Devotion

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.

I remember 6 years ago I read the book On Hollow Ground. The part of the book that went over Jessie and Tom brought a tear to my eye. As I read, all I thought to myself was "wow if this story ever gets a movie they better get it right"...I really wish they did. The movie should have focused more around the connection between the grunts on the ground and the pilots. The movie did not express how absolutely crucial it was for close air support and the terrible conditions it was for troops in combat. One of the main reason Marines in the Chosin Reservoir were able to hold out and eventually make it back to the sea was because of Men like Jessie. That connection did not seem present in the movie.

Please if you are reading this then take my recommendation and read the book. I promise you will be satisfied.

As a film that advertises as a Korean War film about aviator Jesse Brown it takes more than half the move to get there. A few cliché moments, but overall it wasn't terrible. My biggest issue with the script is that it is very much a collection of scenes and not a story. It's a this happened and then this happened etc. Instead of this happened therefore this happened. It's not a story... I did like the film for the most part I just wouldn't say it was anything groundbreaking. It was "okay"... at one point I found myself looking back at an earlier point in the film and I thought, "the pay off of that moment was completely thrown away because of blatant bad writing" I think it's worth seeing for sure I love history and honoring those who came before but it's not something I'll watch again probably.

LIKES

Setting

• Brings you back to history and establishes the historical feel

-The houses, the cars, and the culture are all embedded in various shots that should be nostalgic -Loved the feel of the shots and how they captured the culture without getting lost -The naval set may not have been explored, but the parts they did feel much like Pearl Harbor, very ingrained and focused on the stressful platform they are on.

• The European setting did this the best for me, especially the casino scene for the look of the times

Wardrobe -Helps further establish the mood and bring you back to the past -Functional, good looking, and almost acts as an extension of the character -Very calmed down for the most part, and only gets fancy for the right scenes, again establishing the emotion of the film.

-Makeup goes well to accent without going into the complex makeup Hollywood can do.

The Action To An Extent -The scenes are awesome and don't get too violent , helping to curb to both -Great special effects that bring both audio and visual components to the mix that make it theater worthy.

-Feels like a real mission, with cutting through the fat and setting up the parameters making the mission even more fun to watch -You can hear the conversation and not lost to the chaos of the moment -A little diverse and capable of helping you easily follow what's going on and fit quite well for the tone of the movie.

The Acting -Most of the extras are fun to watch, and they are mainly comedic or very stoic to make the point across. All of the roles have good chemistry and work for the movie.

-Jackson is the character I really wanted to see a little more of. She was a strong woman that was realistic, balanced, and fun serving as an anchor to the military feel.

-Jackson has some of the best moments and dialogue of the movie, and really does a nice job with the time she has on screen for establishing the family dynamic.

-Powell's performance is even more dynamic than his Top Gun days. He plays these pilot roles quite well, keeps the tough guy component in, but somehow makes the character more dynamic.

-Handled the dramatic dialogue super well, but yet conveyed other emotions. By far the most balanced of the actors for the emotional spectrum.

-That ending is a fantastic display of his range of acting -Majors knows how to play strong roles and he continues that streak with this stoic, focused, and determined pilot role.

-And yet, those vulnerable moments show just how much he has the emotion down, which makes for a great variety of qualities to that character. He plays the pilot real, and does not tread down the invincible superhero that these roles tend to be.

The Music -Symphony scores are the keys to this movie for musical spectacle, worthy of the theater visit.

-Loud instrumental pieces add to the action scenes and give that gallant approach that helps immerse you into the moment and get your adrenaline up.

-Other instrumental works are about capturing the fun times, adding the jazz feel to the party scenes, and the vibrant party tunes for just enjoying life.

-The end moments are that emotional kick you need to appreciate the entire chemistry between everyone, and the inspirational tale that Brown's story is.

The Better Balance: -Deals with the racism component with class and focus and does not rob the movie of the other qualities.

-Drops that component as part of the story and uses it for fuel to paint the characters in the way they needed to be painted.

-Loved the dialogue with this tale and how they did not let it get away from them and again made it natural.

-By taking this approach, we really got the multiple perspectives down that he might have experienced during his time in the Korean War. A true showing of his respectful character.

DISLIKES:

The Other Characters Are Inconsistent -Many characters don't get the screen time they needed to do them justice.

-Much of the other cast runs together and is difficult to tell one from the other or really make them stand out from each other.

-I wanted more interactions with the group and individual personality building with these other teammates.

-Was not connected to most of the rest of these characters, making the group effort a bit weaker

Some Parts Feel Rushed -Training felt very montage like and did not feel the purpose I wanted -Several big moments were over in a flash, which sort of dulled the emotional impact of the moments at time, or at least diluted them.

-Some things felt left out, cut out, and had the editing feel more than others, again giving us highlights of the time instead of the full story they were trying to tell.

-This was especially true for character interactions and development moments that make things feel a bit cheaper to the story that he may have had.

Predictable Foreshadowing -Painfully predictable dialogue really lays out the ending that is to come and just what will happen -The shots kind of give away when something bad is going to happen -The dialogue seems to point you to the way that the "surprise" is going to take place, which of course make it less of a surprise and therefore not as special for me.

More Action Needed -The action may be in taste to the tone of the movie, but it's also rather short-lived and simplified.

-Pearl Harbor had a lot of great magic and dynamic moments to really add that exciting factor, while this one took a more realistic tone and cut straight to the mission.

-The music helps, but it's missing the engaging pilot action that other films do so much better, which takes you a little out of the action.

-The other members are kind of after thoughts, and this leads to again less character usage and integration further making their inclusion less impactful.

-Needed to be longer and more exciting to really live up to the promise of the trailers that pulled me into the movie.

The VERDICT: Devotion is a true marriage of history, drama, and action to the point of captivating the realistic recreation of the events of that time. The special effects and setting are the machines used to take us back in time and establish the culture to help get you into the moment. While the acting performances are the emotional sword wielded to help pull the weight of Brown's achievements on you and craft characters you care about and wish to follow. With sound editing and a musical track pulling a fair amount of weight to help pick up the slack. However, this movie does struggle with the rushed pace of the runtime in a movie and that may be the biggest mistake of the movie for me in terms of not reaching the full potential. Characters are not consistently integrated, to the point I did not need to see them, while foreshadowing sort of blunts the surprise of what might happen to our band of pilots. My biggest let down is the action of the movie. While not the worst action scenes in a war movie, the battles aren't as long or as wow factor as other films have done. Pearl Harbor set the stage for those kinds of scenes and adding that movie magic might have saved face. Overall, Devotion might have done better as a mini-series to help give Brown's story more time to shine and explore the comradery of the group.

My scores are:

Action/Drama/War: 7.0 Movie Overall: 6.5.

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.