Ever since Jerry McGuire, Cuba Gooding Jr. has been looking for a movie that will bring out his full acting potential. With such films like As Good As It Gets, and Chill Factor, he has not been recognized for his acting because he has a bad role, or in a bad movie. Then tonight I saw Men Of Honor. I really didn’t care to see it, but my brother showed up and him and me went to the movies. After watching this movie, I realized that Cuba Gooding has been cast in a good movie, and I don’t regret seeing it.
Men Of Honor
When arriving at the theater and choosing our seats, I noticed a lot of “old people”. My guess is that they were a war veteran or were once in the Navy. I guess this movie would appeal to them. This movie starts out on a farm where we assume that the child that is first shown on screen is Cuba Gooding Jr. as a child. His father is about to lose this farm because of a weed problem. The movie then fast-forwards to when he is a little older. You never know just exactly how old he is, but you can guess that he is old enough to join the Navy.
He always loved to swim. He gets on the bus to join the navy to fulfill this dream of being a deep-sea diver. The problem is that he is an African American. He starts off as a chef in the kitchen. After one hot day of work, he decides to jump into the water for a swim. The problem with this was that it was the White people’s turn to swim in the water; the Coloreds had a different day to swim. Carl Brashear (Cuba Gooding Jr.) tries to swim away to a nearby buoy in the water. He swam faster than anyone on that ship, so instead of getting in trouble, he was promoted to retrieval. This position was not to go diving though. One day on the ship, Billy Sunday (Robert DeNiro) goes in the water to rescue a drowning pilot. When he returns, he cannot breathe and is sent to the hospital. He is told the fact that if he experiences a change air pressure, than his lungs would explode. He is then demoted to being a Deep-Sea diving instructor.
Brashear finally gets to the rank that he can train and take the course to become a deep-sea diver. As you could imagine, at this time, (1960’s) people were racist. No one wanted to bunk with Brashear except for one man that he helped minute’s prior. The course was tough and it was especially tough for Brashear because they made it worse for him. He flunked the first test but he soon pulled his grades together and he was all ready to become a deep-sea diver. He went into town to meet a librarian to help him with his grades. They have a love interest and they eventually end up together with a kid. The final test was to assemble a piece of equipment together while in the water. An officer would drop a bag of tools down to the divers so they could make the part. For Brashear, they cut his bag open, and the parts were everywhere. Hours pass and still no sign of him. He finally finishes; this was ten hours after the drill began. He passed the course and he was to become a diver.
They fast-forward to when he is on an assignment in the water looking for a nuclear warhead. He finds it and it was being brought out of the water. The hooks that were bringing it up came loose and a hook came flying across the deck. Brashear got some of his sea mates out of the way. The hook then almost cut his foot off. He requests for his leg to be amputated so he can return to service. This is when the court case comes up.
He is forced to court to tell rather or not he is capable of diving into water anymore. He is forced to walk 12 steps with the new diving suit in the courtroom. He walks the 12 steps and he returns to service. He was 40 years old at the end of the movie and still serving his great country.
This movie was a lot to write about. He was both a man of courage, and a man of honor. So how does Men Of Honor stack up? Ratings are from one to five stars.
Here’s The Breakdown
Story ****
The way that they treated him because he was African American was wrong. You feel really bad for him because he just wanted to make his father proud. I didn’t like how they had a relationship with the librarian. Then again, it is based on a true story so they couldn’t just take her out of it. Overall I was satisfied how this movie succeeded to make me happy at the end. They make the Navy look evil though.
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Acting ****
The acting was great. Cuba Gooding Jr. is always a great actor in any movie he is in, but this one in particular with his role and all made his lines have more feeling and emotion. Robert DeNiro pulls off a good southern accent. The romance scenes were well acted and gave even more drama.
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Overall ****
This movie is for anyone that has served in any type of military service. It is a story where the underdog wins and gets the girl. The whole audience was pulling for him to make deep-sea diver. This was one of Cuba Gooding Jr’s best roles. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got an Oscar nomination for this movie. Then again, it might be overlooked by the academy. Nevertheless, see this movie because it is a great true story that everyone should hear.
Bottom Line: See this movie. If not, rent it in a few months.
Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Robert De Niro deliver powerhouse performances (Chicago Tribune) in this triumphant epic inspired by the life of Carl Brashear.M...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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