Glad I saw the Hacksaw!

Rating: Null/10 (11 February 2017)

Mel Gibson is not a Mad Phone-to-the-Max anymore; he is back; returning to passion with his harrowing true-story war drama "Hacksaw Ridge". The film stars Andrew Garfield as Desmond Doss, who was the first American soldier who served in a war without firing a gun. I will try to be the first corny puns critic to write up a review without firing a pun; mmm don't see that happening. Anyways, Doss fought during World War II as a medic during the Battle of Okinawa. His religious beliefs in not killing was the prominent reason why he chose not to be armed, even though he fought hard with the Army for that right, and even almost got court martialed for it. I'm not going to fire away spoilers here, but what Doss did unarmed to save numerous soldiers was an unfathomable act of courage. Gibson's direction of the film was spectacularly vivid. Garfield was a tour- de-force as Doss; and there were also some sure fire supporting performances from Vince Vaughn as Doss' semi- sympathetic Sergeant and Sam Worthington as his defiant Captain. The battle scenes were mesmeric, but it was the more humane scenes of Doss' refusal to carry a firearm that triggered the best part of the film for me. The movie did run a tad too long, but that did not defeat the matter that I am a believer of "Hacksaw Ridge". **** Good