movie review about hacksaw ridge

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, hacksaw ridge.

Now streaming on:

"Hacksaw Ridge," about a pacifist who won the Medal of Honor without firing a shot, is a mess. It makes hash of its plainly stated moral code by reveling in the same blood-lust it condemns. But it's also one of the few original action movies released in the last decade, and one of the only studio releases this year that could sincerely be described as a religious picture. Of course, it's directed by Mel Gibson , who rose to international stardom in R-rated action flicks and went on to become the true heir to Sam Peckinpah , directing a series of astoundingly violent films with cores of spirituality: " Braveheart ," " The Passion of the Christ " and "Apocalypto." True to form, "Hacksaw Ridge" draws equally on Gibson's bottomless thirst for mayhem and his sincerely held religious beliefs—or some of them, anyway. It's a movie at war with itself.

The first half lays out the childhood and adolescence of its hero, Desmond T. Doss ( Andrew Garfield ), a Seventh-day Adventist turned U.S. Army corporal. Set in Virginia hill country in the '20s and '30s, it's shot in the creamy hues of a Norman Rockwell painting, and filled with earnest, Old Hollywood-styled exchanges about violence and pacifism. The second half is set during the Battle of Okinawa, where Doss, who described himself as a "conscientious collaborator" rather than objector, rescued 75 fellow infantrymen injured by the Japanese; it feels like an attempt to one-up the D-Day sequence in " Saving Private Ryan ," and if sheer bloody explosive nastiness were the only measure, you'd have to declare "Hacksaw Ridge" the winner. The combat pays nearly as much attention to the rending, burning and perforating of flesh as it does to the hero's anguish and ingenuity. Gibson shows soldiers using mortar shells as homemade grenades (as in the climax of "Saving Private Ryan"), shifts into glorious slow-motion to showcase a soldier kicking an enemy's lobbed grenade away, and treats us to the surreal and inappropriately comic sight of Doss towing a paraplegic infantryman on a homemade sled while the man cuts down bushels of Japanese soldiers with a sub-machine gun.

This stuff feels like a violation of the spirit of Doss' moral code, if not its letter. But the first half, which channels the majestic squareness of a John Ford family drama, is weird, too. It's myth-making with a dash of self-help and Scripture, but Gibson keeps trying to jazz things up with violence or the threat of violence, even when the scenes don't seem to call for it. Familiar movie situations, such as Doss taking his future wife Dorothy Schutte ( Teresa Palmer ) out on a date or getting to know his bunk-mates, are interrupted by horror movie-style jump scares or fused to bits of black comic suspense (we know somebody's going to get maimed by the knife that a soldier is brandishing when Doss enters the barracks; the only questions are which one and when). This is the directorial equivalent of Gibson the actor working Three Stooges shtick into otherwise straightforward dialogue scenes—either a nervous tic or a compulsion. The wide shots of corpses piled up, the shots of Doss posed like Christ or lit by heavenly sunlight streaming through windows, and the moments when Doss treats enemy soldiers with compassion, are a lot more on-message.

All that said, "Hacksaw Ridge" seems aware of its inability to present the horrors of war in a consistently non-thrilling, non-cool way. There are even moments where the film seems ashamed that it can't live up to Doss' example—particularly when other characters question Doss' belief that violence is never justified and that there is no real distinction between killing and murder. What you see on other characters' faces in these scenes is not contempt but incredulity, followed by petulance and finally denial. They can feel the truth of what Doss is saying. But they can't imagine the world being anything other than what it is, a place ruled by brute force and cruelty. The rifles that Doss refuses to pick up are described as girls, women, mates, "perhaps the only thing in life you'll truly love." The other soldiers' crude sexual talk and casual sadism are contrasted with Doss' sweetness, piety and chastity. Doss' drill sergeant ( Vince Vaughn , effectively typecast as a charismatic bully) and other commanding officers keep pressuring Doss to pick up a rifle. When he refuses, they humiliate him and sign off on his hazing; his own platoon-mates call him "coward" and "pussy." They don't want to break or kill Doss, just drive him from their sight, perhaps so they won't have to second-guess themselves each time they lay eyes on him.

It's worth pointing out here that Doss is the child of an alcoholic World War I veteran, Tom ( Hugo Weaving ). The film's own contradictions are embodied in Doss' dad. He preaches the virtues of nonviolence, rails against the romanticizing of war, visits the graves of childhood friends killed at the Battle of Belleau Wood , and doesn't want Doss or his older brother Hal ( Nathaniel Buzolic ) to enlist after Pearl Harbor. But he's also self-pitying, quick to anger, and beats his wife Bertha ( Rachel Griffiths ) and their sons. He wants to change and knows why he should. But he can't.

Tom Doss' drinking problem feels like more than just a biographical detail. The script, credited to Andrew Knight and playwright Robert Schenkkan (" All the Way "), keeps returning to Tom. The hero's pacifism seems as much a rejection of his dad's angry brokenness and inability to control his temper as a reaction to almost killing his brother in a childhood scuffle. Also of interest: like Sam Peckinpah, Gibson has struggled with alcoholism , he has bipolar disorder and rage issues as well, and as an artist he is addicted to violence. In its more thoughtful moments, the film treats intoxication with violence, both real and fictional, as a species-wide addiction—one that can't easily be broken. I'd be shocked if a director as attuned to mythic signifiers as Gibson weren't trying, in his own fumbling way, to explore this idea.

Too bad action-film awesomeness is the intoxicant that "Hacksaw Ridge" can't quit. You feel the movie fighting to suppress its urge to glorify violence and treat the Japanese as sinister hordes. Even in non-war scenes, it can't stop reaching for the bottle, and there's a wave of shame when it falls off the wagon. A lingering close-up of guts and goop is followed by a shot of the hero looking appalled or terrified, as if to rebuke the director's gifts.

"Hacksaw Ridge" seems to know that its hero is better than anyone around him, perhaps better than the movie that tells his story. This comes through strongly in the relationship between Doss and fellow infantryman Smitty ( Luke Bracey ), a far more convincing love story than the one between Doss and his gal. Of course Smitty loathes and torments Doss, then comes to respect and even revere him. The way Smitty looks at Doss during the battle of Okinawa recalls the way the disciples gazed upon Jesus in Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ"—as a promise and a mystery; a person so strikingly different from other people, so fully formed, so serenely and undeniably good, that he seems more angel than man. Garfield's performance humanizes him. For a long time you think Doss is an idealized figure, free of neuroses and complications. But after a while you see the darkness in him, and you believe it exists because of the thoughtful way Garfield has prepared you. 

This film is inept and beautiful, stupid and amazing. It doesn't have the words or images to express how deep it is. That's why it's more interesting to talk about than it is to watch. I wonder what the real Doss, who died in 2006, would have thought of it.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

Now playing

Brian Tallerico

The Greatest Hits

Food, Inc. 2

Glenn kenny.

On the Adamant

Peter sobczynski.

Film Credits

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

Rated R for intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence including grisly bloody images.

131 minutes

Andrew Garfield as Desmond T. Doss

Teresa Palmer as Dorothy Schuttle

Hugo Weaving as Tom Doss

Vince Vaughn as Sergeant Howell

Sam Worthington as Captain Glover

Rachel Griffiths as Bertha Doss

Matthew Nable as Lt. Cooney

Luke Bracey as Smitty

• Andrew Knight
• Robert Schenkkan

Cinematographer

• Simon Duggan
• John Gilbert
• Rupert Gregson-Williams

Latest blog posts

An Incorrect Image Of Ourselves: Mike Flanagan on Oculus' Tenth Anniversary

Ned Benson, Lucy Boynton, and Justin H. Min Want to Play The Greatest Hits for You

Until It’s Too Late: Bertrand Bonello on The Beast

O.J. Simpson Dies: The Rise & Fall of A Superstar

Advertisement

Supported by

Review: ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ Has the Guts and the Glory. But Where’s the Gun?

• Share full article

By A.O. Scott

• Nov. 1, 2016

Mel Gibson can be accused of many things, but subtlety is not one of them. Even at his worst — I mean as a filmmaker, not a political thinker — he consistently proves to be an able craftsman and a shrewd showman. “Hacksaw Ridge,” the first feature he has directed since “Apocalypto,” a decade ago, is a bluntly effective faith-and-flag war drama, the true story of a remarkable hero with a knot of moral tension at its center.

That hero, Desmond Doss , is inscribed in the history books as something of a paradox: a conscientious objector who was awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery in combat. A Seventh-day Adventist who refused to carry a gun, Doss served as an Army medic in the Battle of Okinawa. What he did there is easily Googled (and is the subject of Terry L. Benedict’s documentary “The Conscientious Objector”), but I won’t go too far in spoiling a tale that Mr. Gibson retells with vigor and suspense.

And also in graphic and gruesome detail. Mr. Gibson’s appetite for gore is without equal in modern Hollywood. Maybe that’s saying a lot, or maybe it goes without saying, but the man is an aficionado — a connoisseur, an epicure, a gourmand — of exploding heads, shattered limbs and burst abdomens. As he did most famously in “The Passion of the Christ,” he once again plunges a man of peace into a charnel house of cruelty, testing the fortitude of protagonist and audience alike.

“Hacksaw Ridge” opens with a taste of hell, a battleground that belongs more in a horror movie than in a combat picture. Rupert Gregson-Williams’s jarring, minor-key score plays under a slow-motion tableau of spurting blood, splintering bones, burning flesh and general agony.

Then the music changes, the light shifts, and we are in paradise: a hilly, pastoral corner of Virginia years before Pearl Harbor. Young Desmond (Darcy Bryce) and his brother, Hal (Roman Guerriero), chase each other over rocks and streams. Not that they dwell in a perfect Eden. There is a whiff of Cain and Abel in their relationship, and more serious trouble from their father, Tom (Hugo Weaving), a bitter, alcoholic World War I veteran. Though he hates war, the elder Doss is hardly a pacifist, and his violent behavior toward his sons and their mother (Rachel Griffiths) helps push Desmond toward peace-loving piety.

Movie Review: ‘Hacksaw Ridge’

The times critic a. o scott reviews “hacksaw ridge.”.

“Hacksaw Ridge” tells the story of an army medic in the battle of Okinawa who refused to carry a gun. In his review A.O. Scott writes: Mel Gibson can be accused of many things, but subtlety is not one of them.  “Hacksaw Ridge” is a bluntly effective faith-and-flag war drama, the true story of a remarkable hero with a knot of moral tension at its center. The film pretends to be a grim reckoning with the horrors of war, but it is also, true to its genre, a rousing celebration of the thrills of battle. Desmond Doss was calm, humble and courageous, qualities Mr. Gibson honors but does not share. It is possible to be moved and inspired by Desmond’s exploits while still feeling that his convictions have been exploited, perhaps even betrayed.

Played as a young man by Andrew Garfield, Desmond is a happy anti-warrior, with a goofy grin and wide, trusting eyes. He courts a nurse named Dorothy (Teresa Palmer), and their romance is so sweet and squeaky clean — he kisses her; she slaps his face; he proposes — that you might think the old production code was still in effect. And until the fighting resumes about halfway through, “Hacksaw Ridge” often feels like a throwback to an earlier era, a work of careful and calculated nostalgia.

