"Men of Honor" is that rare overly-emotional movie for men. It is an homage to the relationship between fathers and sons. It is about being a man in the face of adversity. And of course, it is a movie about the military, with all the macho personalities and action sequences that come with the life of a soldier. At the same time, it is a movie that tugs on your heartstrings harder than a sinking "Titanic."

Cuba Gooding Jr. stars as the true-life hero Carl Brashear. Brashear, the son of southern sharecroppers, was the Jackie Robinson of the Navy (an analogy made crystal clear when Gooding Jr. listens on the radio to Robinson's baseball travails). He was the first black man to graduate from diving school after desegregation in 1948 and the first to achieve the highest rank, Master Diver. At the same time, he was the first amputee to reach such status. (Brashear, a legend in Navy history and a consultant on the set of the film, was surely an inspiration to Gooding Jr. and the filmmakers.)

Opposite Gooding Jr. is Robert De Niro as Billy Sunday, a racist and intense Master Diver who is to be Brashear's foil and friend. De Niro's character, a composite of Brashear's historical Navy superiors, must face his own demons in the film, including alcoholism, a scrappy tendency towards insubordination and De Niro's personal inclination towards over-acting.

Still, the chemistry between Gooding Jr. and De Niro is genuine and compelling. Both men play off the drive and charisma of one another.

Director George Tillman Jr. fits as much action into the film as he can; parallel to the action, though, is as much melodrama as one can absorb. We follow Brashear after he was inspired to fight by his ailing father through the cook's quarters on a World War II ship to diver training school and into action as a Navy diver. Along the way, Brashear is confronted with every possible test to his masculinity, his intellect and to his humanity.

Incredibly, every single scene involves melodrama. Racists and meanies pop out of every corner to confound Brashear, but to no avail. Though most of the bad guys are cartoonish, it is impossible not to sympathize with and root for Gooding Jr.'s Brashear.

The elderly commander of the diving camp (Hal Holbrook), for instance, is secluded away with his dog in a tower, but quietly plots to preserve the racial purity of the Navy. Another officer, who appears throughout the film in weasel-like form but does not age a day as Brashear ages 20 years, plots against both Brashear and Sunday for no apparent reason.

The film limps across the finish line a winner nonetheless, granted an inspiring story by the real Carl Brashear and intense yet watchable performances by De Niro and Gooding Jr.