Thursday, March 02, 2017

QUICK REVIEW: HACKSAW RIDGE (2016)

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From IMDB:

Storyline
The true story of Desmond Doss, the conscientious objector who, at the Battle of Okinawa, won the Medal of Honor for his incredible bravery and regard for his fellow soldiers. We see his upbringing and how this shaped his views, especially his religious view and anti-killing stance. We see Doss's trials and tribulations after enlisting in the US Army and trying to become a medic. Finally, we see the hell on Earth that was Hacksaw Ridge.

Hacksaw Ridge (2016) on IMDb

Reviews 425 user | 390 critic



MOVIE INFO
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 and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. Doss was the first conscientious objector to ever earn the Congressional Medal of Honor.


Rating: R (for intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence including grisly bloody images)
Directed By: Mel Gibson
In Theaters: Nov 4, 2016 Wide
On DVD: Feb 21, 2017
Box Office: $66,935,525.00
Runtime: 139 minutes

TOMATOMETER 86%
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 222
Fresh: 192
Rotten: 30

Critics Consensus: Hacksaw Ridge uses a real-life pacifist's legacy to lay the groundwork for a gripping wartime tribute to faith, valor, and the courage of remaining true to one's convictions.

AUDIENCE SCORE 92% liked it
Average Rating: 4.4/5
User Ratings: 45,938

Man wanted to be a doctor and help people so bad he went to war for it... ©Summit Entertainment

Basically this decades' Saving Private Ryan...

Here's another movie that's been out months and one that I also saw a while ago but like the LEGO Batman movie review I just posted up, I'm just getting round to putting a review about it. Again, you've probably already seen and heard everything about it and maybe even saw when it won 2 Oscars recently. 

This man is a literal real-life superhero...©Summit Entertainment 

Anyway, here's what I like about it...


  • The story. An amazing story. An although it isn't exactly the way it actually happened how it's laid out for you is beautiful. You get who Desmond Doss is. You get his motivations. And you admire his determination. Oh, and if you want to see how the movie and the real story differs you can either read about Desmond Doss on the wikipedia page about him or about the Battle of Okinawa which is where the movie takes place. You can also go to HistoryVsHollywood.com and read about how it compares according to them. 
  • The cast. All of them do a heck of a good job, especially Andrew Garfield. The only person that I just had a hard time believing was Vince Vaughn, just hard to believe his character as the drill sergeant.
  • The action. When it gets going it is incredible, incredible visually. The realism, the gore and violence is unlike any other movie that I can remember but it doesn't take away from the core of the story. If anything it makes what Desmond has to go through and his determination to stick to his principles even more incredible.
  • The visuals. As I mentioned before it is gory and violent and incredibly realistic. The camera work throughout all this is just brilliant. 

When you don't believe in violence and won't carry a gun but the other men won't go into battle without you... ©Summit Entertainment

Overall, Hacksaw Ridge is one of those movies that will probably be talked about for awhile. It'll definitely rekindle interest in what happened during the pacific theatre of World War II and in who Desmond Doss is. I wrote in the title that Hacksaw Ridge is this decades Saving Private Ryan but there's a difference, Saving Private Ryan was partly based on a true story but in the real story there wasn't a band of men sent to save him, what happened instead was that the last surviving brother was informed that all of his brothers had been killed in the war and that the army was sending him home. Hacksaw Ridge on the other hand aside from certain details omitted or changed to suit the telling of the story in film it's basically all there, or at least the key parts of it. 

Regardless of what cinematic and story-telling license the writers took to make it fit into the film medium it's still a very good story and an amazing one. I'm giving it a solid 4.5 out of 5.

Here's a trailer for Hacksaw Ridge. 


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