Hacksaw Ridge

WAR! hugh! What is it good for? Absolutely NOTHING! Say it again yall!

Hacksaw Ridge is a graphic, heart wrenching and compelling story that follows Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) who grows up in a household where his father served in the war and came back changed. He is more aggressive, more heartless, shows signs of losing his mind and at times shows that he wants to end it all. Desmond sees the pain in his father and what violence does to people and decides like his brother to join the military to fight for  his country but to do it a different way. Desmond however has a particular resolve and wants to enter the military as a medic and not carry any weapons to battle. Once he is placed with his company he finds the army has made the mistake of putting him with a rifle group. Despite completing every task he has been given besides handling a rifle, he goes through all kinds of attempts to make him lose his resolve or to just quit. He finally gets his time in court where it is declared that he has the right to fight in battle without any weapons.

This was a very powerful movie that will definitely tug at your heart and make you appreciate every man and woman that has served and is serving our country. Andrew Garfield does an immaculate job of portraying Desmond Doss. From the humble expressions, to the zeal and dedication to saving lives on the battlefield, Andrew was spot on. Mel Gibson has done it again by giving us a graphic yet heartwarming story. The production value was unrivaled. It truly displayed the very chaos that is seen on the battlefield and how you don’t know when or where you will get shot, blown up, burned, stabbed or wounded in some way. It showed in great detail bodies getting blown in half, headshots, decapitations and just the plain ole blood and gore of war. Teresa Palmer is always a treasure to see and delivers yet again as she plays Desmond’s love interest. Hugo showed me something I’ve never seen from him and that is he can emote very well. He played the drunkard, war scarred father with no problem and was believable every step of the way. Vince Vaughn was just hilarious playing the insulting bigoted drill sergeant. The things he said was just off the wall and placed a good bit of humor and a bit of accuracy of how old school drill sergeants were back then. This movie will leave an impression on you and it is a good one. If you liked Saving Private Ryan then you will definitely love this movie. The score, setting, acting and tone of the movie makes this easily a must see movie for adults.

4 3/4 out of 5 STARS