Hacksaw Ridge

Hacksaw Ridge is one of the best films of 2016. And the victory is all the more sweet for Gibson in that he succeeds on his own weird terms.

Occasionally soapy on the homefront but cataclysmic in combat, this is a worthy addition to the WWII canon. Garfield underpins it all with skill, showing that sometimes, war can be humanising too.

Hacksaw Ridge is drenched in the blood of the fallen and the mud forever caked on the boots of those who survived to tell the tale. It’s the closest thing to feeling as though you’ve marched a mile in those shoes.

Hacksaw Ridge is faithful to the story of Desmond Doss in every sense of the word.

Hacksaw Ridge is the work of a director possessed by the reality of violence as an unholy yet unavoidable truth.

Vince Vaughn, plainly enjoying himself, plays his casually astonished sergeant, who encourages hazing and beatings of Doss.

Along with screenwriters Robert Schenkkan and Andrew Knight, Gibson, whose lack of directorial subtlety but skill with action both reach an apex here, is not content to tell the true story of Desmond Doss and his unshakeable, courage-giving faith. He wants to convince us that his faith was, in fact, the truth.

Acting? Perfect Visuals? Dated, but fantastic Story? True, and absolutely beautiful and inspiring Action? Great, beautiful blended with the more heartfelt moments Overall? 10/10 at the bare minimum.

"Hacksaw Ridge" plays as religious propaganda. This isn't the first time Mel Gibson has overplayed his religious hand. He did the same thing in "Passion of the Christ." Americans love religion and war. If you can intertwine both and add a touching love story, that could be the recipe for box office success. The problem with "Hacksaw" is that it is way over the top. I don't think I've ever seen so many limbs blown off, intestines spattered all over the place, or people getting roasted by fire. There's something wrong with Mel Gibson. If you have a weak stomach, view this at your own risk.

Hacksaw of course is a typical (for Gibson) heavy-handed, overly graphic, religious themed story about a man who overcomes adversity. The cinematography was excellent at times and disappointing at others. This movie was perfectly okay held up by a decent performance by Garfield and a good by limited performance by Weaving. This movie brings nothing special, but might be slightly entertaining for people who like gore.

Unless you’re a Republican, believe that guns solve problems of insecurity, find that La Manif Pour Tous didn’t say that **** that cops don’t do anything wrong and that God is your friend ... in short, if you’re not right, it’s not a good film. Ah but yeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii !!! The film has completely failed where it could have been unique! What do you mean? Highlight the role of combat doctors ... no no no continue to put tearful sequences well into the intertwined religious pathos of Match à Mort by Team Call of Duty ... yes yes no no, Don’t try to give a documentary aspect to the doctors of no man’s land, about how these heroes learned to operate between shells and machine guns ... After seeing a romance that makes you want to strangle cats, get ready for the worst sequence of a training camp! With a Vince Vaughn sulking and slammed as possible! You will never be so uncomfortable in front of a drill sergeant! Ppffffffffff, they prefer to show us the heroic gesture of the man rather than to show the real stupidity of the military administration to not let him do ... when he has the right ... But the real problem: no one give a **** that he wants to be a medic?? ... I mean ... why doesn’t he yell it ?? ... Why doesn’t anyone make the connection ??? ... He’ll go faster to save guys if he doesn’t shoot ... Not so good, go watch We Were Soldiers, same ****ty intro but less boring (a lot) with great great action.

The story itself is interesting and obviously it's a Hollywood movie after all with plenty of good actors involved but the constant religious virtue signaling together with Andrew Garfield's tendency to sound somewhat whiny made me cringe several times to the point where I thought I'd switch it off. Nevertheless, if you can overlook the forced christian agenda then it's not a bad pseudo-historic war movie.