Hacksaw Ridge

2016 • 139 minutes

About this movie

HACKSAW RIDGE is the extraordinary true story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon, as he believed that while the war was justified, killing was nevertheless wrong. As an army medic, he single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers, was wounded by a grenade, and hit by snipers. Doss was the first conscientious objector to ever earn the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Ratings and reviews

Pros- This is a well after movie with a unique and mostly true story. The movie has good, intense moments and the sets are very well designed. There's a good deal of emotion expressed by the cast which helps tie the lesser scenes together, and this lets us as viewers connect a little better with the characters. Some of the script-original lines are also very good and uniquely quotable. They also stuck quite well to the original story, which is nice to see.(Especially in a war movie) Normally I have religion in movies, but this movie did it well; they didn't ram a cross down our throats and the religion aspect actually enhanced the movie. The soundtrack also didn't suck. Cons- By the gods, the camera work is atrocious. I don't know if it's ineptitude on the part of the cinematographer or the director. A few characters are cookie cutter cliques and we're all sick of writers having five seconds of crummy dialogue between two characters to try to add development and reason to like them. Also, it is not a valid war strategy to stand out in the open and shoot a BAR with seemingly infinite ammo Rambo style. It's not realistic and substantially lowers tension. The movie has other direction oriented problems, but is still very much worth watching. Just download or watch it for free on 123 instead of paying fifteen bucks. And please stop trying to say it's anywhere near as good as SPR. Spielberg knows how to write in real character development... Anyway, good movie. This is a pleasant surprise seeing as how normally Gibson's movies are train wrecks.

I felt burdened, somewhat, to see this movie. I know that Mel Gibson has caught flack for just being human and he has done less to deserve the flack than almost anyone else in Hollywood. But he does deserved accolades and a chance for everyone to let his talent shine through. He gave this story relevance. It is a story about faith, being loyal to the teachings of the Bible, about selflessness, real love for others and many more lessons of being a true American, and a man of God. I was expected to be traumatized by what looked like, from the previews of this movie, by all the violence, anger and gore of war. But I looked beyond what I saw, being that I was expecting it, and I rose above my fears to watch the bravery played out and portrayed about a real man who some initially wrote off as a coward and a mental case. But he proved them wrong and proved them right about what his believed in God. I put on my brave self for this man who was armed with little more than his Bible. May more of us be like him. Lord willing, may mankind act our millennial and rise above the selfish, greedy, power hungry motivations to send men into battle to do their evil, dirty deeds. In Jesus name, Amen

No thanks. I get that this movie will appeal to a certain audience. Those people are going to go into it with the intention of cementing their beliefs. That is well and fine. However, if you take this movie as a cinematic work rather than a sum greater than its parts, you will notice the flaws. The pacing is loping, the characters seem flat, the violence at times feels gratoutious and fake. The war was insanely viceral and horrific, but there is a point where you as the viewer says "yeah I get it". In addition, there is one particular character who fires a BAR from the hip, unleashing 30+ rounds from his standard 20 round magazine and hitting all of his targets. Above all else is the forced, heavy handed symbolism throughout the entire movie. You can't loudly play sad orchestral music over a scene and ellicit emotion. I am not an unfair reviewer however. I will say that the sound design was superb and the soundtrack was good, albiet overbearing at times. All in all, don't go in expecting something on par with other movies of this genre. It just feels too disjointed to work for me. Your results may vary.