Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Devotion’ on Paramount+, an Action-Drama Starring Jonathan Majors as the First Black U.S. Navy Aviator

Glen Powell and Navy fighter pilots are what Devotion (now on Paramount+) and Top Gun: Maverick have in common, but beyond that, barely the twain shall meet. Devotion is a BOATS (Based On A True Story) Korean War biodrama starring Jonathan Majors (The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Lovecraft Country) as Jesse Brown, the first Black man to become an aviator in the U.S. Navy. Powell plays his wingman, and the story is based on the book chronicling the pilots’ friendship, Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship and Sacrifice. It may not be a maverick movie – it struggled to a $21 million box-office take – but it sure seems to do right by its real-life subjects.

DEVOTION: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: It’s 1950. The Soviets have the bomb. Navy fighter pilots rarely play beach volleyball yet. And Jesse Brown (Majors) has just moved into a new house next door to a scowling White lady who calls the cops on him and his wife Daisy (Christina Jackson) and their toddler daughter, complaining that they’re being too noisy. Honestly, the hi-fi wasn’t very loud at all. Pretty sure she was reporting them for “enjoying themselves while being Black.” Jesse had just finished another day at the naval base, where he met his new wingman, Tom Hudner (Powell). Jesse’s a gifted pilot, better than most, maybe even the best. He pretty much has to be – as a Black man in the military, he has little margin for error. He doesn’t drink, and mostly keeps to himself. On Tom’s first day at the Rhode Island base, he overhears Jesse in the locker room, spitting racial epithets into the mirror, hardening himself for any abuse to come.

Jesse, thankfully, doesn’t have to worry about Tom. They take to the air, and Tom fights a little to keep up with Jesse – respect earned. When Jesse’s car breaks down, Tom gives him a ride, sees his home, meets his family. On the eve of their departure for a mission in thwarting Soviet maneuvers in the Mediterranean, Daisy pulls Tom aside and pointedly asks him to “be there” for Jesse. We soon learn that she’s absolutely confident in her husband’s piloting skills. He’s damn good at his job. She meant something else for Tom. She wants him to be Jesse’s ally.

And so, on the aircraft carrier off the coast of Italy, Tom stares down a racist antagonist who tries to get Jesse’s goat. Tom’s ready to clock the guy. Jesse deescalates the confrontation, and no punches are thrown. They get to work, figuring out how to maneuver the new Corsair fighters. They get a hard lesson in piloting the new planes. They get some R&R in Cannes, where Jesse bumps into Liz Taylor (Serinda Swan) – yes, THE Liz Taylor – who invites the pilots to a casino party. They get sent to the Pacific after China and the Soviets back North Korea’s invasion of South Korea, and take to the air for dangerous missions. They seem destined to be heroes, but more importantly, they have each other’s back.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Red Tails dramatized the Black Army pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen, who fought during World War II. Tonally, Devotion stays true to creatively conservative, but highly watchable military biographies like Unbroken or Men of Honor. (And honestly, any Top Gun: Maverick comparisons are purely superficial.)

Performance Worth Watching: In his subtle, rock-solid dramatic work, Majors shows more than a few Denzel Washingtonisms. (Majors will soon become a household name thanks to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which begins his Marvel Cinematic Universe indoctrination as new villain Kang the Conqueror.)

Memorable Dialogue: This script is chock-full of earnest dialogue, e.g., when Daisy implores to Jesse, “You’re the only person I met who belonged in the sky. Just remember, you belong down here with us too, OK?”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Director J.D. Dillard’s father was a Black naval aviator, and worked as an advisor for Devotion – and it shows. Specifically, in the quiet dramatic moments where Majors wrangles with the terrible irony of being a Navy man of color in 1950: One is programmed to follow the rigid structures and rules of the military, but Jesse will never be able to conform to the overwhelming Whiteness of the service personnel. Life Magazine helicopters out to the carrier to profile Jesse, and the “honor” only further fuels his discomfort; when Jesse faces disciplinary measures, he reminds Tom, “A slap on my wrist is not the same as a slap on yours”; when Jesse’s pioneering status serves as quiet inspiration aboard the carrier, a Black sailor acknowledges the feelings of other “brothers” on board during one of the film’s strongest scenes.

Meanwhile, the other White pilots – played by Daren Kagasoff and Joe Jonas, among others – aren’t outwardly prejudiced, or even arrogant; they show as much concern as anyone for each other’s and their own safety during war. But there’s clear privilege in their mannerisms, a relative lightness to the way they carry themselves. Nobody questions whether they belong, or puts their actions under the microscope. They’re part of a system that’s hesitant, if not outright resistant, to integrating a Black man.

And that no-man’s-land is where Tom Hulder finds himself. Although we sense his struggle to be a supportive friend and ally to Jesse – to paraphrase the the script, he has to learn to not just throw life preservers, but get in the water with Jesse – he’s not fully developed as a character, and is more of a bland cipher for Caucasian perspectives. That’s OK, though; the emphasis should be on Jesse and his internal struggle to lay the groundwork for progress.

For that reason, Devotion does its job dutifully. Its understated social dynamic keeps the film afloat; otherwise, it offers few surprises and adheres to our expectations for true-story biopics. Dillard’s action sequences are serviceable, and he indulges about as many nifty practical FX shots – with an assist from Maverick aerial stunt coordinator Kevin LaRosa – as he does weary cliches. But the movie’s heart is in the right place, and it pumps strong and proud.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Devotion doesn’t break any new ground, but it absolutely does justice to its subject.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.