Men of Honor is a big-budget picture starring Robert Di Nero, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Charlize Theron and Hal Holbrook. It tells the true story of Carl Brashear, the first African-American to reach the rank of Master Diver in the US Navy.

The story opens in the days after World War II and we watch Brashear's battles against infuriating levels of ignorance, with Di Nero's character right at the forefront of it. What a shocker that when he finally makes a dive movie, he portrays a character who's wrapped so tight his head's about to explode.

The story is very compelling and the dive scenes, mainly in Mark V helmets, are also pretty good. As the story progresses, though, Brashear moves on from battling racists to going mano-o-mano with pencil-pushers and the plot loses a lot of its steam. The pencil pushers are just as potentially destructive as the racists are but they're far less dramatic.

All in all, though, this is a pretty good movie. We recommend it.