aw shucks sincerity

Rating: 7/10 (12 May 2017)

Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) grew up with his brother Hal, his loving mother Bertha (Rachel Griffiths), and volatile drunken father Tom (Hugo Weaving) who returned damaged from the Great War. His mother's religious upbringing and childhood traumas lead him to be a Seventh-day Adventist. He falls in love with nurse Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer). To his father's dismay, Hal joins the military. Desmond joins anyways but he insists on being a conscientious objector. His view clashes with Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn) and the military commanders. He even faces court-martial. During the Battle of Okinawa, he becomes the last man to leave Hacksaw Ridge after being over-run and ends up saving many of his comrades.
Andrew Garfield does his aw shucks puppy-face acting which I find a bit annoying. It's deliberately naive at times. A corollary of that happens with his reasoning for joining the military. He seems to join out of embarrassment. I want him to be more resolute in his religious belief and I need him to state his need to save more directly. There is a comparison to Gary Cooper's Sergeant York whose religious conversion is spelled out more clearly. The solution is all right there in the movie. He needs to save his brother or somebody like his brother. He just needs to do is say that.
Mel Gibson is a highly skilled director and the action is top notch. The movie can be heavy-handed at times. On the other hand, the heaviest-handed moment of him walking alone into a field of artillery fire is probably the best moment in the movie. It is a balancing act. It works most of the times but Mel can push it too far into overwrought territory. Overall, he has created a movie in his own vision and that's pretty compelling.