"Hacksaw Ridge" review – Mel Gibson finds a conscience in gruesome war story

[rug]

Andrew Garfield stars as decorated conscientious objector Desmond Doss in Gibson’s highly effective shot at a major directorial comeback

Andrew Pulver
Sunday 4 September 2016
06.20 EDT

As a machine-tooled vehicle for Mel Gibson’s directorial comeback, Hacksaw Ridge couldn’t be more perfect. A study of a second world war conscientious objector who demonstrated extreme bravery under enemy fire (and won the Medal of Honor), the film allows Gibson to identify himself with a tough guy of considerable moral virtue, someone who has gone through through their own modern Calvary, taken the punishment, and come through the other side relatively unscathed. And the foundation for all this? An unswerving commitment to a little-understood corner of the Christian faith (in this case, Seventh Day Adventism), which triggers – in order – bafflement, ridicule, and finally respect.

That, presumably, is how Gibson see his own journey, which began its descent after the volley of abuse he aimed at cops in 2006 after being stopped for drink driving. That year saw the release of Apocalypto, his Mayan-language thriller; it’s taken him a decade of public humiliation, frequent apologies, and occasional forays as an actor, to get to the position where he can release another film he’s directed. And as repellent a figure as many may still find Gibson, I have to report he’s absolutely hit Hacksaw Ridge out of the park.

Mostly it’s due to the film’s extraordinary second half, in which the protagonist – US army medic Desmond Doss – takes part in the assault on Okinawa. the bloody battle in 1945 for the islands just south of Japan itself, when the war in the Pacific was entering its own dying frenzy. Gibson’s gift as a director has always been the coruscating portrayal of violent combat, imparting the viscera-knotting energy of a slasher film to the conventional matrix of the sober war film. It’s not possible to say if Hacksaw Ridge contains the most violent or gruesome combat scenes ever filmed, but let’s just say it resembles Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers without any of the satire or audience-winking.

Thus Doss (played with an unlined forehead and semi-vacant grin by Andrew Garfield) must scramble over piles of mutilated corpses, exploded skulls, and screaming wounded as he carries out his heroic deeds; though Gibson employs a battery of cinematic shock tactics and impact-maximising moves, there’s no sense that he is going overboard, or straying into exploitation territory. Though the chaos, Gibson is also able to keep the action lucid and clear, even when men are going down like ninepins.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/sep/04/hacksaw-ridge-review-mel-gibson-finds-a-conscience-in-gruesome-war-story

[RandySF]

1. Nope

I am not spending money on one of his movies.

[rug]

2. I'll see this one twice for you.

[ret5hd]

3. You're well on your way to heaven then.

See it three times. I ain't going either.

[rug]

4. Your loss.

I'll have extra raisinets.

[ret5hd]

5. Bring a hymnal instead.

I heard Cinemark Cathedral is running low on them.

[rug]

6. Let me see . . . . this movie is about a pacifist who won the Medal of Honor.

Don't tell me - you're offended!

Amirite?

[ret5hd]

7. Bored. Bored is the correct word.

A religious zealot anti-semite riding the boat of someone who may or may not deserve it. And the answer to the question of whether he does or does not deserve the MoH will not be answered while watching a film by the aforementioned zealot.

[rug]

8. Then disrupt elsewhere.

Did you actually type this: "whether he does or does not deserve the MoH"

[Dawson Leery]

9. Evangelicals should see this if they want to learn about Christ.

.....Since they know nothing about him.

[rug]

11. They sure wouldn't be cheering on invasions if they did.

[Lurks Often]

10. Here is the Medal of Honor citation for Desmond Doss

I've read a number of Medal of Honor and Victoria Cross ( the Commonwealth's equivalent) citations and Doss damn sure deserved the Medal of Honor. He repeatedly put himself in harm's way to treat and rescue wounded soldiers and was wounded at least twice while doing so.

Link: http://history.amedd.army.mil/MOH/dossd.html

[rug]

12. Thanks for that info.

[Heeeeers Johnny]

13. Gibson (and Eastwood), might be out of their minds...

but they both come out with Oscar worthy films.

I'm not going to judge or dismiss their contributions to the film industry by their politics or beliefs.

Like it or not, both are excellent directors.

[rug]

14. Agreed.

Man, growing up, half the fathers on my block were him. Without the porches.

[Philly-Union-Man]

15. Looks good.

Gibson may be a nutter but his movies are usually good. I may see this.