The trials and tribulations of war are tough enough, but made nearly impossible when a young soldier decides against using a weapon in battle. “Hacksaw Ridge” is the extraordinary true story of conscientious collaborator Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a US army medic who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of World War II, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a single gun. He believed the war was just, but killing was nevertheless wrong; therefore he was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon. As an army medic, Doss single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. He was the first conscientious objector to ever earn the Congressional Medal of Honor by Harry S Truman for saving the lives of 75 soldiers throughout the war. “Hacksaw Ridge” is directed by Mel Gibson, and is rated R for intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence including grisly bloody images.

Mel Gibson has certainly proven that he is a more-than capable director with efforts in “Apocalypse”, “Braveheart” and “The Passion of the Christ”, but with “Hacksaw Ridge”, he may have capitalized on his most decorated of achievements to date. This movie is a brutal gut-punch to anyone who firmly supports war activities. An anti-war film that is filmed in such a brutal and hostile manner to present disturbing imagery that really drives a stake through the audience in a safe theater. Many movies fail to capture that dread and feeling of despair in the material they are trying to convey, but Gibson’s personal touch here in atmospheric tension that builds to a resounding blast really kept me on the edge of my seat for just over two hours of jaw-dropping display. This is simply one of those movies that has to be seen if you believe we all serve a purpose in anything, whether it’s big or small. A little engine that could on the battlefield if you will, and it’s clear from Gibson’s direction that this story (like its lead character) has a lot of steam to keep this train rolling.

The story kicks off shadowing the history of Garfield’s character. Right away, we start to understand that his stance on violence and taking a life go much further than a quivering stomach. With his firm belief in the sixth commandment, Garfield’s Doss believes that killing shouldn’t be in the hands of men, supplanting a responsibility for something much greater than them. These scenes went a long way in relating the mental position and beliefs from Doss before one round of ammunition is ever fired in this movie. That’s simple yet brilliant storytelling from a narrative aspect because we are injected with the same kind of feelings and knowledge that our protagonist has. Even the violence hound out there will fully grasp the shock factor of taking a life, something that Gibson showcases as a life-altering event that’s consequences aren’t just at face value. The background of Doss feels slightly rushed, with him being a worker in his Mother’s church, engaged to a beautiful woman he met only days prior, and enlisting into the army all in a half hour window. I can understand this position from an introductory standpoint, and that doesn’t bother me. What does is how these characters are never heard from again halfway into the movie. It’s like Gibson just drops them without any further reaction on Doss’s mental well-being. The story does keep moving at a strongly paced command, but I could’ve used a little more input from time-to-time with what was going on in Doss’s home world without him.

Then it happened. Halfway into the movie, this whole attitude and tone of the movie takes a turn for chaotic when we get our first real taste of war, and it sure is a jarring one. It’s clear to understand why the love story and family living of Doss is played so softly up to this point, so that the impact from the change in scenery really shakes its audience. The action sequences are impressive, piloting some of the very best sound editing and mixing that I have heard in an entire year of audio spectacles. I felt my auditorium seat rumble with every blast that our cast walk through, creating a private hell that feels very much as intimidating as it does claustrophobic. The visuals and set pieces here are breathtaking, communicating the landscapes of Okinawa to a tee. There was a personal feeling of walking into a land where predictability has been thrown out of the window, and that couldn’t ring more true than to see several of the soldiers that we have gotten to know and understand to this point, brutally slaughtered with little to no remorse or lasting reaction. My only slight critique in the war scenes was that of the bullet wounds that looked terrible when compared to the detailed practical effects of the gore. The choice to make the bullet wounds a CGI effect complete with computer blood really distracted me from staying fully embraced in this tense and locked situation that I was in, and I would’ve preferred they played it from a practical standpoint all around.

As far as the performances go, this is a well-rounded cast of fresh faces and film veterans alike, playing against stereotype. It was certainly nice to see Vince Vaughn back in the taking of a serious role here, as his display of Sergeant Howell is the perfect hard-ass to play against our likeable lead. Vaughn has a real father figure sense to him when all is said and done. There’s a great sadness to training kids for weeks only to send them off to be more-than-likely killed. While the quick-wits of Vaughn still resonates in this role, what made me a believer in his delivery was just how menacing he could be when a character is on the opposite side. I also greatly enjoyed the spirited Garfield as our main character. I was a little worried early on about how soft this character was being portrayed, but the transformation into a heroic alter-ego is one of great patience and timing that Garfield puppeteers into his best performance to date. Garfield has some truly heroic moments that show off the greatness that this actor is capable of, and I certainly hope this and last year’s “99 Homes” is a turning point in the career of this promising kid. The best performance leaps and bounds for me however, was the great Hugo Weaving once again stealing the show with less than forty minutes of actual screen time. Weaving plays the father of Doss, so we know immediately the kind of hard ass that this guy most likely is, and our suspicions are confirmed with endless drinking and violence that has rubbed off in detrimental ways to his family. Weaving’s performance here is so gripping because he is our first and only proof during the first act of what war can do to a man. In him, we see a weathered and regretful presence that finds trouble in even passing as a shell of a man anymore, and with more time Hugo could’ve garnered a best supporting actor nomination at next year’s Oscars.

Gibson’s choice to paint “Hacksaw Ridge” as an anti-war film is one not only of great restraint, but great precision in the differences in worlds that he carefully constructs. This movie is not one for the faintly hearted, and the frightening visuals serve as a warning to what kind of history we are doomed to face if we don’t seek the change in the world that we desire. With a little more focus on the homefront to play opposite of Garfield’s harrowing display, “Hacksaw Ridge” not only would’ve been Gibson’s best, not only would’ve been a perfect ten, but it would’ve been possibly the best film of 2016. Like war though, this one will always haunt me for that of what I witnessed. Such urgency in passionate patriotism and religious conviction craft a heroes story that breathes optimism for a better future.

9/10