Hacksaw Ridge (Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Vince Vaughan) – One of the best movies of the year and certainly the best war film since Saving Private Ryan, Hacksaw Ridge is a movie revelation. It is also one tough watch. Bloody, raw, uncomfortable, and gripping, this film is brilliantly photographed, acted and directed.
It tells the story of Desmond Doss, a naïve, religious young man whose father is an abusive, alcoholic veteran who never emotionally recovered from World War I. Set in Virginia in the early part of the Second World War, Hacksaw Ridge follows Desmond into the Army where he refuses to even touch a gun. He wants to be a medic, saving lives rather than taking them and remaining true to his religion (Seventh Day Adventist) and his own principles that were shaped by his early life experience.
In the Army, he is an outcast, viewed as a coward rather than a conscientious objector. Even when he is beaten by guys in his own unit during Basic Training, he remains determined to serve in the war despite efforts by his commanding officers (including his sergeant and captain played by Vince Vaughan and Sam Worthington) to get him to quit or face a court martial.
When he finally succeeds in graduating, he and his unit get sent to Okinawa where battalion after battalion of soldiers have been annihilated trying to take Hacksaw Ridge. What follows is an incredible re-enactment of one of the most famous battles of the Pacific war.
Andrew Garfield (The Social Network, The Amazing Spiderman, The Amazing Spiderman 2i) will absolutely (mark it down) receive a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Doss. His performance is tremendously layered – tender in the scenes where he meets and courts his wife; determined but vulnerable as the enlistee; and unabashedly courageous in the heat of battle. His performance is sparkling, captivating, and riveting.
But it is the action scenes that will make you squirm and get your heart pumping. You just can’t be passive watching this film.
I have listened to friends who refuse to see films made by directors or starring actors whose politics they abhor. I have never let politics get in the way or my movie viewing. But I almost didn’t see this film because Mel Gibson directed it. I am glad I fought that instinct. Gibson may be an anti-Semite but he is a fine director and a pretty good actor. His Oscars for Braveheart proved that.
My only criticisms of the movie are minor ones. It is too long, particularly given the intensity of the on-screen violence. And Vince Vaughan just isn’t well cast as Sgt. Howell. It isn’t that he doesn’t play the role just fine but I thought he looked out of place in the battle scenes. It’s just that I never lost the actor in the character. He is just too familiar a comedic figure (I did like him as Norman Bates in the remark of Psycho).
But believe me when I tell you that this is one of the best war movies I have ever seen. If you don’t like war movies, blood, guts and killing depicted on the big screen, skip this film. But if you love being engaged in a movie, Hacksaw Ridge is must-see entertainment.