Are you ready to be yelled at?

To see "Men of Honor" (released in Japan as "The Diver") is to walk into one of those bars where the clientele is mostly male (but not gay), full of the type of guys who spit on the floor while playing pool. To cut any ice in a place like this, one must be either: 1) Tommy Lee Jones; 2) Russell Crowe; or 3) Robert De Niro -- someone with thick forearms and a dense torso, a loud voice and bad clothes. So it's probably a good thing Robert De Niro is in this movie.

He plays a pipe-sucking, bourbon-swilling Navy master diver with a sadistic streak so obvious it glows in the dark. You're going to see him cause offense and strut his machismo, and you're going to hear a lot of yelling. It's just like being in one of those bars, so remember to bring a flask of whiskey.

Directed by George Tillman Jr. (who wrote the screenplay for "Soul Food"), "Men of Honor" is based on the story of Carl Brashear, the U.S. Navy's first black master diver. Brashear grew up on a small farm in Kentucky and enlisted in the Navy when he was 17. His hopes of a bright and heroic career were shattered when he was faced with the reality of flipping burgers in the cook's quarters where all "coloreds" were confined.