Review of Hacksaw Ridge (2016) by Saintdecky — 06 Feb 2017

Hacksaw Ridge is a 50/50 movie for me. I didn't particularly enjoy the first hour of the movie, but boy, did the second hour make up for it.

Plot: As I mentioned, the first hour of the movie was very melodramatic as well as cliched and borderline boring. It's a typical love story, everything works out conveniently, and some of the line delivery and scenes are cheesy. However, the second hour is pure brutality and war violence, that is so well done and filmed excellently. It was like watching two completely different movies (like Full Metal Jacket but not executed quite as well). But, the advantage of having the first half so happy and dandy, it makes the second half so much more brutal, which I'm not sure is intentional or not. Otherwise, the second half was done well; shot perfectly, great sound editing and mixing, good enough story. It's just the first half that brings the score down a bit.

Characters/Acting: Andrew Garfield did an excellent job, earning the Oscar nomination. Do I think he should win? No, but he deserves the recognition. Otherwise, the acting from the supporting cast was good, but it was mainly a showcase of Garfield's character and acting. I didn't like Vince Vaughn's portrayal of an army sergeant. I didn't think he was fit at all for the role, and didn't seem menacing enough to be a drill sergeant. The problem is, when he insults all the privates when prepping them, it feels very Hollywood and doesn't match the lighthearted tone the first half of the movie had. Full Metal Jacket actually had a matching tone and, although funny, it made you feel uncertain about whether or not you should laugh. Vince Vaughn just looks like too funny or nice of a guy to be seriously shouting insults as a sergeant.

Cinematography: The cinematography was great in Hacksaw Ridge. It captured the sheer brutality of war, and the action was amazingly directed. As controversial as Mel Gibson may be, he knows how to direct action and warfare.

Other: The movie was a bit heavy-handed; there were plenty of Jesus allegories throughout the run-time of the film that can be seen as propaganda. For example, there's a scene of Garfield having water poured onto him as he looks up at the sky, arms at his side, being cleansed of the blood that cakes his skin, all in slow-motion, while emotional music plays. I also didn't enjoy the depiction of the Japanese. They are portrayed as absolutely ferocious, disgusting, ugly creatures that MURICA must defeat. Their caricatures are exaggerated and Gibson really tries to get the point across that the Japanese are the bad guys, and you should be rooting for MURICA.

Overall, Hacksaw Ridge is half cheesy-cliche, half brutal, well done, action. This is not a movie for the squeamish.