Hacksaw Ridge

posted by PMYA on UserFilmReviews

Brief Synopsis

True story about an American soldier in WW2 who was awarded the medal of honour without firing a single bullet.

The Good

This is a Mel Gibson film, and the main character is a Christian. Without going down that road, the religious stuff isn't talked about a whole lot and I was surprised by that. Sometimes Mel Gibson has a tendency to exaggerate or focus on uninteresting things that make films drag on forever, but it was mostly avoided here.

The battle scenes are great. They are brutal in the same way some of the scenes from Saving Private Ryan are, but they don't go so far that it feels like gore porn. Sometimes there are way too many fast cuts in action scenes, which makes it hard to watch and impossible to figure out what is even happening. This is another thing that this film gets right. There are fast cuts, but they portray chaos rather than make it too confusing.

The Mediocre

I wasn't blown away by the acting. Surprisingly, Vince Vaughn probably had the best performance. That says a lot.

It took a very long time to get to the action. I know it is a true story, and a lot of that story happened before the war started, but I think the pacing was off. It dragged on a bit in the first half hour, and the end was slightly rushed.

Sometimes the wrong things are focused on too heavily. You could watch the first 45 minutes of this film and assume that it was a romantic drama.

The Bad

Andrew Garfield's Southern accent. It is fucking terrible and I have no idea how he ended up landing the lead role.

I did say that the religious stuff was mostly kept out of the film, and it was, but not entirely. There is some serious Mel Gibson Bible imagery going on at some points and it is pretty annoying. You will understand what I mean if you watch the scene near the end of the film where Andrew Garfield is being carried off the ridge.

Rating

RT: 86% PMYA: 82%

This film could have been great if more focus was applied in the right areas. It still gets a high score though because the battle scenes are awesome.

[Trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2-1hz1juBI) ##Brief Synopsis True story about an American soldier in WW2 who was awarded the medal of honour without firing a single bullet. ##The Good This is a Mel Gibson film, and the main character is a Christian. Without going down that road, the religious stuff isn't talked about a whole lot and I was surprised by that. Sometimes Mel Gibson has a tendency to exaggerate or focus on uninteresting things that make films drag on forever, but it was mostly avoided here. The battle scenes are great. They are brutal in the same way some of the scenes from Saving Private Ryan are, but they don't go so far that it feels like gore porn. Sometimes there are way too many fast cuts in action scenes, which makes it hard to watch and impossible to figure out what is even happening. This is another thing that this film gets right. There are fast cuts, but they portray chaos rather than make it too confusing. ##The Mediocre I wasn't blown away by the acting. Surprisingly, Vince Vaughn probably had the best performance. That says a lot. It took a very long time to get to the action. I know it is a true story, and a lot of that story happened before the war started, but I think the pacing was off. It dragged on a bit in the first half hour, and the end was slightly rushed. Sometimes the wrong things are focused on too heavily. You could watch the first 45 minutes of this film and assume that it was a romantic drama. ##The Bad Andrew Garfield's Southern accent. It is fucking terrible and I have no idea how he ended up landing the lead role. I did say that the religious stuff was _mostly_ kept out of the film, and it was, but not entirely. There is some serious Mel Gibson Bible imagery going on at some points and it is pretty annoying. You will understand what I mean if you watch the scene near the end of the film where Andrew Garfield is being carried off the ridge. ##Rating RT: 86% PMYA: 82% This film could have been great if more focus was applied in the right areas. It still gets a high score though because the battle scenes are awesome.

2 comments

[–] jobes 2 points (+2|-0)

RT: 86%

I thought you meant Russia Today, not Rotten Tomatoes

You could watch the first 45 minutes of this film and assume that it was a romantic drama.

That's disappointing.

[–] PMYA [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

It's still worth watching. The second half is a lot better than the first half.