Official
Australian release date: 3/11/16. Viewed: 31/10/16.
Director:
Mel Gibson
Actors:
Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving
Genre:
Action / War
Rating:
MA
‘Hacksaw Ridge’ (sounds like a good
horror movie!) is a World War II film that does an admirable job of spending
almost half the film in America, before they even ship off to Japan to fight. This
gives us plenty of time to meet Desmond Doss (Garfield) and his family and find
out how/why he ticks. He decides he can’t sit by why others go off to defend
America, but he also conscientiously objects to killing another human, so can’t
use any weapons. Big moral dilemma and the film deals with it well. It also
gives us time to care about some of the other characters in the unit, so we
know who’s who when the fighting starts.
It’s kind of amazing Mel Gibson has only
directed five films, considering two of them (Braveheart’ and ‘Apocalypto’) are
classics – with this film soon to join them. He could turn into the next
Eastwood… He also knows his way around a war film, having been in ‘Gallipoli’, ‘Air
America’ and ‘We Were Soldiers’, so it’s no surprise ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ is handled
expertly. It’s nice to see him populate the film with quality Australian actors
(it was filmed in Sydney) – Weaving as Doss’ dad, Griffiths as his mum, Worthington
as his Captain, Palmer as his girlfriend, Nable as a Lieutenant, Bracey as his
nemesis and Roxburgh as the Colonel.
When they do arrive at Okinawa, Japan, obviously
all hells breaks loose, with some great shots of the artillery explosions, then
the chaos of bullets, grenades and blood – certainly no punches pulled when it
comes to the body count or the gore shown. The scenes with Doss rescuing dozens
of his injured comrades from the battlefield are astounding. Garfield really
shines as Doss and it hits home how much of a hero he was – highlighting that
there’s always room for some good in the harsh world.
Overall: Excellent and unique the war
film.
Gav's Rating: 4 stars.
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