Devotion: One Thumb Tentatively Up

Life could likely be safely and amply summed up as a series of "firsts" and "lasts." The same is true of history, and in the case of Jesse Leroy Brown, he was the first black man to complete the U.S. Navy's flight school, a remarkable accomplishment to be sure. However, J.D. Dillard's biographical war film Devotion is less about Brown's achievements as an aviator and more about his interpersonal relationships, namely his relationship with his wife Daisy and his relationship with his friend Tom, who I don't think is related to Hangman from Top Gun: Maverick, though the resemblance is uncanny. Joking aside, Devotion is a more serious affair than the more readily recognizable Maverick, and though it's no masterpiece, it works past a fairly standard formula and a handful of speed bumps along the way to achieve a surprising poignance by its closing moments.

Given, not everything about Devotion works. There's a lot of attempted sentimentality throughout this historical drama about the Korean War that nevertheless makes a consistent effort to sit with and discover things about Jesse and Tom, a sentimentality that works better at some times than it does at others. Though I appreciate the evident thoughtfulness, one speed bump this movie runs into is that so much of its exploration of Jesse, Daisy, and Tom is so surface-level. I didn't feel as if I were getting to know any of them better with time, and Devotion mistakenly thinks that mere sentimentality is either equal to or can substitute for multi-layered characterization, a common misconception today amongst more dogmatic audiences and even some not-so-battle-hardened critics. Nevertheless, the cast of this movie certainly makes the most of a thin screenplay, because even if Jonathan Majors, Glenn Powell, and Christina Jackson aren't given much to work with, they all put forth excellent portrayals of very real people. These performances elevate a ho-hum script to a level it realistically shouldn't be performing at.

Devotion is a period piece, and one of my favorite things about it is that, in most ways, it effortlessly looks the part. I must highlight this movie's wardrobe department, a team firing on all cylinders. Their handiwork highlight is definitely a handful of scenes featuring the men of the squadron and their rendezvous with the famed actress Elizabeth Taylor at a Cannes casino. I'm something of a lover of history, and I appreciated the obvious attention to detail that is not limited to but certainly at its strongest with the women's evening gowns, a dash of flair that is truly an elegant sight to behold. But I imagine you're here to read about fighter-bomber planes, not Francaise Barbie. And as for the inevitable battle sequences of the movie, the best way I can describe them to you is first as somewhat familiar if you've seen any World War II movie, and second as a lesser version of the already-mentioned Top Gun: Maverick, complete with a not-Hangman. Both films feature a group of pilots trying to strike a hard-to-reach target and having to learn to overcome their differences to work as a team. Even if Devotion isn't the equal of Maverick, it's a sturdy little film that more than gets the job done, delivering the goods with all the grace - and impact - of a high-explosive bomb.

While not entirely able to outrun a level of noncommitment from its own screenplay in terms of writing and pacing, Devotion plays its hand with such sincerity and undeniable heart that I can't help but feel drawn to it. Jonathan Majors, Glenn Powell, and Christina Jackson all give superb performances as very real historical figures, performances that would have made their real-life counterparts proud, and even if Devotion can't devote itself to being more efficient, it is nonetheless loyal to the very real people it's trying to portray to a fault. And I think that's admirable.

Devotion - 7/10

Romans 12:10