De Niro, Gooding Jr. strive for strength in 'Honor'

By Lyle Henretty

Daily Arts Writer

Many movies centering on humans with extraordinary talents have the habit of making that particular talent look easy. Think especially of sports movies, where every good quarterback makes the perfect throw, or the slugger comes through every time. The talented person hardly breaks a sweat. These films seem to suggest that the talent lays deep within the individual, and that there is no accounting for it. In director George Tillman Jr.'s "Men of Honor," the audience is made to feel the strife facing naval diving hopeful Carl Brashear (Cuba Gooding Jr.). Tillman's frequent cutting comes to a halt whenever we watch Brashear overcome his next obstacle, whether they are physical or emotional.

We are made to feel every breath, every strain. Both director and actor fully realize the power this man has, and bring new meanings to the words "strength" and "determination."

If "Men of Honor" has a fatal flaw, it is that every other scene is a set piece for dramatic tension. Tillman does a wonderful job with this tension throughout most of the movie, whether it is situational or tension between his intense cast of interesting characters.

The problem, though, is that the protagonist comes out the victor every time, and by the "climax" the audience is so sure things will turn out happy that the tension completely disappears.

Thus, for the easily disenchanted, the last half-hour of this 128-minute film could be quite dull. Dull, that is, except for the vibrant presence of Robert De Niro's Master Chief Billy Sunday.

The narrative, based on a true story, follows a World War II era Brashear in his quest to become not only the first black navy diver, but also the best one to ever put on a wet suit. In the opening scenes, his sharecropper father tells him never to give up. And, by God, he never does.

Billy Sunday is his naval instructor who, at first, doesn't much like having a black man in his class, but eventually warms to him after some of the high-octane tension builders suggested above. Watching De Niro emote is a joy, as he can become enraged without making a sound. Though, unlike the more quiet gangsters that made him famous, Master Chief Sunday speaks constantly, much of it inaudible in De Niro's pitch-perfect southern bark.

Gooding does an acceptable job, but the actor suppresses the manic energy that won him an Academy Award for "Jerry Maguire." Here his attempts to go "serious" fall short of the mark. His eyes smolder and he huffs a lot, especially toward Sunday, but we never know his character quite like we did in his Oscar turn.

As Brashear begins to break racial barriers by proving that he truly is the best, he must then take on the bureaucracy that is the evolving United States Navy. After he is wounded while busy being a hero, he decides that he must now be the only old-one-legged-black navy diver in the world. Any guess at the outcome?

This is pure hokum, but hokum at its best. Highly entertaining performances from all involved, including the underutilized Charlize Theron as Sunday's wife and character actor Hal Holbrook as a crazy racist commandant at the diving academy. Also, see if you can spot Joshua Leonard from "The Blair Witch Project."

This film is clearly pleading for Oscar contention, but really brings nothing new to the table. "Men of Honor" should be enjoyed for what it is: A pleasant drama with a nice cast.

Courtesy of Universal

I heard things, I heard things: Cuba Gooding Jr. and Bob De Niro face of in the based-on-a-true-story film "Men of Honor."