When Desmond arrives at basic training, he is introduced to a platoon whose composition — one guy from Brooklyn, another from Texas, a Pole, an Italian, a pretty boy and a hothead — would have looked corny back in the ’40s. And let’s not forget Sarge, a fountain of colorful insults played by Vince Vaughn, who stands out among the mostly Australian and British cast members for his effortlessly flat vowels and the equal effortlessness of his scene-stealing.

Sarge does not much care for Desmond. Neither does his commander, Captain Glover (Sam Worthington). Desmond’s refusal to bear arms strikes these officers as a potential threat to morale, and they try to get rid of him — encouraging the other soldiers to harass and beat him, trying to arrange a psychiatric discharge and finally convening a court-martial. This parade of indignities leads to scenes of quiet defiance; a few rousing, tear-streaked speeches; and a bit of mildly interesting philosophical reflection. Mr. Gibson is too impatient to linger over the nuances of patriotic duty and religious devotion. He and the screenwriters, Robert Schenkkan and Andrew Knight, are content to remind us that both are very important. Then it’s time to get back to Okinawa and deal with the Japanese Army.

Ever since “Saving Private Ryan,” Hollywood has been eager to revisit World War II, partly to explore gray areas and narrative corners neglected in earlier eras and partly to have a high-minded reason to try out advances in bloody special effects. Realism is less a principle than an excuse to concoct vivid fantasies of battle for the benefit of noncombatants, to rub our faces in details that our fathers and grandfathers were famously reluctant to discuss.

And “Hacksaw Ridge” uses the moral dilemma of its hero — who is sometimes tempted to forsake his vows and pick up a rifle in the heat of battle — as a pretext for its own ethical sleight of hand. The film pretends to be a grim reckoning with the horrors of war, but it is also, true to its genre, a rousing celebration of the thrills of battle. Desmond Doss was calm, humble and courageous, qualities Mr. Gibson honors but does not share. It is possible to be moved and inspired by Desmond’s exploits while still feeling that his convictions have been exploited, perhaps even betrayed.

“Hacksaw Ridge” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Blood, guts and period-appropriate racial slurs and tobacco use. Running time: 2 hours 11 minutes.

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

Even before his new film “Civil War” was released, the writer-director Alex Garland faced controversy over his vision of a divided America  with Texas and California as allies.

Theda Hammel’s directorial debut, “Stress Positions,” a comedy about millennials weathering the early days of the pandemic , will ask audiences to return to a time that many people would rather forget.

“Fallout,” TV’s latest big-ticket video game adaptation, takes a satirical, self-aware approach to the End Times .

“Sasquatch Sunset” follows the creatures as they go about their lives. We had so many questions. The film’s cast and crew had answers .

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter  to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

• Get the app
• Movie Reviews
• Best Movie Lists
• Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

• Best TV Lists
• Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
• Common Sense Selections for TV
• Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

• Book Reviews
• Best Book Lists
• Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

• Game Reviews
• Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

• Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

• Podcast Reviews
• Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

• App Reviews
• Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

• YouTube Channel Reviews
• YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

• Preschoolers (2-4)
• Little Kids (5-7)
• Big Kids (8-9)
• Pre-Teens (10-12)
• Teens (13+)
• Screen Time
• Social Media
• Online Safety
• Identity and Community

Explaining the News to Our Kids

• Family Tech Planners
• Digital Skills
• All Articles
• Latino Culture
• Black Voices
• Asian Stories
• Native Narratives
• LGBTQ+ Pride
• Best of Diverse Representation List

Celebrating Black History Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

Hacksaw ridge, common sense media reviewers.

True story of pacifist soldier has extreme war violence.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Have integrity, and stick to your convictions. Som

Raised in a religious but violent home, young Doss

Extremely graphic war violence. Men are killed and

Kissing, sometimes passionately. Doss and Dorothy

"S--t," "bitch," "ass,&qu

Doss' father is an abusive alcoholic. Wounded

Parents need to know that Hacksaw Ridge is based on the true story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a pacifist who enlisted in World War II but refused to carry a weapon or kill, preferring to save wounded men as a medic. Director Mel Gibson doesn't shy away from showing extremely graphic war violence…

Positive Messages

Have integrity, and stick to your convictions. Sometimes playing by the rules isn't the best way to do good. If you believe in yourself, it's OK if others don't understand you or even hate you. Courage is a clear theme.

Positive Role Models

Raised in a religious but violent home, young Doss nearly kills his brother with a brick. Later he renounces violence and refuses to even touch a weapon. He feels it's his duty to serve his country in battle as a medic, saving people. He valiantly sticks to his principles when the army tries to court martial him. Fellow soldiers who taunt and beat him later apologize after Doss puts himself in harm's way to save wounded soldiers.

Violence & Scariness

Extremely graphic war violence. Men are killed and maimed, all realistically shown. Soldiers are hacked into pieces by explosions. Warring soldiers hold a live grenade between them and grab onto each other until the grenade explodes, killing them both. Bullets hit soldiers in the head, legs, torsos, and more; lots of blood. Soldiers bayonet each other, and men on both sides are lit on fire (while alive) by flame-throwing weapons. Some slit enemies' throats. Piles of human entrails are seen on the battlefield. A man's foot is impaled with a knife. Rats gnaw at dead bodies. About to be defeated, a Japanese commander eviscerates himself with a knife, after which his head is cut off. Two young brothers fight, punching each other; one hits the other in the head with a large brick. An alcoholic father beats his children and wife and threatens the latter with a gun. Their grown son intervenes and points the gun at his father. A woman slaps a man after he kisses her, demanding he ask her first. A needle is inserted into the arm of a man giving blood. Doss' hands are rubbed raw and bloody from lowering wounded soldiers down the ridge by pulley. During the second battle, Doss kicks a live grenade back at the Japanese.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Kissing, sometimes passionately. Doss and Dorothy prepare to go to bed on their wedding night; she's clothed, he shirtless. Soldiers are advised to "wear a hat" (a condom) if they plan to have sex. Non-sexual nudity includes a soldier doing pull-ups while naked and being forced to run an obstacle course naked by his sergeant (no graphic nudity).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"S--t," "bitch," "ass," "numb nuts," "t-tty," "hell," "damn," "crap," and "Jesus Christ" as an exclamation. American soldiers refer to the Japanese as "Japs" and "Nips."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Doss' father is an abusive alcoholic. Wounded soldiers get morphine for their pain. Adults smoke cigarettes.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Hacksaw Ridge is based on the true story of Desmond Doss ( Andrew Garfield ), a pacifist who enlisted in World War II but refused to carry a weapon or kill, preferring to save wounded men as a medic. Director Mel Gibson doesn't shy away from showing extremely graphic war violence. Bullets pierce flesh in slow motion, explosions toss men in the air, bleeding leg and arm stumps are shown, throats are slashed, soldiers bayonet each other to death, and men are graphically gutted, disembodied, and beheaded, with entrails and ligaments left hanging. Doss is also beaten by his fellow soldiers during basic training due to his refusal to carry a weapon. And his superior officers jail and put him on trial. Doss kisses and marries a nurse; they're seen (him shirtless, her clothed) on their wedding night. Doss' father is an abusive alcoholic. Adults smoke cigarettes and use language including: "s--t," "ass," "t--ties," "bitch," and the racist terms "Japs" and "Nips." Ultimately, though the movie's message is one of courage, integrity, and sticking to your convictions. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (42)
• Kids say (125)

Based on 42 parent reviews

What's the Story?

HACKSAW RIDGE is based on the true story of Desmond Doss ( Andrew Garfield ), a conscientious objector who was awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing 75 wounded men while under fire during World War II. Doss was the son of a violent alcoholic father ( Hugo Weaving ) who beat his mother and encouraged violence between his sons. But the devout Doss renounces violence as he comes to believe that the 10 commandments speak directly to him. Because he loves his country, he enlists to serve in World War II, certain he can support the military as an unarmed medic on the battlefield. The Army doesn't agree and spends a great deal of energy trying to rid itself of a man who refuses to touch a weapon, never mind learn to shoot people with it. Eventually, though, a colonel allows Doss to become a medic without completing the weaponry portion of basic training. His company's first mission is to take a strategic, strongly defended Japanese ridge. Once on the battlefield and under relentless attack, Doss and the men he trained with are horrified and overwhelmed by the grisly and terrifying facts of war. But Doss darts from body to body, checking for life and treating the wounded. When his company retreats, Doss seeks prayerful guidance and then returns alone to the battlefield, unarmed, to begin an all-night campaign to save as many men as he can.

Is It Any Good?

Although this WWII action drama is a technical wonder, the soul of the movie feels at odds with itself. While director Mel Gibson fairly represents Doss' pacifist principles, he also simultaneously stages another movie, a stealth movie, that presents war as a glorious character builder, a nurturing ground for male friendship, and an expression of man's nobility and grit. Yes, Gibson dutifully records the severed limbs and the moaning, wounded, hideously disfigured soldiers. War is hell, the movie says over and over again.

But, the director also reminds us, it's not without moments of nobility and magnificence -- as evidence by the gorgeous slow-motion depictions of bombs landing on human targets, bursting into awe-inspiring flames, and killing and maiming who knows how many, just to prove his point (a point he previously made in Braveheart ). So it's hard not to feel like Hacksaw Ridge works as hard to undermine Doss' position as it does to support it. Many of the soldiers and officers who at first abuse and look down on Doss for his refusal to carry a gun later apologize to him after recognizing his bravery and the depth of his convictions. All of that said, Garfield does a great job playing Doss with intelligence, charm, and a believable inner spiritual life.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Hacksaw Ridge 's violence . How does it compare to what you might see in a superhero action movie or horror movie? Which has the most impact? Why do you think that is?

What does it mean to have a sense of duty? Why do you think Doss felt so strongly about going into battle, unarmed, to help the wounded soldiers?

How does Doss demonstrate integrity and courage ? Why are those important character strengths ?

Talk about how the movie depicts the historic events at its center. How accurate do you think it is? Why might filmmakers choose to alter the facts? What are the challenges of adapting a true story for the screen?

War movies tend to take one side's perspective over the other(s). Why is it important to be aware of that? How might this story be told differently from the Japanese army's point of view?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 4, 2016
• On DVD or streaming : February 21, 2017
• Cast : Andrew Garfield , Sam Worthington , Teresa Palmer , Hugo Weaving
• Director : Mel Gibson
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Lionsgate
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : History
• Character Strengths : Courage , Integrity
• Run time : 138 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence including grisly bloody images
• Last updated : February 9, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

Saving Private Ryan

Letters from Iwo Jima

Paths of Glory

Movie battles, world war ii books for kids, related topics.

Want suggestions based on your streaming services? Get personalized recommendations

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Hacksaw Ridge Review

A brutal and effective filmmaking return for mel gibson..

At times horrifying, inspiring, and heart-wrenching, Hacksaw Ridge is one of the most successful war films of recent memory, which works because it doesn’t toss aside the most vital of Desmond’s beliefs: that life must be protected as much as possible, no matter what. You don’t need to look much further than the reaction one of Desmond’s patients gives when he washes the blood off their eyes for proof of that.

