Devotion

You could be forgiven for thinking that Devotion appears like Top Gun with a Korean War twist. After all, for much of its running time, that’s what it aspires to be.

It’s more effective as a dutiful, low-key biopic of a true-life pioneer who broke racial barriers as a Navy aviator. For a while, it also transitions into a full-on salute to military courage and sacrifice on the front lines.

So the ambition isn’t lacking in this stylish period adventure, although its unfocused execution too often defaults to crowd-pleasing cliches at the expense of genuine depth or insight. As directed by J.D. Dillard (Sleight), the film features some dazzling aerial sequences, but outside the cockpit, it rarely takes flight.

In a post-World War II basic training program for Navy fighter pilots, Jesse Brown (Jonathan Majors) is a Black ensign who tries to ignore the occasional racial slurs and focus on the task at hand. He forms a reluctant partnership with his fellow wingman, Tom Hudner (Glen Powell), bonding over respect for each other’s Corsair skills and swagger.

While his colleagues spend their free time indulging in alcohol and women, including a flirty Elizabeth Taylor (Serinda Swan) while on leave in France, Brown would rather write to his wife (Christina Jackson) back home.

In addition to the intense pressures of training for combat, however, Brown is silently carrying a burden the rest of his colleagues can’t imagine. When they are summoned to supplement ground troops in Korea, he struggles to earn the same level of respect.

Perhaps refusing to commit fully to a portrait of Brown stems from the character’s natural lack of charisma or his reluctance to command the spotlight. It’s certainly no fault of Majors (The Harder They Fall), whose powerfully understated portrayal conveys his character’s psychological wounds and crippling self-doubts.

Those quieter, more intimate scenes explore a moral complexity the rest of the film lacks.  Instead, the screenplay — based on a novel by Adam Makos — delivers the expected doses of macho masculinity and daredevil aggression.

Tension lingers beneath the surface, yet beyond Brown and Hudner, the periphery characters aren’t given much dimension during the predictable mischief and forced camaraderie prior to the inevitable horrors of war.

The cinematography and visual effects teams deserve credit for staging some thrilling dogfights over snowy mountain peaks. But narrative formula ultimately keeps Devotion grounded.

Rated PG-13, 138 minutes.