If there’s one thing that made me question whether or not I liked Hacksaw Ridge (other than the more superficial problem of third act being pretty repetitive and weak compared to the first two) was the concept of religion in it, a big elephant in the room with any film (other than Braveheart and Apocalypto) in anything Mel Gibson. Hacksaw Ridge has a distinct sense of religion baked into it that the stigma of it is unavoidable. That said we all want religion to be something for the good of all people (at least I hope we do) and that’s more or less the stance that Hacksaw Ridge takes. That religion is more for the good of the hero and the people around him in the literal hell-scape that they occupy and that it brings people together and keeps them from violence. And despite that tangent, which is more like the first thing I wanted to say, Hacksaw Ridge is something that you should see, if only because it’s smartly written and pristinely directed to show the true horrors of the war that it portrays. The whole first act is really just setup but it serves the purpose of making the audience comfortable with the main character and the worldview that he occupies. Desmond Doss is a conscientious objector, meaning that he cannot touch a weapon or dole out violence in any way. This becomes problematic when you’re in an area where killing is your job. The most important thing about the opening act of Hacksaw Ridge is that it’s sugar-sweet and cheesy to the point of almost second-hand embarrassment, but this works mainly because the screenwriters are intelligent enough to address the audience and put them in the mind space for it too. There’s a conversation in which, in the attempt to pick up a girl, the main character says something extremely cheesy and when her response is commenting on that fact that it was, Doss responds in saying he’d worked on the line all night, smiling like an idiot. This is almost a reassurance to the audience telling them, “Yes, we understand that we’re corny, but we’re also completely earnest about it, so give us a break.” The delivery of the lines from Andrew Garfield, playing Doss, with an ungodly sense of optimism and levity and his costar Teresa Palmer’s mirror personality makes the whole scene enjoyable. This optimism doesn’t always work well with the complex mix of PTSD issues that Hugo Weaving brings as Desmond’s father, and the patriarchal view of all of this stews into feeling a bit sickening, but it’s all just likable enough. The following training sequences are the highlight of this beginning act though as the film allows us to laugh at the soldiers in a way many war movies don’t. The abject racism of Vince Vaughn as the drill Sergeant, a muscular Clark Gable type realizing too late that being naked when drills start does not mean you get to put your pants on and a young man with a knife in his foot having to explain it to his superior officer are all really funny situations, especially since they are all making fun of the subjects (a surprise on Gibson’s part). Then again, if you’re like me, you’re not really there for the drama or the laughs, even if they do really work, You’re there to see what type of adrenaline pumping, traumatizing thing Gibson has put on screen. Gibson’s violence has always been strong gory stuff but just detached enough to be exciting rather than upsetting always, though there are moments of Apocalypto where the thing truly goes scary as hell. Hacksaw Ridge delivers the same amount of Mel Gibson violence but he does what most filmmakers are a little too noble to do. He casts the entire thing as a straight horror show, complete with jump scares and unrelenting violence. I’d personally say that I have a desensitization to some violence, but when the first battle scene of Hacksaw was done, I was shaking in my seat and gritting my teeth. That first battle ranks up with the work that Gibson did in Braveheart and deserves to be seen if just for the numbing effect that it sends you into. The battle is especially easy to follow and because you laughed with these men it’s literally painful to watch them run through hell. The amount of violence that Gibson dishes out is warranted, but the numbing feeling does have side effects eventually, as Gibson’s own audacity to be so violent starts to wear thin over time. As Doss starts to save people, well that’s all the movie turns into and it often feels like it’s running out the clock too often. There’s a montage of him saving a lot of people….after he’s done so for the past 20 minutes. The film simply slows to a crawl and thankfully ends quickly after that. Hacksaw Ridge is an odd mixture of a film. Each section of the film is resoundingly strong for the most part and yet lacking in others. The question as to whether or not Mel Gibson is back? Ok, fine he’s ok...hopefully, there are no more rants. Hacksaw Ridge gets an 8 out of 10. Review by Stephen Tronicek
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December 2017
CategoriesAuthorHello welcome to FilmAnalyst. My name is Stephen Tronicek, and I really like movies. This is a way to get my opinions out to people. Thank you for visiting. |