In This Article

IGN Recommends

How Lucy MacLean and Her "Okey Dokeys" Became Fallout's Secret Weapon

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Hacksaw Ridge review – Mel Gibson's war drama piles on the gore

Andrew Garfield delivers a sympathetic performance as a soldier who refuses to carry a gun in this powerful real-life story of heroism in world war two

C ombat medic and conscientious objector Desmond Doss, played by Andrew Garfield in this true story from the second world war, is crouching in a crater at the Battle of Okinawa. With the terrifying uproar of war all around, fellow soldier Zane (Luke Pegler) mutters that he still can’t believe Doss is crazy enough not to carry a weapon. “I never claimed to be sane!” grins Doss. Actually, that is exactly what he claimed to be. An earlier scene in this movie showed Doss insisting to a US army physician that he was not mad, did not hear voices from God and had no intention of accepting a psychiatric discharge. Doss was a patriot who had volunteered for military service after Pearl Harbor, but his Seventh Day Adventist convictions and memories of violent abuse in his own family meant he wanted simply to be a doctor on the field of battle. No gun. Doss was finally decorated for rescuing dozens of wounded comrades from a part of the steep and heavily defended Maeda Escarpment, nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge.

It is a story of courage, robustly told by director Mel Gibson with screenwriters Robert Schenkkan and Andrew Knight, who create a brutally, even unwatchably violent picture of war. Garfield himself delivers a sympathetic, plausible performance: more mature and substantial than his contribution to Martin Scorsese’s Silence. Yet there is something missing.

Hacksaw Ridge is a war movie that naturally aspires to more than just gung-ho exploits and is offered up as prime awards bait, and the ultimate redemption for Gibson himself, who 11 years ago disgraced himself with bigoted slurs and a drunken antisemitic rant: “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world!” You might even be forgiven for wondering if making a war movie about a soldier who avoided fighting was Gibson’s way of triangulating a path out of all that.

Doss is a regular guy who shows an untrained knack for medical skill when he uses his belt to apply a tourniquet, saving the life of a man who had shattered his leg in a car accident. In the hospital, he falls in love with a nurse Dorothy (Teresa Palmer) and proposes marriage, but breaks his dad’s heart when he tells him he’s going to enlist. This is Tom Doss (Hugo Weaving), a man still haunted by the friends he lost in the first world war and who has retreated into miserable, aggressive boozing. When he joins up, Doss infuriates Sergeant Howell (a slightly miscast Vince Vaughn) and Captain Glover (Sam Worthington) with his conscientious objection. He is bullied and beaten, but winds up earning the respect of the very men who made his life a torment.

Doss is repeatedly and fiercely challenged by the army on his refusal to bear arms, but no one points out that, unarmed or not, he wants to use medical skills to assist the uniformed killers and make the war machine of death run more smoothly. The basis of his “conscientious cooperation” is not in fact investigated all that rigorously.

As for the battle scenes themselves, they are undoubtedly well shot. Gibson shows some of the storytelling relish he had in his jungle drama Apocalypto (2006) and the insatiable taste for blood and guts he demonstrated in his controversial The Passion of the Christ (2004). It looks almost like a second world war horror film, as if the excessive violence is there to make up for the hero’s non-violence. Yet, apart from the gore, the story it tells is pretty conventional, and there are even times during the extended battle sequences that the dramatic tension slackens.

It is more gruesome but less ruminative than Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998) and less surreal than Sam Fuller’s The Big Red One (1980). Strangely, the film it reminded me of more was Clint Eastwood’s Heartbreak Ridge (1986), and not just because of the title echo. Eastwood’s grizzled old gunnery sergeant sees action in the Grenada invasion of 1983, disproving the modern namby-pambys who had disapproved of his methods. When the chips were down, they did need him and his values after all. Like Doss.

Hacksaw Ridge is an old-fashioned war film, melded with a kind of new-fashioned explicitly violent drama. A shooting war is still exciting. Desmond Doss renounced his weapon. Mel Gibson wants to hold on to his.

• Hacksaw Ridge
• Peter Bradshaw's film of the week
• Andrew Garfield
• Drama films
• Action and adventure films
• Second world war

Comments (…)

Most viewed.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Civil War Link to Civil War
• Monkey Man Link to Monkey Man
• The First Omen Link to The First Omen

New TV Tonight

• The Sympathizer: Season 1
• Our Living World: Season 1
• Under the Bridge: Season 1
• The Spiderwick Chronicles: Season 1
• Conan O'Brien Must Go: Season 1
• Orlando Bloom: To the Edge: Season 1
• The Circle: Season 6
• Dinner with the Parents: Season 1
• Jane: Season 2

Most Popular TV on RT

• Fallout: Season 1
• Ripley: Season 1
• 3 Body Problem: Season 1
• Parasyte: The Grey: Season 1
• Shōgun: Season 1
• Sugar: Season 1
• We Were the Lucky Ones: Season 1
• Baby Reindeer: Season 1
• X-Men '97: Season 1
• A Gentleman in Moscow: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Fallout Link to Fallout
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

Best Movies of 2024: Best New Movies to Watch Now

25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now: What to Watch on Streaming

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

Fallout : What It Gets Right, and What It Gets Wrong

CinemaCon 2024: Day 3 – Disney Previews Deadpool & Wolverine , Moana 2 , Alien: Romulus , and More

• Trending on RT
• Play Movie Trivia

Hacksaw Ridge Reviews

The superbly shot battle scenes aside, Gibson’s traditionalist sensibilities show up in how he shoots everything else which is a perfect fit for this particular film. It’s easy to get lost in the period he visualizes.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 21, 2022

Hacksaw Ridge seems at odds with itself, particularly during the chaotic and gruesome second half, as it tells a story about a brave pacifist while also satiating the filmmaker's long-demonstrated bloodlust.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 9, 2022

Mel Gibson's direction can hardly be deemed inspired, but because he's less ham-fisted in his jingoistic zeal than Peter Berg, his workmanlike efficiency at least rarely gets in the way of a worthy storyline.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 13, 2021

Hacksaw Ridge sends us into the trenches, displays what one can achieve with faith, and honors the courageous character of Desmond Doss.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 3, 2021

Overall, the movie doesn't add up to much.

Full Review | Dec 23, 2020

It's as if Gibson wants to impart a message of peaceful religious convictions while also reenacting grisly, high-octane war moments.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 4, 2020

Is Gibson glorifying the violence that Doss nearly gave his life to shun? Perhaps.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 10, 2020

...fatally and hopelessly flawed...

Full Review | Aug 13, 2020

Hacksaw Ridge has its heart in the right place but gets off to an uneven start and in some respects you could accuse this film as being Oscar bait.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 17, 2020

Mel Gibson is a monster when filming action: he has a gift for directing violence. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jul 2, 2020

Hacksaw Ridge is about an unbelievable man doing unbelievable things for people who don't like him.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jun 30, 2020

We can say Gibson have returned to the violent historical drama for which his style has been characterized, but now he manages to catch us with a poignant anti-war film that talks about the horrors of war. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 27, 2020

I had a lot of problems with it, but I still found it entertaining and powerful.

Full Review | May 7, 2020

This movie was not skillfully made. It was not nuanced.

Hacksaw Ridge is certainly not for everybody, but I found it absolutely captivating, thought provoking, sometimes morally off kilter, but never compromised. If you can stomach the gore, you're in for one jaw-dropping experience.

Full Review | Apr 28, 2020

Hacksaw Ridge is an epic film of the grandest tradition.

Full Review | Mar 30, 2020

The cinematography, editing, and sound pack a surprising amount of suspense, no small feat considering audiences know the outcome.

Full Review | Jan 14, 2020

Hacksaw Ridge is masterful filmmaking!

Full Review | Oct 31, 2019

Schmaltzy and hackneyed, despite some glaring bits of hard-won, gritty emotion.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 3, 2019

Feels like a movie made during World War II to drum up enlistments - with all the dodgy moralising that entails.

Full Review | Sep 1, 2019

• Entertainment

‘Hacksaw Ridge’: Mel Gibson directs powerful tale of WWII heroism

Movie review of “Hacksaw Ridge”: Mel Gibson’s return to directing vividly relates the astonishing true story of Desmond T. Doss (Andrew Garfield), who single-handedly saved as many as 75 wounded GIs during the 1945 battle for Okinawa. Rating: 3 stars out of 4.

Share story

It’s a story of bravery beyond bravery.

The heroic deeds of Desmond T. Doss during the 1945 battle for Okinawa depicted in “Hacksaw Ridge” seem beyond belief.

Alone on the island cliff top of the title after his unit had withdrawn under devastating fire from the Japanese, Doss dragged and carried an estimated 75 wounded GIs to the edge of the cliff and lowered them 400 feet to waiting U.S. troops who transported them to aid stations.

Movie Review ★★★  

‘Hacksaw Ridge,’ with Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving. Directed by Mel Gibson, from a screenplay by Robert Schenkkan and Andrew Knight. 131 minutes. Rated R for intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence including grisly bloody images. Several theaters.

He did it unarmed. A medic, a conscientious objector (he preferred the term “conscientious cooperator)”, a Seventh-day Adventist whose religion forbade him from carrying a weapon, he was armored only with his faith as he spent seemingly endless hours saving life after life under unimaginably hellish conditions.

Most Read Entertainment Stories

• Remlinger Farms' new music venue has small Carnation concerned
• Kidnapping of California woman that police called a hoax gets new attention with Netflix documentary
• Lost tapes from major musicians are out there. These guys find them
• Move over, Fabio. Romance novels have changed — and so has the community
• 5 Seattle places for dinner-and-a-show — and what we think of them

For his heroism, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

With Andrew Garfield in the lead role and Mel Gibson in the director’s chair for the first time in 10 years, “Hacksaw” is an incredibly powerful picture once it gets to the battle scenes. During its opening homefront section when it introduces Doss, sketches his family history, and depicts the sources of his deeply held moral convictions, it has an old-fashioned somewhat hackneyed feel.

Garfield’s performance lacks heft in these early sequences, and the goofy lovestruck grin he wears during his courtship of a lovely nurse (Teresa Palmer) does him no favors.

The movie, co-written by Seattle’s Robert Schenkkan , emphasizes that he’s fully committed to the war effort as he insists on being allowed to serve on the front lines as a medic. He embraces his principles with unbreakable resolve, withstanding abuse and harassment from officers and enlisted men in his unit who question his loyalty and his sanity.

Gibson’s forte, proven in “The Passion of the Christ” and 2006’s “Apocalypto,” his most recent directorial effort, is in portraying blood and guts. No surprise then that the carnage in “Hacksaw” is overwhelming as men are shredded with bullets, torn apart by explosions and burned alive by flamethrowers. The violence is somewhat stylized, with frequent use of slow-motion that draws unneeded attention to the technique involved.

Amid the smoke and carnage, Doss hurls himself into his lifesaving work, certainly not oblivious to danger but dedicated to rescuing as many men as he can.

Taking on “Hacksaw” can be seen as an act of expiation on Gibson’s part. Making a movie that honors a man of irreproachable integrity and phenomenal bravery looks like his way of trying to atone for his well-publicized, career-damaging off-screen boorishness and run-ins with the law in the early 2000s. As such, it’s a step in the right direction.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Metacritic reviews

Hacksaw ridge.

