Enthralling war story

Rating: 8/10 (17 May 2018)

This review contains spoilers.
Hacksaw Ridge is directed by Mel Gibson and stars Andrew Garfield. Andrew Garfield plays Desmond Doss as a pacifist Marine medic in the Pacific Theater of World War 2. The story completely follows Desmond Doss' story as a teenager to the Battle of Okinawa.
Hacksaw Ridge creates a compelling story for the audience to follow. Andrew Garfield plays Desmond Doss magnificently. As a character that abstains from violence, Andrew Garfield displays that division in Desmond Doss well. The story also gives hints to the damage The Great War had done to Desmond Doss' father played by Hugo Weaving. Its scenes such as these that elevate the movie above being a typical war movie. The division between Doss and the rest of the marines in boot-camp is interesting to watch. One could understand why the marines believed Doss to be dead-weight in the company. It was relieving to watch them realize that courage takes many forms than only active battle.
The war scenes in the movie do not hold much back. This movie absolutely earns its R rating with the high level of violence depicted in the Battle of Okinawa. Many of the brutal Japanese tactics can be seen in the movie with the directing capturing a lot of the terrible deaths in the movie. The movie's gore can be too much to handle for some but anyone looking for an authentic depiction should watch this movie.
There are some strange choices in this movie with the reason I am speculating to help the narrative. During boot-camp, the drill sergeant is one of Doss' critics. It seemed that he would only be a drill instructor, but he joins the men in battle which does not appear to make sense. I thought military drill instructors do not join the troops into battle.
The movie in general is well directed and well edited. The movie uses its effects with great use in how many scenes the audience cannot tell immediately that it is computer generated.
Overall Hacksaw Ridge is not only a good war movie, but a great movie. One should watch it to appreciate the real life story of Desmond Doss.
Grade: B