Before there was a Top Gun, there was Jesse Brown and Tom Hudner. Brown held the distinction of being the first Black aviator to complete the navy’s flight training program, serving in the Korean war with Hudner as his trusty wingman. But in Devotion, director JD Dillard’s screen dramatization of their time in uniform, the decorated flyboys and their brothers-in-arms of the Fighting 32nd lack the cocksure jockishness flexed by Maverick and his cohort. Despite the superficial similarities to the dogfighting bonanza of the summer (and shooting in what could be the exact same patch of tundra for the identical emotional climaxes), this polished double biopic distinguishes itself with a solemnity and stillness in the moments between missions. Training its crosshair on the ingrained prejudice of the military and the question of how well-meaning white allies can best support its undoing, the film compensates for relatively middling action set pieces with a stolid maturity. Except for the part where Joe Jonas tries to score with Elizabeth Taylor.
The guys’ waggish detour to a Croisette casino with the crown jewel of Hollywood’s golden-agers (played by Serrinda Swan, a serviceable lookalike) is as rowdy as it gets, anomalous to the stiff-lipped snap-and-salute tone. (It’s also one in a handful of scenes that could be easily trimmed to get a 138-minute runtime in fighting shape.) From the first meeting between Lnt Hudner (Glen Powell, looking every bit the naval officer Ken doll he did in the Top Gun sequel) and Ensign Brown (Jonathan Major), there’s a tentativeness in their bonding that goes beyond the usually gradual nature of the process. The difference in their races hangs over every scene they share, though the issue isn’t any bigotry on Hudner’s part. Quite the opposite – he’s all too insistent about sticking up for a perfectly capable adult who wants nothing more than to be treated like anyone else.