• 83 The Film Stage Rory O'Connor The Film Stage Rory O'Connor While derivative and endlessly cheesy, it’s a characteristically visceral return for Gibson, and one that confirms that little has changed in the man’s singular artistic psyche.
• 80 The Guardian Andrew Pulver The Guardian Andrew Pulver As repellent a figure as many may still find Gibson, I have to report he’s absolutely hit Hacksaw Ridge out of the park.
• 80 The Hollywood Reporter David Rooney The Hollywood Reporter David Rooney Themes of courage, patriotism, faith and unwavering adherence to personal beliefs have been a constant through Gibson's directing projects, as has a fascination with bloodshed and gore. Those qualities serve this powerful true story of heroism without violence extremely well, overcoming its occasional cliched battle-movie tropes to provide stirring drama.
• 80 Time Out Dave Calhoun Time Out Dave Calhoun Overall, there aren’t many shades of gray in Hacksaw Ridge, but it’s a movie that fulfills its purpose with vigor, confidence and swagger, and those battle scenes are impossible to take your eyes off.
• 70 Screen Daily Fionnuala Halligan Screen Daily Fionnuala Halligan Hacksaw Ridge returns to the themes which have professionally and personally motivated 60-year-old Gibson for his entire life; he’s never been subtle, but he’s certainly effective when it comes to delivering his heart-felt message.
• 70 Variety Owen Gleiberman Variety Owen Gleiberman Hacksaw Ridge is the work of a director possessed by the reality of violence as an unholy yet unavoidable truth.
• 65 TheWrap Alonso Duralde TheWrap Alonso Duralde While Hacksaw Ridge is undeniably made with great care and skill, for all of its good intentions it can never refute that famous Truffaut observation that making an anti-war film is essentially impossible, since to portray something is to ennoble it. In celebrating this legendary pacifist, Gibson and company ennoble the hell out of violence.
• 60 CineVue John Bleasdale CineVue John Bleasdale There's no getting away from it, Gibson has produced another bombastic, crowd-pleasing and obviously blood-soaked movie which expertly glorifies that which its hero was against.
• 50 The Playlist Jessica Kiang The Playlist Jessica Kiang Along with screenwriters Robert Schenkkan and Andrew Knight, Gibson, whose lack of directorial subtlety but skill with action both reach an apex here, is not content to tell the true story of Desmond Doss and his unshakeable, courage-giving faith. He wants to convince us that his faith was, in fact, the truth.
• 50 IndieWire Ben Croll IndieWire Ben Croll A blood-soaked, bone-crunching hymn to religious devotion and faith, Hacksaw Ridge doesn’t hum Mel Gibson’s favorite themes; it shouts them.
• See all 47 reviews on Metacritic.com
• See all external reviews for Hacksaw Ridge

More from this title

More to explore.

Recently viewed

• Become a Critical Movie Critic
• Movie Review Archives

Movie Review: Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

• Greg Eichelberger
• Movie Reviews
• 3 responses
• --> November 6, 2016

Lew Ayres, who starred in the classic 1931 anti-war film (and Best Picture Academy Award winner), “All Quiet on the Western Front,” was so affected by that movie, he became a conscientious objector and served as a medic in World War II (and was later to earn a Best Actor nomination for “Johnny Belinda”). Others went the same route, but few know their story.

Now, after a decade of exile and ostracization (for saying extremely stupid things when he was drunk — gee, NO ONE has ever done THAT before, right Alec Baldwin?!), Mel Gibson is back in the director’s chair with Hacksaw Ridge , the story of another person who was on the outside most of his life (albeit for being religious, not an inebriate), Desmond T. Doss, a medic in the Japanese Theater and the first conscientious objector to win the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving more than 70 fellow soldiers on Hacksaw Ridge on the island of Okinawa during the waning years of that campaign in 1945.

The script is by Andrew Knight (“ The Water Diviner ”) and Robert Schenkkan (“The Quiet American”) and it is truly one of the more intense, disturbing and emotional films you will most likely ever see.

First things first, however. We’re introduced to Doss (Andrew Garfield, “ The Amazing Spider-Man ”) as a youngster (Darcy Bryce) fighting with his older brother and trying to tolerate his alcoholic father (Hugo Weaving, “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Matrix” franchises) and protect his put-upon mother (Rachel Griffiths, “ Saving Mr. Banks ”). Shy and awkward, he meets a pretty nurse, Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer, “ Lights Out ”) and charms her with his back-country simplicity. Meanwhile, after an incident where he clubs his sibling with a brick (and later forcibly removes a pistol from his drunken dad during a domestic violence episode), he vows never to touch a weapon again.

This vow comes back to haunt him after he enlists and arrives at boot camp. Here we get the stock military initiation clichés (the oil-water mix of personalities, the gruff drill sergeant — in this case, Vince Vaughn playing against type — training scenes, fighting-to-prove-you’re-a-man sequences and even a recruit name “Tex”) It’s all there. Also included is a pact between Sergeant Harry Howell (Vaughn, “ Delivery Man ”) and platoon leader Captain Glover (Sam Worthington, “ Wrath of the Titans ”) to get the pacifist kicked out of the Army. He refuses to bend, gets beaten up, put on garbage duty and incurs the wrath of his commanding officers (think of the plotline from “From Here to Eternity”). Doss is also a Seventh-day Adventist AND a vegetarian, for those who already cannot stand him.

On the verge of being found guilty by a court-martial and imprisoned, his father sobers up, dons his old, moth-eaten uniform from the Great War (what people called WWI BEFORE WWII) and appeals to an old commander for clemency for his boy.

After this sentimentality, and a near detour into Nicholas Sparks’ territory, Doss and company arrive in Okinawa to see the devastation of that occupied strip of land (more than 15,000 Americans would eventually perish there, as well as 100,000 Okinawans and Japanese). One of the last in a chain of islands hopped by Allied forces (mostly American Marines and infantry) and a proposed launchpad for an invasion of the Japanese mainland, it was a strategic hallmark of the goal to end the conflagration that had begin in 1941 for the U.S. (and much earlier for the other victims of the Empire of Japan’s naked aggression).

It’s here, however, that Gibson seems to have a “Braveheart” (the controversial 1995 Best Picture recipient, although I would have voted for “Apollo 13” or “Babe” instead) flashback, with scenes of such graphic violence and over-the-top gore that Quentin Tarantino would be green with envy. And while the thought of honoring a man of non-violence caught in the middle of such carnage is most likely Gibson’s point, showcasing such horror and chaos only to make Doss’ character shine through even more (as in his other controversial endeavor, 2004’s “The Passion of the Christ,” which spared nothing in exhibiting the Savior’s literal suffering for our sins). Then again, even modern filmmakers cannot gloss over this area of the global conflict without showing just how awful the fighting was and just what a terribly determined and cruel the Imperial Japanese soldier was at that time.

To paraphrase Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, “War is all hell, boys,” and Gibson certainly gives us his own private slice of Hades with these often repellent scenes of blinding, acrid smoke, bomb craters, fatal bullet wounds, bayonet attacks, grenade explosions, artillery bursts and horrid flame-thrower deaths among the mostly constantly-charging Nipponese soldiers. In fact, the battle sequences in Hacksaw Ridge make Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” look like a picnic on the beach and Malick’s “The Thin Red Line” an island vacation.

When such overwhelming darkness threatens to overwhelm our latter-day senses, though, we are treated to an even more powerful emotional experience from this story. It was a similar tale that Clint Eastwood told with much success in “Letters from Iwo Jima,” but much less in “ Flags of Our Fathers .”

While watching, I often thought of my own father, who at just 19, participated in the Italian campaign from 1943-45 and remained scarred by those memories for the rest of his life. As a veteran myself, I could not view Hacksaw Ridge without a thought to our current crop of young men and women in the military who will probably never receive the recognition for which they so richly deserve.

Finally, a look at the real life Desmond Doss (with photos, archival newsreel footage and even a 2003 interview) bring the picture to its conclusion. Anyone who can truly sit through it without a lump in the throat or a tear in the eye either has no heart or is a jaded professional film critic. In fact, there’s no doubt many smug, self-styled writers will probably use this an another excuse to bash Gibson for his past transgressions as opposed to a publishing a serious critique, but be that as it may.

Playing the lead character with an “aw shucks” attitude and with quiet grace and a dignified manner, culminating in a determination unmatched by most heroes, Garfield (whom many thought should have been given an Oscar nod for “ The Social Network ”) is the perfect holy fool, while Weaving earns kudos as the bitter sot who disdains his sons for joining the military, even though he served in World War I (losing his best friends in the process).

And, in any other year for any other director, I would say these are definitely award-worthy performances (along with cinematographer Simon Duggan, “ The Great Gatsby ”), but it is difficult to tell if Gibson’s sins are truly forgiven or simply temporarily forgotten. Time will tell. For this reporter, however, Hacksaw Ridge is the best war movie he has seen in many years and certainly the top production, so far, for 2016.

Tagged: death , Japan , soldier , true story , WWII

I have been a movie fan for most of my life and a film critic since 1986 (my first published review was for "Platoon"). Since that time I have written for several news and entertainment publications in California, Utah and Idaho. Big fan of the Academy Awards - but wish it would go back to the five-minute dinner it was in May, 1929. A former member of the San Diego Film Critics Society and current co-host of "The Movie Guys," each Sunday afternoon on KOGO AM 600 in San Diego with Kevin Finnerty.

Movie Review: Despicable Me 3 (2017) Movie Review: Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) Movie Review: All Eyez On Me (2017) Movie Review: The Mummy (2017) Movie Review: Baywatch (2017) Movie Review: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) Movie Review: The Promise (2016)

'Movie Review: Hacksaw Ridge (2016)' have 3 comments

November 6, 2016 @ 1:20 pm bye bancroft

Battle sequences are visceral but I thought thee rest of the movie was slow moving. Definitely the JV squad when compared to Saving Private Ryan’s varsity.

Log in to Reply

November 6, 2016 @ 3:03 pm Protectoration

Desmond Doss; story is a story worth telling, unfortunately it isn’t told very well. Gibson draws out the sentimentality a frame too long and his actors, especially Hugo ‘Agent Smith’ Weaving, overdo their roles to the point of comic zeal.

November 6, 2016 @ 7:56 pm vinyl rocker

Mel Gibson needs to go back to living under his rock.

Privacy Policy | About Us

 |  Log in

Hacksaw Ridge Review

27 Jan 2017

139 minutes

Hacksaw Ridge

Forget what you’ve heard about Hacksaw Ridge ’s pacifist hero, because Andrew Garfield does take up arms in the heat of battle. It isn’t, we’d hasten to add, in an orgy of Arnie-like bloodletting. Instead, he uses a rifle and blanket to improvise a sleigh to pull a stricken soldier to safety as said soldier opens fire on the advancing enemy like a demented Radagast. It’s a rare moment of action-movie fun in Mel Gibson’s film — a bit of Lethal Weapon in a sea of Apocalypto as we’re plunged terrifyingly into the Pacific war.

An old-fashioned story that Gibson mainlines with bleeding-edge craft and technique.

