Hacksaw Ridge (2016) Review

The incredible true story of Desmond Doss an American Army Medic serving in World War II and how he won a medal of honour without actually firing from a gun!

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The film takes you on a journey with Desmond Doss a man who stood by his beliefs to never kill anyone else and wants to go to war to actually help people. Working as a medic but he wants to do it without even carrying a gun. This obviously does not go down very well with other members of his regiment in the Army. With drastic measures taken in an attempt to get him to quit and go home.

We are shown different moments and parts of his life which have really shaped his beliefs and decisions towards tough choices he has had to make. It really is something else to see just why he wanted to be able to fight in a war without a weapon, or maybe that she would represent his country!

His early life with his older brother Hal and their abusive drunk father was tough and really did shape everything that would then happen to him. Tom Doss had been in the Army himself and had never managed to cope with the death of his friends at such a young age. It does make for some tough and emotional viewing as he does not want the same thing to happen to his sons, which is understandable.

The first parts of the film also focus on the love story between Desmond and Dorothy which in all honesty I was not expecting at all, I thought it certainly gave the film an extra edge in showing that he really did have someone and something to live for. Even though it didn’t seem that he really gave that much thought at times.

War is brutal and this film did not shy away from that fact with some of the scenes and moments. I guess that is very important really as you cannot sugar coat and make it all look perfectly nice and normal. Fighting like that really is not pretty, some of the scenes will make you want to look away from the screen with the injuries but that is what makes it feel very real.

I will admit though that after watching the film I felt slightly underwhelmed I must have been expecting a little bit more from it after the hype that has been surrounding it. I didn’t find myself that emotionally attached to the characters which I was very much expecting to happen.

I did think Andrew Garfield was fantastic in the leading role and he really was engaging. Great to see him stepping up to this type of film (along with Silence) both of which I have seen this year. He will probably be changing a lot of peoples opinions on him in such a great way. I was very surprised to see Vince Vaughn impress in a rather serious role and a different type of character, he still got some lighthearted moments but I was impressed with the direction his career went in.

This film has a lot of Oscar buzz surrounding it and I guess we don’t have many hours left to see what and who will be nominated, I am actually surprised by all of that though as the film did not really blow me away or anything like that. Sometimes hype really does spoil a film when expectations are set ever so high!