Devotion

Devotion is paced like a documentary rather than a feature narrative film. The plot doesn't have an inciting incident, nor is there really any driving force to give the story purpose. It isn't a plot so much as a portrait of characters who happened to be involved in the Korean War.

It isn't until about halfway through the film that any action is seen, and in the meantime we get a LOT of downtime to examine the relationships between Jesse and his family/Jesse and his aviators.

These sequences are very often touching and compelling, providing profoundly satisfying insights into the dichotomy of loneliness and brotherhood that war offers. This-along with the film's excellent acting, capable visual direction, and moving musical score-makes Devotion a frequently captivating experience.

But because the story doesn't have a sense of momentum and cause/effect between sequences, it's far more forgettable than the filmmakers wished for it to be.

This movie is about war and love. It is about struggle and victory. And above all else, it is above racism and brotherhood. And the latter doesn't only come from same coloured brothers, but from two wingmans that are black and white.

After the hugely successful second installment of "Top Gun", Paramount treats us with another excellent aviator movie. This time it is not about modern jet powered fighter planes, but instead it is 1950's piston driven aircraft that fight in the Korean war. This where they are even faced against hard-to-battle MiG jet aircraft that have vastly superior flight characteristics.

Above all, this movie is about the struggles of a black aviator. Like a MiG, this man is vastly superior in flying planes. But we see him struggle - as a pilot - not only with his upbringing in a racial America, but also with the racial tensions that still exist in 1950's America: specifically in the military.

And last but not least, this movie is about the inhumane struggles of the military ground troops in the 'hell on earth' of the ground warfare in Korea.

Rich with stunning visual detail and effects, this movie makes one remind of such blockbuster movies like "Pearl Harbor". Combine that with the excellent "Men of Honor", and you have the inspirational ingredients that I found back in "Devotion". And with its relative long length for a feature movie - around 130 minutes - it is by no means too long. The events in the movie developed in such a pace, whereby there is a good mix of action and drama, that the movie is over before you know it. When one comes to think of it, this movie could have easily been extended with some additional content - e.g. From flight school - which could have resulted in a 4-part mini-series.

And let's not forget that this is all based on true events, which gives it all a special dimension.

Overall, this movie deserves a rating of 7.6/10, thereby resulting in an IMDb score of 8 stars. A special note is to be made of Paramount, whom is clearly producing some very excellent (best-in-class) movies/shows since the second half of 2022, whereby this specific movie is rated in january 2023.

When paying homage to a war hero, one would assume that the character in question deserves a fitting tribute. Unfortunately, director J. D. Dillard's biography of African-American Korean War aviator Jesse Brown (Jonathan Majors) comes up somewhat short. The film's first half is tediously paced and includes considerable extraneous material, with a narrative that's rather episodic in nature. The characters (other than the protagonist) and the picture's principal themes (including Brown's struggle to fit in to a newly integrated military) also feel somewhat underdeveloped, leaving some of the potentially strongest elements of this story on the table. And, despite an apparent intention to make up for oversights that have caused the Korean conflict to be called "America's forgotten war" (as noted in the film's opening graphics), the picture never really picks up on that idea to any great degree, treating the war as more of a backdrop than anything else. Thankfully, this biography makes up for these shortcomings somewhat in the second half as the story becomes more focused and considerably more compelling, but that's not enough to save the production overall, despite some fine camera work and a solid performance by Majors as the devoted airman. This offering, despite apparent good intents, could really have used some judicious retooling before being released to allow it to live up to its potential and to give Airman Brown the recognition he truly deserved.

Two very powerful performances - surprised that Jonathan Majors is not a big awards season player at the moment -, a compelling story that is never lame, really good action, and, above all, a film full of heart.

It's not a perfect film. The 2nd act is a bit slow and it could have tried to create a bit more tension adding some new elements in preparation for the battle. However, it felt very real and I was so into this story and these characters that I was always enjoying. The third act is fascinating and I can't lie: it broke me into tears. I didn't know the real story, and had no contact with the material, so it was really shocking and impactful.

I'm surprised that this didn't click with a lot of people but I have my suspicions that is because it came this year, so, many people tend to compare it with an action blockbuster called Top Gun: Maverick, while this is a totally different movie. Great war drama.

When I first saw the teaser trailer for this film I was extremely excited the history and war film buff in me jumped with joy, "finally a Korean war film" alas it is no 1917 or Dunkirk.

While this film offers some great visuals and solid performances from the entire cast it unfortunately never gripped me in any real emotional way. The two actors Johnathan Majors as Jesse Brown and Glen Powel as Tom Hudner both have great chemistry and their relationship is played out well but even with the amount of time they gave to both these characters I just couldn't seem to get attached.

This is also less a film about the Korean war and more about the relationship between these two pilots who fought in the war. Yet whatever the true history is between the two pilots and however many missions they flew together the film never felt to connect them as true brothers of war as I feel they were intended to be. This film contains all of two battle scenes, in a war film? That seems low.

After all this time being excited for this film I cannot help but feel a little disappointed. They had a great opportunity here to depict the Korean war as well as the story between these two pilots but perhaps with better direction, better pacing, and better storytelling this could've been a stronger film. I also feel my fellow audience members were a bit disappointed as well, some checked their phones multiple times and I'm pretty sure I saw someone leave early.

Oh well, it's not terrible but it's far from great. I wonder what Korean war vets, if they go out and see this film would think.

IMDb: 6/10 Letterboxd: 3/5

Watched in Theaters.