At the heart of this cinematic cyclone is a more conventional character study of Garfield’s devout Seventh-day Adventist Desmond Doss. Torn by his need to serve in the fight against Japan and a strict moral code that prevents him from taking life, he signs up as a medic, hoping to do his duty by saving lives instead of taking them.

Using a Full Metal Jacket -like structure, the film follows first Doss’ basic training, then his time in combat. He meets and falls for a local nurse ( Lights Out ’s Teresa Palmer) in a romantic subplot that’s just the right side of saccharine, before heading to boot camp where he endures beatings, bullying and abuse from officers and men alike, with Vince Vaughn stealing scenes as an aggressive, motormouth drill instructor. Picking on his new recruit, he unleashes putdowns R. Lee Ermey would be proud of (“Make sure you keep this man away from strong winds,” he orders of the slight Doss). The men, following his lead, soon make Doss’ life a daily hell. The wannabe medic, though, won’t crack.

The combat sequences, set on a blasted, blood-soaked Okinawan ridge in 1945 and recreated in micro-detail in Australia, are filmed in pure Viscera Vision — they blaze and roar with the expression of pure violence. Like Saving Private Ryan ’s opening salvos, only at altitude, the thick fug of smoke, cordite and blood leaves you gasping for air. In this maelstrom, Doss’ acts of raw courage provide a much-needed focal point. As the battle for command of the island swings one way and then the other, he saves first one, then another and finally dozens of Ryans. The complexities of his moral stance fall away, replaced by the simple maths of saving lives.

It’s a moving recreation of a khaki-clad superhero at work, an old-fashioned story that Gibson mainlines with bleeding-edge craft and technique — he’s lost little of his knack for spectacle. But as with some of his previous work, the hero is occasionally depicted as an almost Christ-like figure — one shot could be renamed ‘The Passion Of The Doss’ — leaving it to Garfield’s humble hero to keep the man grounded and relatable.

The former Spidey, imbuing the open-hearted Doss with steel and dignity (and nailing the accent), is the warm anchor the film needs. Between this and Silence , two contrasting tales of faith in an unforgiving world, any memories of the sad end to his webslinging days should be well and truly banished.

Related Articles

Movies | 15 11 2017

Movies | 28 03 2017

Movies | 14 02 2017

Movies | 01 02 2017

Movies | 11 12 2016

Movies | 04 12 2016

Movies | 28 11 2016

Movies | 27 11 2016

Notice: All forms on this website are temporarily down for maintenance. You will not be able to complete a form to request information or a resource. We apologize for any inconvenience and will reactivate the forms as soon as possible.

• DVD & Streaming

Hacksaw Ridge

• Action/Adventure , Drama , War

Content Caution

In Theaters

• November 4, 2016
• Andrew Garfield as Desmond Doss; Teresa Palmer as Dorothy Schutte; Luke Bracey as Smitty; Hugo Weaving as Tom Doss; Sam Worthington as Captain Glover; Vince Vaughn as Sergeant Howell; Rachel Griffiths as Bertha Doss; Nathaniel Buzolic as Harold Doss

Home Release Date

• February 21, 2017

Distributor

Movie review.

The Bible calls it a burning lake, a blazing furnace. Dante imagined it as nine circles of Sisyphean torture. Bosch colored it with our darkest nightmares. It’s been called Abaddon, Gehenna, Tophet, Hades.

Perhaps those who took part in the Battle of Okinawa have another name for hell: Hacksaw Ridge.

It’s the waning months of World War II. Germany has surrendered but Japan fights on, contesting every inch of land with ferocious tenacity. And as the United States military pushes ever closer to the Japanese homeland, the fighting grows more desperate, more horrific.

The U.S. turns its guns on Okinawa, just 340 miles from Japan. It pounds the island with fire as soldiers and marines scurry ashore. Japanese soldiers hide underground, determined to push the Americans into the ocean. Hacksaw Ridge is one of the island’s most contested points, and soon the ground lies smoking. Bodies litter it like autumn leaves; blood pools in foxholes and footprints; sounds of agony fill the sky. Countries may fight for this patch of land, but it’s Death that rules here. Death that wins.

But into that black, blasted game board scurries one slight, skinny man. He carries no gun: Indeed, he fought the U.S. Army for the right not to. Bandages, not bullets, fill his pockets. He alone seems to walk upright in this land of crawling, screaming flesh. He alone dares all in this doomscape of the dying.

“Please Lord,” he prays, his clothes soaked in the blood of others, his hands ripped open from the burn of rope. “Let me get one more.”

Desmond Doss finds another man, almost dead—skin torn away, muscles ripped, bone exposed. He gives the man a shot of morphine—American, Japanese, doesn’t matter—and hoists him to his back, returning to the face of a cliff where, below, lies sanctuary. There, at the top of the ridge, he secures the man to a rope and slowly lowers him down, the rope cutting deeper into his hands as he does. Once the man is down, Desmond breathes deep and turns his head again to the smoking ruins of Hacksaw Ridge.

“Please Lord,” he says again. “Let me get one more.”

And into hell he goes again.

Positive Elements

Hacksaw Ridge is based on the true story of Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor. The character that we meet here is pure, unalloyed hero.

Like many young men of the day, Desmond took the bombing of Pearl Harbor “personal” and was on fire to volunteer. Even though he could’ve stayed home if he wanted to, Desmond didn’t think it was right to stay behind while others fought in his place.

But Desmond also promised God that he’d never carry a weapon or kill another human being. And as you might expect, that creates a few problems once he and his squad move to the shooting range, preparing for war. Desmond explains to his superiors that he volunteered to save lives as a medic, not take them. And even under threat of a court martial, and despite the pleas of those closest to him, Desmond refuses to violate those personal convictions.

“With the world so set on tearing itself apart, it don’t seem like such a bad thing to me to put a little bit of it back together,” he says.

Desmond’s commander, sergeant and the rest of his company find the pacifist soldier’s stance to be peculiar at best, cowardly at worst. But Desmond proves, through his actions at Hacksaw Ridge, that he is no coward.

Spiritual Elements

Desmond’s stance on killing people stems from his deep religious convictions. As a fervent Seventh Day Adventist, he keeps his Saturday Sabbath. He reads his Bible constantly, even asking someone to retrieve it for him from a battlefield. His fellow soldiers sometimes mock him for his piety—sometimes it’s friendly teasing, sometimes more serious—but he never wavers. The closest Desmond comes to a spiritual crisis is amid the battle on Hacksaw Ridge after seeing a close friend die.

“What is it You want from me?” he asks of God. “I don’t understand. I can’t hear You.”

And then he hears the cry of “Medic!” and Desmond knows what he has to do.

[ Spoiler Warning ] After his daring feats become known, Desmond and his faith become a source of inspiration for his fellow soldiers. He violates his Sabbath just once; when his captain, Captain Glover, tells him that a renewed assault on Hacksaw Ridge is planned for Saturday and that the men won’t go without him. Even then, the captain and the rest of the company wait patiently—almost reverently—as Desmond prays for them all.

Desmond’s convictions took root early. A poster featuring the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments adorns the family home. And as a boy, Desmond is particularly drawn to the commandment “Thou shalt not kill,” which his mother tells him is the worst sin.

But it’s also clear that other deeply faithful people have come to different conclusions about that commandment. Glover tells Desmond, “I believe in [the Bible] as much as any man.” Desmond’s brother volunteers for the Army and, apparently, has no such anti-weaponry qualms. Dorothy, his love interest back home, cautions Desmond about his stubborn streak: “Don’t confuse your will with the Lord’s,” she says.

Desmond’s mother sings in a church choir. Desmond compares the choir to angels … though not necessarily musical ones. A bombed-out church stands on a bleached battlefield. Someone wears a cross, putting it in his mouth during battle. Desmond recites a portion of Isaiah 40.

Sexual Content

Desmond is attracted to Dorothy from the moment he sets eyes on her, telling his folks that he plans to marry her. He asks her to a movie and, afterward, steals a kiss. She smacks him, telling Desmond that he needs to ask first. But she forgives him and they continue to date. They kiss several more times before they get married. Their wedding night is filmed with restraint. We see Desmond shirtless, and we glimpse Dorothy in a demure white nighty before they kiss and collapse onto the bed, out of the view of the lens.

A member of Desmond’s company likes to go naked. We see his bare backside as he does chin-ups in the buff (as other soldiers rib him about his anatomy). He’s forced to remain unclothed when the company sergeant demands they begin training at that very moment. The guy climbs walls and scrambles through mud in the nude as the sergeant calls him a “exhibitionist degenerate” and seems to ask if he might also be into bestiality. While we never see him unclothed from the front, we do see plenty of his rear.

Soldiers about to go on leave talk about safe sex, condoms and venereal disease. When a fellow soldier spies Desmond’s Bible, he points to another member of the company who (he says) also reads the “Good Book.” The guy holds up a girlie magazine (nothing explicit is seen) and suggests that his reading material is indeed good. One of Desmond’s friends admits he never knew his father—only that it could’ve been one of ten guys. A sergeant tells the troops that their gun should be their “lover, their mistress, their concubine.”

Violent Content

Hacksaw Ridge features some of the most brutal depictions of war ever put to screen. It’s impossible to overstate the level to which we see men turned to meat.

The camera captures dozens, perhaps hundreds of casualties, many of them incredibly gruesome. Sometimes men have bits of their face and bodies chewed off a bullet at a time. Limbs are blown off, and Desmond sometimes carries these soldiers to safety, strips of flesh dangling from their ripped shirt sleeves or pant legs. Corpses litter the ground, their organs exposed and intestines spilled. Two men grapple with each other as one holds a live grenade, which eventually kills them both. Another grenade goes off under a corpse, partially disintegrating it in a shower of blood. Soldiers get bayonetted to death. Several are set alight by flamethrowers or explosions, running or writhing as the flames consume them. One man hangs himself. Another commits ritual suicide—stabbing himself in the gut and drawing the blade across before his assistant beheads him. (We see the blow land and the head fall away from the body.) Countless people try to staunch their own bleeding, screaming in pain. Countless corpses are shown, some being eaten by rats. Japanese soldiers calmly shoot or stab the wounded.

Desmond is attacked in the night by some of his bunkmates, leaving him bloodied and bruised. He’s harassed by Smitty, another soldier, who kicks him in the face during an obstacle-course run, then punches him in the bunkroom, calling him a coward. Desmond’s alcoholic father and a former war veteran, Tom, crushes a bottle of whiskey, cutting his hand. He describes how one of his friends in World War I was killed by a bullet in the back. The wound blasted the man’s internal organs out and, according to Tom, messed up his suit something terrible.

As boys, Desmond and brother Hal fight—Desmond eventually nearly killing his brother by thwacking him in the face with a brick. Tom, was physically abusive, too: Though we don’t see him beat his kids, Tom does struggle with the boys’ mother, gun in hand. As a teen, Desmond bursts into the room where the two are fighting, grabs the gun and nearly shoots Tom (as the dad begs him to pull the trigger). A man working on a truck has the vehicle fall on his leg, puncturing an artery: Blood squirts from the wound before Desmond staunches the bleeding with a makeshift tourniquet.

