Review of Hacksaw Ridge (2016) by Bradley M — 30 Jan 2017

Mel Gibson makes a confident and resounding return to the director's chair with the story of a conscientious objector who saves over 70 lives and is rightly venerated for it. Andrew Garfield is excellent in the lead role, nailing a southern accent and expressing al the determination, grief and despondency the part requires.

The first half is the weakest, plodding along through a series of rote conflicts and stereotypical character arcs. It does have some heartfelt moments where our hero's pacifism is introduced and bashes up against the gung-ho attitude of his peers, but it could have been much shorter and less clichéd.

The second half, however, is fantastic. Visceral, emotional, engaging and exciting as Hell. Gibson knows exactly where to point the camera, how and when to move it and how to co-ordinate a huge battle scene.

The sequence on the titular ridge is one of the most spectacular action sequences in recent memory, and when it's over you feel like you've been in the heat of it all along. It may not quite stack up to war classics like Saving Private Ryan or Apocalypse Now, but it tells a compelling story, giving us a protagonist who is humane, morale and steadfast, even in the most terrifying of situations.