Devotion

 

My latest foray to my local movie theater had me checking out Devotion.  Starring Jonathon Majors and Glen Powell, Devotion is inspired by the true story of Jesse Brown (Majors) the first African American U.S. naval aviator during the Korean Conflict. Never having read the book, I didn’t know much about the story going in, but the trailers looked promising.

Devotion has a great cast and contains some thrilling flying sequences, but, as interesting as the subject matter is, I confess the 2-hour 19-minute film came up short and sadly fell flat for me.  

The film, particularly the first half is choppy in pacing and thematically underdeveloped causing the narrative to just lay there more often than not. There's just very little spark and a feeling of lifelessness hangs over the story. 

For a biopic Devotion does very little to delve deeply into the characters or what caused the Korean conflict to be called “America’s Forgotten War”.  Everything is addressed superficially with a few “pops” of insight/connection here and there, but all told the gaps between what actually unfolds on screen and what needs/should is too wide.  Emotionally there’s a disconnect that the film simply can’t overcome and left me wanting /needing more and disappointed.

The second half of the film strives for and succeeds more in making for a compelling story, however, it’s just a case of too little too late.  

Devotion had the potential to be an amazing, engaging film that lives up to its title and give Airmen Brown the recognition he deserves.  Ultimately the ripped straight from a high school textbook narrative approach keeps Devotion firmly grounded in the “It’s not bad, but it’s far from great” category.

Devotion gets a 6 from me.