Crude or Profane Language

To appeal to a faith-based audience, director Mel Gibson reportedly edited out all the f-words and misuses of Jesus name from the film. And indeed, there are none of those to be heard. But plenty of other profanities are heard , including seven s-words and multiple uses of “a–,” “d–n,” “h—” and “p-ss.” We also hear crude slang for the male and female anatomy.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Tom, suffering from what we’d recognize today as post-traumatic stress disorder, is a “drunk,” according to Desmond. Most of the time when we see him he’s obviously inebriated, abusing his family or despising himself. Several soldiers smoke. Desmond injects injured soldiers with morphine.

Other Negative Elements

Soldiers refer to the Japanese enemy as “Nips” and “Japs,” and many seem to believe them to be inhuman monsters. The film does little to humanize them: For the most part, they are indeed seen as almost faceless, heartless opponents—perhaps reflecting how the battle felt to the Americans who took part. Still, it feels jarring today to have a movie spare so little empathy for the soldiers on the other side.

We see a soldier vomit.

As horrific as Hacksaw Ridge is, the real Battle of Okinawa was perhaps worse. It was one of the bloodiest conflicts in World War II’s Pacific Theater, with more than 14,000 Allied deaths (mostly American), more than 77,000 Japanese fatalities and thousands upon thousands of Okinawan civilian casualties—with some of those civilians used as human shields by the Japanese or encouraged to commit suicide.

Other horrors are also kept from us in the film: The fact that Japan pushed middle school-aged boys into the front lines. In that era, the Japanese believed that death, even by suicide, was preferable to surrender. Okinawa’s horrific casualties reportedly were an important factor in the U.S.’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan instead of invading the Japanese mainland.

Okinawa’s battlefield provides a fitting stage for director Mel Gibson, given his proclivity for violence in his movies. From Braveheart to The Passion of the Christ to A pocalypto , Gibson bathes the screen in blood, often using pain and destruction as a catalyst for stories about freedom and redemption. Gibson, a longtime Catholic, seems to believe quite literally in the saving power of blood.

Which makes Gibson’s selection of his newest on-screen hero—the conscientious objector Desmond Doss—an interesting one. A director long fascinated by violence tells the story of a man who eschews it. Instead of giving us a hero who would die for his people, he gives us a hero who lives—and lives to save others.

Hacksaw Ridge is riveting cinema. But it’s also bloody—as bloody as we’ve seen on screen for a long, long time. And while the horror and gore we see may impress upon us the depth Desmond’s heroism, these images nevertheless assault us with their unblinking depiction of this hellish battle’s carnage.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

Latest Reviews

The Long Game

The Greatest Hits

Weekly reviews straight to your inbox.

Movie review: ‘Hacksaw Ridge’

(Rated: 14A [Canada] and R [MPAA] for intense, prolonged, realistically graphic sequences of war violence, including grisly, bloody images; directed by Mel Gibson; stars Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Hugo Weaving, Sam Worthington , Teresa Palmer and Rachel Griffiths; run time: 139 min.) 

Vocation and conviction shine in war movie

By Ted Giese

Mel Gibson’s “Hacksaw Ridge” tells the true story of Private First Class Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a World War II American Army medic who served during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. The twist in this war film is that Doss, as a faithful Seventh Day Adventist, was a conscientious objector or, as he liked to say, a “conscientious cooperator.”

Telling the story in two parts, Gibson details events in Doss’ life leading up to the battle, and then his involvement in the battle itself — for which he was awarded a Medal of Honor citation.

Based on his religious convictions, Doss’ refusal to use or even hold a gun caused him considerable trouble during basic training and made it difficult for fellow soldiers to trust him with their lives.

Superior officers didn’t help. Comments made by men like Drill Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn) — “Private Doss does not believe in violence … do not look to him to save you on the battlefield” — only exacerbated the situation.

The irony is that Doss, whose only desire was to serve as a field medic, was in fact there to do just that — save fellow soldiers on the battlefield.

Doss’ childhood family life was devout but less than desirable, with an alcoholic and abusive father, Tom Doss (Hugo Weaving). The family home featured a framed copy of “The Lord’s Prayer” and the Ten Commandments, which included an illustration of Cain murdering his brother, Abel. This unique piece of art had a lasting impact on Doss, as did seeing his drunken father threaten to shoot a family member in their home.

These childhood memories solidified his desire to save — rather than take — lives.

While Doss’ religious convictions — including his refusal to work on Saturdays — act as the film’s heart and soul, Gibson is careful to point out that not all Christians share these same convictions.

Sadly, to create dramatic tension, Christians who didn’t share Doss’ pacifism are almost monolithically depicted as insensitive brutes and bullies.

While this is accurate, the trouble is that for dramatic reasons Gibson sets up a false dichotomy as a sort of straw-man argument during most of the film when, in the end, it’s the cooperation of Doss’ religious convictions with those of the combat soldiers that wins the day.

This becomes clear in the film’s last act, when the soldiers who had previously been set against Doss finally respect him and admire his valor.

The vocation of “soldier” is ultimately emphasized as being godly in a short scene where Captain Jack Glover (Sam Worthington) holds off the final push to take Okinawa’s Maeda Escarpment (dubbed Hacksaw Ridge) on the morning of Saturday, May 5, 1945. Glover delays the final push until Doss finishes praying.

After the prayer, Captain Glover says to the infantrymen, “Let’s go to work.” Within the ensuing battle, multiple scenes show respect and cooperation between Doss and the rest of the soldiers.

Christian viewers will want to remember that the vocation of soldier is not one that embraces murder. The Fifth Commandment, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13), isn’t a blanket prohibition against all killing. So the vocation of soldier can involve killing that is not murder.

Soldiers operate under the governing authorities, and as such, they are God’s servants carrying out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer (Romans 13:4).

It’s good to note that when soldiers came to John the Baptizer asking what they should do to avoid the judgment of God, he doesn’t say, “Give up your work as soldier” but rather “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages” (Luke 3:14).

Like all God-pleasing vocations, soldiers are expected to execute their work virtuously on and off the battlefield.

Gibson, who directed films like “Braveheart” (1995) and “Apocalypto” (2006), is no stranger to war films. While the first half of the film includes Doss’ romance with a young nurse named Dorothy (Teresa Palmer), the latter half is set on the battlefield, where Gibson pulls no punches, especially in the film’s first battle scene, which is particularly jarring and gory. This makes “Hacksaw Ridge” as sour as it is sweet.

Doss’ optimism and faith are sent through the meat grinder of combat and they come out strengthened, not crushed.

Gibson sets the stage for this crucible of faith by beginning the film with a voice-over of Doss on the battlefield reciting Isaiah 40:30-31: “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Doss is shown as a man who reads Scripture, and he keeps a small Bible with him — even on the battlefield. He also is depicted as a man who prays. His prayer life is rich and to the point.

When finding himself alone on the escarpment after the rest of the American army had retreated, Doss continues rescuing wounded men from the battlefield, lowering them down one by one, praying, “Lord, help me get one more.”

By the end of the night he’d saved 75 men — daring work that gains him the respect of his fellow soldiers.

With “Hacksaw Ridge,” Gibson seems to be redeeming himself within the Hollywood system, which bodes well for future projects like his rumored sequel to “The Passion of the Christ” (2004).

Garfield’s strong performance as Private Doss is also a welcome surprise as he stars in the upcoming Martin Scorsese film “Silence” (2016), where he plays a Jesuit priest working as a missionary in 17th century feudal Japan amidst persecution. 

“Hacksaw Ridge” is not for everyone. The gory battle scenes justify the film’s R rating.

However, this film takes Christian faith seriously and encourages viewers toward virtuous and ethical living within their vocations. By valuing conviction, the film could challenge reflective viewers to think about whether their personal convictions in life are defensible.

Christian viewers also might want to think about that, based on the whole counsel of the Word of God.

When it comes to Christian faith in the midst of war, “Hacksaw Ridge” easily takes its place alongside recent films like “Fury” (2014) and “Unbroken” (2014).

The Rev. Ted Giese ( [email protected] ) is pastor of Mount Olive Lutheran Church , Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada; a contributor to the Canadian Lutheran , Reporter Online and KFUO.org ; and movie reviewer for the “ Issues, Etc. ” radio program. Follow Pastor Giese on Twitter @RevTedGiese .

Posted December 2, 2016

Contributing Writer

In december’s ‘lutheran witness’, reformation relevance: mary and her child.

This website give a slightly different view of some of the dramatizations in the movie.

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/hacksaw-ridge/

I get the feeling that, as an Adventist, they have a somewhat works righteousness orientation in their deeds, as opposed to the Christian Vocation slant this review gives.

says Dorothy. “He was a good Christian and I figured he would help me go to Heaven. That’s what I told my mother.”

Well written and very balanced. As a veteran who did not have to fight like they did, I appreciated the review.

• Authors and Contributors

From the mission field: Project 24 breaks new ground

DCEs meet for study, sharing

HACKSAW RIDGE

"a miraculous story of courage and conviction".

What You Need To Know:

(CCC, BBB, PPP, LL, VVV, S, N, AA, D) Extremely strong Christian, biblical worldview with the hero being willing to lay down his life even for his enemies and extolling faith, prayer, conviction on the Bible, forgiveness, and compassion, with many overt references and discussions on what the Bible says about killing and violence; strong patriotic message about serving in the military even if you refuse to take a life; 27 obscenities and three profanities, but the “f” words were edited out; very strong and strong war violence with blood splatter includes men shot and stabbed and blown to pieces by grenades, dead mutilated bodies are shown in various forms of disfigurement, Japanese commander ritually stabs himself (hari-kari) and is decapitated, boy hits brother in the head with a brick, father beats his wife; several kisses between unmarried couple and implied sex after couple gets married, but camera cuts away quickly; upper male nudity and rear male nudity; drinking and drunkenness, though not condoned; smoking but no drug use; and, characters try to get Christian man to compromise his convictions, but they confess.

More Detail:

HACKSAW RIDGE is a great, emotive, powerful, touching Christian war movie, superbly directed by Mel Gibson, about Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a courageous conscientious objector who serves as an unarmed medic during the brutal battle of Okinawa in World War II.

The movie opens with Desmond as a young boy in rural Virginia. Desmond’s father Thomas (Hugo Weaving), haunted by the violence he witnessed in the First World War, has turned to alcohol to numb the pain. As a result, Desmond and his brother have grown up in a violent and dysfunctional home, and both of them want to protect their mother from their father’s violent outbursts.

As Desmond grows into a young man, he begins showing interest in the medical field, and even more interest in a pretty nurse named Dorothy. Awkward and unschooled, Desmond successfully courts Dorothy, and they get engaged. When World War II breaks out, his brother joins the service against the vehement objection of their father. Desmond joins the army as well to do his part. The only problem is that Desmond promised God he would never touch a weapon or take a life.

Desmond enlists as a conscientious objector, but immediately in training he’s targeted by the colorful Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn) and Captain Glover (Sam Worthington). They view him as a useless soldier and a danger to the rest of the Infantry Division. Ridiculed, beaten and taunted, Desmond holds to his personal convictions and expresses his desire to save lives as a medic. Eventually, before being court marshaled for disobeying the Captain, the charges are dismissed on constitutional grounds. The Army gives Desmond permission to go into battle without a weapon.

Shipped off to fight the Japanese in the Pacific, Desmond enters one of the most brutal and bloody battles in the war. Filled with a desire to save as many people as he can, Desmond is only armed with his Christian faith.

