What just happened there?

Rating: 4/10 (31 May 2018)

I've been on IMDB since years and have never ever written a review. This incredible movie begs for an exception to be made. Me and my wife were looking forward to see this movie. We used to be watching movies every night ... but since the birth of our daughter we don't get to see films that often anymore. That's why we only pick the special ones. And oh boy ... this turned out to be very special.
The story of Doss is very gripping for sure, a true hero. Unfortunately it's very hard to take this film seriously. The first part of the movie is so extremely corny that it became a caricature of itself. Sugar was dripping off the screen in gallons. Not even the cheapest soap opera would be this tedious. Doss is from a troubled family, his father lost his friends in WWI and couldn't cope with that ... Doss decides to join the army as a medic and refuses to touch a weapon because of his beliefs. The army doesn't like that and Doss takes it all the way to court. He's very determined. Sounds like a strong guy eh ... but he's continuously presented as the biggest victim of the universe. Ow poor silly Doss, how did you end up in this conflicting situation? Why don't people understand?
Second part got even worse: strategically the entire battlefield didn't make any sense. After the assault the army pulled back and Doss sticked around to help and save his buddies. Somehow it doesn't trouble him at all that people are killing each other. Good for him, just one more to save! I'm sure the real Doss was a strong hero. In this movie he's presented as retarded guy that has some disorder making him help people.
At some point the Japanese only needed to cut some ropes and throw some grenades down to get red of the Americans. But of course they didn't. On top of it all Doss was gifted a shower scene that belonged in Bay Watch and slapped a grenade away as if he was playing women's tennis at Wimbledon
Sorry for putting my thoughts down in a pretty random order. In short: Saving Private Ryan ambitions turned somehow into a very cheap way less funny Inglorious Bastards rip-off. Want to see a good WWII movie? Watch Das Boot, Longest Day, Letters from Iwo Jima, a Bridge Too Far, Patton, Dunkrik, etc ... Want a good laugh with your buddies? Watch Hacksaw Ridge.