-Cameras Widescreen (J-D-C Scope). Grade:A-.

Rating:
Summary: Tepid script sinks bio pic. Good performances a plus.
Review: Men of Honor is a biographical movie about Carl Brashear, who was the first Afro-American Navy diver in history. What could have been an inspiring film about one man's overcoming of some very big obstacles turns out instead to be a standard and predictable military flick. It is entertaining enough, but its subject matter deserved more creative effort.

Brashear [Cuba Gooding, Jr., grew up during World War II on a tenant farm in Kentucky. His father's dream was that Carl would turn out to be somebody, that he would leave the farm and never come back. Carl joined the Navy in the early 50s. Our armed forces had been desegregated by President Truman in 1948, but Carl soon finds out that the Navy has paid only lip service to this change. About the only jobs available to blacks are those of cooks or drivers. After persisting for several years, Carl finally gets admitted to the Navy diving school. At first, Billy Sunday [Robert De Niro}, the head instructor, won't let Carl onto the base. Then his fellow students, all of them white, refuse to bunk with him. After that, it only gets worse. Carl must prove himself over and over again. But as I said, Carl is a very persistent fellow who would rather die than disappoint his father.

As far as I know, the movie faithfully follows Brashear's career path, but I suspect great liberties have been taken with the characters he met along the way. Billy Sunday is portrayed as a foul-mouth, bigoted redneck, who will do anything he can think of, of as well as anything he is ordered to do, to prevent Carl from succeeding. Then, in typical Hollywood fashion, Sunday turns out to be a good guy underneath it all. I know what the movie is trying to say. People change. Still, Sunday's early behavior goes way beyond macho spirit breaking. It is mean and vindictive, and one wonders how Carl can speak to the man later, much less let him help him.

Gooding and De Niro, professionals that they are, do excellent jobs with characters that are basically one-dimensional. Charlize Theron, who is quietly building a formidable reputation as a character actress, is striking as Gwen Sunday, a very interesting character who I wish had been on screen more often. An even more intriguing character is Carl's father, marvelously played by Carl Lumbly, but we see him for less than five minutes. If script writer Scott Marshall Smith had worked harder on making the main characters as interesting, Men of Honor would have been a much better movie.

Rating:
Summary: Cuba's best...
Review: This movie will cast all of your doubts away. This is by far Cuba Gooding, Jr's best movie. If you want to see a spectacular movie with Cuba Gooding, Jr in it, don't see Pearl Harbor, see Men of Honor.

Rating:
Summary: Good Buy
Review: This DVD is something that is definately worth the used price. It is a great story, that was well told. The DVD has a lot of deleted scenes and a good documentary.

The other ending is interesting and kinda sad, worth seeing.

Rating:
Summary: Sinks
Review: This film is too lead footed to float to the top. When you have Robert DeNiro, Cuba Gooding Jr, Hal Holbrook, Michael Rappaport, and David Keith in the cast you should do better than this. When you have to great and uplifting true story of Carl Brashear, you should do better than this. When you have $32 million dollars to spend, you should do better than this. ... The talented cast is wasted on the lazy directing by Mr. Tillman (who did bring us the much better SOUL FOOD) and the cliche ridden, rather pedestrian, by-the-numbers "overcoming adversity" script by Mr. Smith. The two of them even manage to sink what should be the most exciting sequences of the film - the underwater sequences. Whatever sparkle this film does have is soley due to the cast, who take what they can from Mr. Tillman and Mr. Smith and try, TRY to make something of it. With a cast like this, with the director of SOUL FOOD and the writer of THE SCORE, and with $32 million to spend, I want something better than an average tv "movie of the week"...