HACKSAW RIDGE demonstrates the brilliance of acclaimed filmmaker Mel Gibson. With his most overt faith-oriented movie besides THE PASSION, Gibson beautifully shares Desmond’s heroic story without watering down its overt Christian elements. Andrew Garfield does a phenomenal job portraying Desmond’s solid Christian faith and beliefs in a humble and passionate manner. Vince Vaughn balances the drama as the humorous, offensive drill sergeant. At the heart of the story, Desmond is a Christ figure who’s willing to sacrifice himself not only for his friends, but also for his enemies. In fact, the entire movie is a call to faith in Jesus Christ.

The subject of non-violence is addressed incredibly tastefully. While many may disagree with Desmond’s interpretation of biblical passages on violence, Desmond doesn’t pass judgment on those willing to take a life in the context of war. He simply wants to preserve his own convictions and stay true to what he believes God wants him to do. Desmond also directly acknowledges his own sin, including the attempted murder of his father in his own heart through hate. At the court martial hearing, Desmond tells his wife to tell his father that he loves him.

Ultimately, then, HACKSAW RIDGE isn’t a story about pacifism. It’s a story about the importance of not compromising one’s values, faith and commitment to God, and about standing firm when others try to force you to compromise. Eventually, Desmond’s courage and heroic commitment to Jesus Christ changes the hearts and minds of his fellow soldiers and commanders and attests to the importance of prayer, faith and standing on convictions.

The war violence in HACKSAW RIDGE is gruesome, bloody and sometimes very difficult to watch. Thankfully, all “f” words used in production were edited out, but several lighter obscenities are in the movie. A strong caution is advised due to these elements.

All in all, however, HACKSAW RIDGE is a captivating, very emotional, brilliant, entertaining movie about uncompromising faith and miraculous courage that will make you laugh and cry. It is truly a great movie. Mel knows how to touch the audience’s emotions to communicate the Truth of Christian faith in Jesus.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.

The Perspective

“Hacksaw Ridge” Movie Review

Jacob Miller , Reporter | December 22, 2016

Mel Gibson is an incredibly talented filmmaker, possibly one of the best. His films have an uncommon grit and realism lacking in many of today’s most dramatic pictures. He is not afraid of pushing the envelope, of crafting scenes that will leave people cringing or peeking from behind their fingers. Yet, there is also a tenderness that he harnesses throughout the scenes where there is no need for excruciating violence. “Hacksaw Ridge” depicts both sides of his film making abilities in equal measures and it is his best work.

“Hacksaw Ridge” follows the true story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a pacifist who joins the US army as a medic during World War II. Doss took the attack on Pearl Harbor personally and he deems it unfair for many of the men he grew up with, including his brother, to go and risk their lives for their country while he sits at home nice and safe. His one and only condition: He refuses to even touch a gun.

His conviction towards his pacifism stems from various violent events occurring within his past, most of which involve his drunken father (Hugo Weaving). Weaving, who is mostly prone to playing straight-faced characters, often villains, it was interesting to witness a more grounded performance, and one that lacked the usual theatrics that he is known for. Weaving is a very talented actor who does not get enough time to shine in Hollywood, and his performance as Tom Doss grants him a fair amount of screen time to show us what we’ve been missing. He is brutal and relentless towards his family, especially when he hits the drink, beating and punishing his children often, directing a fair amount of the violence towards his wife, which is what Desmond has the biggest problem with. Weaving conveys a brutality in his performance, but also a quiet serenity during the scenes in which he is not a drunken brute. After years of seeing his best friends die during World War I, he hates himself more than anything, and it shows.

Tom Doss visits the graves of his military comrades often and he makes sure to show his children exactly what he lost. He says to Desmond, “I don’t want to have to come visit you here one day.” Desmond understands his father’s predicament; however, he knows what he must do, and he enlists as a conscientious objector in the army and leaves home shortly after his brother. He wants to be a medic and refuses to pick up a gun. He says he’ll be defending his country by saving lives rather than taking them.

His training begins in Fort Jackson in South Carolina where he is placed under the command of Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn). Desmond excels physically, wowing his superior officers with his unbelievable stamina and work ethic; however, he quickly becomes an outcast when Howell’s platoon begins their rifle training and Desmond refuses to participate. “Your rifle will be the only thing you truly love,” Sergeant Howell says, “an extension of your body.”

Vince Vaughn, who most people know as the fast-talking goof from such comedies as “Wedding Crashers,” “Dodgeball” and “Swingers,” gives a performance unlike anything he has ever done. Vaughn has attempted dramatic roles in the past (“Psycho,” “The Lost World,” “Into the Wild”), but he has never managed to give a memorable performance. Here, he commands the screen as the intense platoon commander. His performance is in the vein of R. Lee Ermey’s Gunnery Sergeant Hartman from “Full Metal Jacket,” spouting insults and spit into the new recruits faces as if his life depended on it. His comedy experience helped prepare him for this role as his wit is just as sharp as his bite.

The first half of “Hacksaw Ridge” showcases Mel Gibson’s knack for slow-paced drama. Like the scenes of romance between Gibson’s William Wallace and Catherine McCormack’s Murron, Gibson crafts a tender and sweet love story out of Desmond and Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer), a nurse whom Desmond meets before he goes off to war. The two actors have a delightful chemistry as well as contagious interplay that make their relationship feel real and up the stakes during the scenes where Desmond must run through the line of fire. Their relationship feels organic, which is uncommon in a movie such as this where many other filmmakers would have gone for the far easier route of manipulating the audience with clichés and melodrama.

The other quarter of the first half ditches the tenderness, but offers a heaping helping of brutal attacks to the human spirit. The scenes concerning basic training are what you would expect from a war movie, up until Sergeant Howell and his platoon realize Desmond will not pick up a gun where the once equally distributed abuse becomes much more aimed and at one recruit in particular. This is where Andrew Garfield really shines. It is a far more subtle side to his performance than during the first quarter or second half, but it is all the more effective as he is verbally destroyed, humiliated, beaten, and hated by both his commanding officer as well as his platoon. They call him a coward, he stays silent. Even when a group of recruits beat Desmond senseless in the night, he stays silent, not resorting to violence or even giving up the names of the assailants.

The matter of his pacifism even ends up going to court where he must defend himself and his ideals against a jury of his superiors, or get sent to military prison. The pressure does get to his head when a momentary loss of composure forces Desmond to get into a fist fight with the brick wall of his jail cell. He continues to stick to his convictions and show that he can still be helpful on the battlefield even without a gun, in thanks partly to an important piece of information brought to the courtroom by his father.

After the events of the first half have ended, the film gives the viewer very little time to prepare before the bullets start flying. It is actually quite startling, as the violence hits you like a ton of bricks. This is where Gibson really shows that he has still got it. The atmosphere is eerie, quiet at first. As the troops climb the ridge, blood drips from the sky, the scenery shrouded in gray and muted colors, and then the bombs start dropping.

Gibson’s sequences of war violence are some of the best I have ever seen. It is excruciating, thrilling, devastating, fast and visceral. The sequences even rival that of Steven Spielberg’s masterful opening to “Saving Private Ryan.” The attention to detail is impeccable as no piece of the frame is wasted, whether it is filled to the brim with the bodies of soldiers basically running to their deaths or the river of blood that is the result of that. Desmond, on the other hand, is not partaking in the violence and destruction, but frantically searching the mounds of dirt, shrapnel and anonymous bodies for a sign of life.

Even after the attack is over and the American soldiers have withdrawn, Desmond stays back, continuing to search for injured, forgotten men that are still breathing. “Please God, let me save one more,” Desmond prays after each person he rescues. In these scenes, Gibson generates an extreme amount of tension. While the previous scenes of wartime violence packed a more visceral punch, the scenes of Desmond sneaking through the rubble added a welcome helping of suspense. During a scene where he is forced to bury an injured soldier under a layer of dirt to hide him from the enemy patrolling troops is edge-of-your-seat terrifying.

There is a scene where Desmond finds a wounded soldier blindly firing his weapon into the ether. Desmond calms him down and realizes that the soldier cannot see. Desmond then takes his canteen and pours some water over the man’s eyes and the man’s face lights up in a outpouring of emotion and relief. “I thought I was blind,” the man says. At the center of “Hacksaw Ridge,” there is a very crucial message, especially during this day and age. In a world where firearms have become increasingly dangerous as well as increasingly easier to get a hold of due to the political harping about an incredibly outdated constitutional right, this is a film that should be witnessed. “Hacksaw Ridge,” despite its religious themes, never preaches, and gives an answer to the debate over the second amendment. We need more films like it.

-Hacksaw Ridge: 5/5

Ever since I was an infant I have been fascinated by film. If you ever need information or an analysis on a certain movie, I’m your guy. I am a one-time...

Approaching the end of the world in ‘Sea of Tranquility’

Meet me at ‘Midnights’: Reviewing Taylor Swift’s 10th Studio Album

Sorrowful Tale of Magnificent Heroines

“The Alice Network” by Kate Quinn combines the records of real World War I and World War II historical figures with the stories of plausible ficti...

The Life of Pi

I decided to read Life of Pi because I had watched the movie a long time ago with my family and attempted to read the book afterwards. Unfortunately, ...

Everything is Not Awesome

“Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” was like most sequels. It wasn’t as good as the original and failed to live up to the hype. “Lego Movie,” s...

Award Winning Articles

Entertainment

Thank U, Next Album Please

“Glass” Shatters Box Office

Perfection or Death

“Blue Bloods” Review

Slumpin’ to Ski Mask

The Student News Site of Plymouth-Canton Educational Park

Comments (0)

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hacksaw Ridge (United States/Australia, 2016)

Hacksaw Ridge embraces many of the clichés of the war movie but, instead of laying them out in a rote fashion, the film synthesizes them into a visceral, ultimately inspirational result. This is about heroism, patriotism, and an adherence to convictions - qualities that are increasing rarities in a society where self-interest has replaced self-sacrifice. Although Mel Gibson’s forte as a director is most evident in the battle scenes, he does just enough with the quiet, character building moments for the casualties of shells and bullets to represent more than faceless clones.

Hacksaw Ridge opens by introducing us to two brothers - the wild and competitive Desmond and Howard Doss. (Strangely, this relationship, which initially appears to be a cornerstone of the film, is largely ignored after the first 15 minutes.) The boys’ father, Tom (Hugo Weaving), an alcoholic World War I veteran who, some 15 years after the 1918 armistice, suffers from a combination of PTSD and survivor’s guilt, is prone to violent outbursts. Following Pearl Harbor, both Desmond (played as an adult by Andrew Garfield) and Howard decide to enlist - a move the drives a wedge between them and Tom, who doesn’t want them serving. While Howard opts for a conventional enlistment, Desmond enters the army as a Conscientious Objector, intending to be a medic. Meanwhile, he woos Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer), his Florence Nightingale, and promises to marry her on his first leave.

The next segment of the film could be called the " An Officer and a Gentleman piece". It’s a generic basic training episode, complete with a gruff commanding officer, Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn), some hazing, and a little macho bonding. Desmond doesn’t fit in because he won’t touch a gun. This earns him the label of a “coward”, the ire of some of his fellows, and a Court-Martial. Eventually, with an assist from his estranged father, he gains the right to stay in the army as a Conscientious Objector and, when he arrives on Okinawa and participates in the attack on Hacksaw Ridge - a 400 foot high escarpment - he proves his worth.

