Gritty

Rating: 8/10 (8 February 2017)

Mel Gibson may be a racist lunatic in his real world life, but he is one hell of a movie director. His eye for detail in Hacksaw Ridge is impeccable. Andrew Garfield is Desmond Doss, a deeply religious man who will not carry a weapon or kill due to his Seventh Day Adventist upbringing. Early on, he encounters a bureaucratic wall, as the military informs him of the necessity of carrying a gun in combat. Doss eventually is able to travel to Japan as a medic and winds up in some extremely vicious and bloody battles near Okinawa in 1945, just before the end of World War II. The fighting scenes are fairly typical of previous war films and the basic training insult laden, politically incorrect drill sergeant are lifted from Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." Mel can be forgiven for this, as the character development is fully realized by Garfield and the supporting cast never hits a false note. The last few minutes are a beautiful tribute to a real American hero and Hacksaw Ridge is one of the ten best movies of the year.