the source material helps overcome some of its more familiar elements

Rating: Null/10 (11 November 2016)

Biographical war movie from director Mel Gibson tells the story of Desmond Doss, a WWII veteran, Army medic, and steadfast conscientious objector who—despite the danger, hostility, and disrespect it brought upon himself—stayed true to his principles and refused to bear arms while witnessing the firsthand horrors of war during the bloody Battle of Okinawa. The film chronicles his early days on a farm in Virginia, his strained relationship with his father (a traumatized WWI veteran), and his eventual enlistment and deployment where he saved the lives of countless fellow soldiers despite his pacifistic nature. The script is full of conventional elements, and you've no doubt scene similar characters and depictions of battle in plenty of other films, but the performances are good, the frontline war scenes are compelling, and the biographical source material gives it added weight. **½