Andrew Garfield, whose star has dimmed as a result of his association with the ill-fated Spider-Man reboots, is solid as Desmond. Teresa Palmer has the thankless “love interest” role. She doesn’t do much beyond providing Desmond with a reason to come home. Casting Vince Vaughn in the R. Lee Ermy/Lou Gossett Jr. role initially seems like a mistake - he’s a little too smug and lightweight during the “basic training” scenes - but he grows into the part and is actually quite good once he gets onto Hacksaw Ridge. Other participants include Sam Worthington as Captain Glover, an officer who initially berates Doss, and Hugo Weaving in a limited-but-affecting performance as the troubled elder Doss.

Hacksaw Ridge is based on a true story. Desmond Doss became the first Conscientious Objector to win the United States Congressional Medal of Honor. The screenplay, credited to Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan, sticks as close to the historical record as the limitations of a two-hour movie allow. At the end, snippets of a 2006 interview with the real-life Doss (who died later that year) are shown. We are given an opportunity to hear his account of some of the events whose dramatization we have just witnessed.

Hacksaw Ridge doesn’t have any rousing moments to rival those in Braveheart . That’s understandable because the heroism depicted here is of a more subtle kind. It’s about saving lives rather than taking them. It’s about avoiding fire rather than returning it. Viewers should be warned, however, that, like Saving Private Ryan , this movie doesn’t shy from showing what happens when high velocity round meets soft flesh. There’s more gore here than in an average horror movie. It’s not gratuitous but it is graphic.

Perhaps this Oscar season is devoted to biopics of real life heroes. Hacksaw Ridge joins Deepwater Horizon and Sully in that category. (Depending on one’s perspective, The Birth of a Nation could also be considered.) Gibson has employed his considerable skills as a filmmaker not only to recreate one of World War II’s bloodiest battles but to highlight one person’s acts of selflessness that, although they may not have changed the tide of the war, resulted in many families being reunited with fathers, brothers, and sons instead of having to bury them.

Comments Add Comment

• All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
• Full Metal Jacket (1987)
• Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) (2006)
• (There are no more better movies of this genre)
• Social Network, The (2010)
• Red Riding: 1974 (2010)
• Silence (2016)
• Lions for Lambs (2007)
• Amazing Spider-Man, The (2012)
• Amazing Spider-Man 2, The (2014)
• (There are no more better movies of Teresa Palmer)
• I Am Number Four (2011)
• Bedtime Stories (2008)
• Sorcerer's Apprentice, The (2010)
• Lord of the Rings, The: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
• V for Vendetta (2006)
• Matrix, The (1999)
• Wolfman, The (2010)
• Matrix Revolutions, The (2003)
• Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Mel Gibson Calls Robert Downey Jr. ‘Bold and Generous’ for Urging Hollywood to Forgive Gibson After 2006 Arrest and Antisemitic Remarks: ‘I Loved Him for That’

By Zack Sharf

Digital News Director

• ‘Even Stevens’ Star Christy Carlson Romano Says She Rejected a Doc Like ‘Quiet on Set’ From Investigation Discovery: ‘These Are Trauma Tourists’ 27 mins ago
• Rebecca Ferguson Says Co-Stars Called Her After She Slammed the ‘Idiot’ Who Made Her Cry on Set: ‘If You’re a Good Person, Don’t Worry About It’ 1 hour ago
• Ryan Gosling Said ‘100% No’ When First Asked to Sing ‘I’m Just Ken’ Live at the Oscars Because ‘There’s a Lot of Ways That Could Go Wrong’ 3 days ago

Mel Gibson praised his longtime friend and “Air America” co-star Robert Downey Jr. in the latter’s new Esquire magazine cover story . Gibson called Downey “bold and generous and kind” for urging Hollywood to forgive Gibson after his infamous 2006 arrest, which included the “Braveheart” star making comments disparaging Jewish people. Gibson’s antisemitic remarks soured his career in Hollywood.

Popular on Variety

Downey noted that “unless you are completely without sin, in which case you picked the wrong fucking industry,” then you should consider giving Gibson a second chance.

The “Iron Man” star knew a thing or two about second chances in Hollywood considering he was an industry pariah himself at the turn of the century due to a string of legal troubles in the late 1990s. He was arrested in 1996 for possession of heroin, cocaine and an unloaded gun and given three years of probation. He was then jailed for nearly four months a year later after skipping a court-ordered drug test. He skipped another test in 1999 and was sentenced to three years in prison. Downey served 15 months, then was arrested again four months after his release for drug possession.

“I had heard all kinds of stories about how you were crazy,” Nolan told his “Oppenheimer” star earlier thi year. “It was only a few years after the last of those stories that had come out about you.”

Downey’s history with the law also made him a tough sell to Marvel for the career-defining role of Tony Stark. He was former Marvel Studios’ president David Maisel’s top pick, but “my board thought I was crazy to put the future of the company in the hands of an addict.”

“I helped them understand how great he was for the role,” Maisel  said in 2022 . “We all had confidence that he was clean and would stay clean.” 

Downey’s casting as “Iron Man” and the global box office success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that launched in its wake rehabilitated his image in Hollywood. Gibson’s career, however, never returned to its peak following his 2006 arrest. And yet, he continued to act and direct movies. His 2016 war drama “Hacksaw Ridge” earned him an Oscar nomination for best director.

Head over to  Esquire’s website to read Downey’s cover story  in its entirety.

More From Our Brands

Childish gambino announces final two new albums, plays new music on instagram live, what the watch world could learn from this year’s daring, wondrous women’s collections, a worrywart’s guide to the 2024 paris olympics, be tough on dirt but gentle on your body with the best soaps for sensitive skin, new captain america film is not ‘falcon and the winter soldier part 2,’ says anthony mackie, verify it's you, please log in.

Civil War (2024) Review

T he story of Civil War is relatively simple and is contained enough to comprehend. It takes place in a near dystopian future where a team of journalists travel across the United States during the tail-end of the Second American Civil War. The nation has been split into four different factions: Loyalist states, Western Forces, Florida Alliance and New People’s Army.

The team of journalists are hoping to interview and capture one last photo of the dictatorship U.S. government before rebel factions storm the capital of Washington D.C. The four main characters come from different experiences in combat journalism, but they must stick together to traverse the dangers of what America has become.

If this concept sounds very close to reality, it could be. While there is no direct correlation between the January 6, 2021, riot and the storming of the U.S. Capitol in real life, there are some similarities. Although it was a fictional movie, the atrocities and social commentary were all too real. However, Civil War director Alex Garland has already stated that they started writing the movie in 2020 and definitely had some influence from the incident, but it was not primarily a direct reference.

“Civil War was a significantly character-driven narrative, showing the various levels of stress on these journalists.”

Even the journalists’ perspectives and actions mimicked and emphasized the work of real war journalists. After watching this film, I could only imagine the war journalists covering so many current real tragedies like the Ukraine-Russia war and the war in Gaza. The film made me think of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines back in the 1980s (where my mother is from). It reminded me of the history of the twenty-year-long authoritarian/dictatorship regime by Ferdinand Marcos Sr. While there was not a full-blown firefight in the final moments to push Marcos out of power, the tensions were just as high.

I really want to commend all of the war/combat journalists and all journalists who are able to capture similar stories of trauma and death. I believe audiences will come out of this film with a genuine appreciation for their hard work, bravery, perseverance and stoicism to continue doing what they do.

Civil War was a significantly character-driven narrative, showing the various levels of stress on these journalists. This was where the core cast shone in their acting. Give Kirsten Dunst an Oscar nomination now because her range of emotions as the stone-faced war photojournalist Lee was golden. Seeing this broken character attempt to pick up the pieces of her past self in the current time was haunting and breathtaking.

“Give Kirsten Dunst an Oscar nomination now because her range of emotions as the stone-faced war photojournalist Lee was golden.”

To have the young budding photojournalist Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) acting opposite of Lee was also a perfect match. It was a true representation of the master and student relationship that felt relatable and realistic. Wagner Moura ( Narcos ) as Joel was a very complex character too, him being someone who is portraying a war junkie of sorts.

To round off the core group, Stephen McKinley Henderson ( Dune: Part One , Devs ) was such a wholesome character. He really brought the parent vibes with a glint of tragedy since he is also somewhat trapped in searching for the best scoops.

Jesse Plemons also proved that he did not need to have a longer on-screen part to make a long-lasting impression. He never fails to add tension to scenes, just take a look at his roles from Breaking Bad or even a strange pick like the action-comedy Game Night. His portrayal as a racist soldier will be one of my nightmares.I have never been as tense as I was watching The Bear season one finale, strangely two different situations of fear vs social anxiety.

Civil War will undoubtedly be a must-talked-about film upon release. It is borderline provocative, a conversation starter and bold. The subtle hints of characters’ pasts revealed through the journey to Washington D.C. are similar to Joel and Elle’s journey in The Last of Us —but still not as much depth as the popular video game and TV series. It is a little ironic that Nick Offerman played a really heartfelt character on HBO’s The Last of Us , but in this film, he is quite heartless.

On sound design and scoring, the silent moments held great weight throughout the movie. When characters are shell-shocked, so is the audience. I felt like this choice made me sit with them in these devastating moments of high stress and chaos. Audiences will probably connect with the haunting silence most recently in Oppenheimer when the atomic bomb goes off for the Trinity Test. There were even moments of silence as we saw the camera shots being taken.

I would say the score was the only thing not memorable, but I can forgive it in place of the nuanced silent moments. Also, check out the map of the divided factions on the film’s social media , which serves as a companion to the film. I feel like this is a must-view map to understand the geographical landscape of the factions. I went in without seeing the map, and I only really understood the two most talked about factions: the Loyalists and Western Forces.

“Civil War really captured my attention with shock and awe moments because it resembles real-world issues and imagery.”

I walked away, peeking into the lives of war journalists, and I think audiences would be gripping their seats as I looked into the microscope of these characters’ snippets of time in their lives. With a runtime shy of 2 hours, it was a concise, tight snippet of a worst-case scenario that offers a slight reality of where America could be heading in the near future.

Civil War really captured my attention with shock and awe moments because it resembles real-world issues and imagery. It is not a romanticized war movie or action flicks like White House Down or Olympus Has Fallen . Rather, it is an intellectual examination, dissection and introspection of real-world views.

As A24’s biggest-budget film, it told a massive narrative. I found this film really bridged the realism and emotional impact better than Netflix’s attempt with Leave the World Behind —despite me liking parts of that film. I think it is movies like this and Civil War which have shown us that the world can be so disconnected, so much so, that the enemies we are facing are not even the ones we can see. It could be A.I. or it could be a hacker in a basement.

Yes, this motion picture is a cautionary tale, but it is still a highly unlikely one to happen—with the power of conversation and democracy in the Western world. There have been countless examples of authoritarian regimes, and many countries and places have overcome them. I do not believe anyone wants that. As long as this dystopian United States is not brought up in a Simpsons episode, I think it is safe to say the U.S. is safe for now.