Andrew Garfield secures himself as a leading man

Rating: 9/10 (7 March 2017)

I was not in a hurry to rush into theaters to see Hacksaw Ridge, but in general I am not one of the first people running out to see war movies. I see Saving Private Ryan as the definitive World War II film. The battles in this movie were comparably shot, maybe more cinematic as opposed to live action, but the comparisons stop there. What shines through the most in this film heart, the triumphant glory we normally see reserved for sports films. While Vince Vaughn and Sam Worthington pleasantly surprised me, Garfield's performance really carried the picture. The story builds without dragging, despite the fact that we don't even get to Okinawa until more than halfway through. As they say on South Park, "Say what you want about Mel Gibson, but that son of a b**** knows story structure." 8.8/10