Warning: This review does contain spoilers.
The film Hacksaw Ridge is based on the true story of Desmond Doss, the first of only 3 conscientious objectors to be given a Medal of Honor due to his bravery in combat. The film specifically focuses briefly on his rough childhood with an alcoholic, abusive father, then on to his life briefly before meeting his future wife and enlisting in the armed forces. The final sections are the complete turnaround of his commanding officers during training and his immense bravery that he displayed at the Battle of Okinawa.
Emotionally the movie changed a lot throughout it's four different major settings. The childhood scenes have a quick glimpse at the happiness and bleakness that were both on their way in the later sections. Everything leading up to training camp was cheery and hopeful. At times, the scenes with Desmond and Dorothy (Desmond's future wife) felt more like a romantic comedy than a war movie. However, during training camp the movie took a hard turn towards bleak and depressing. It starts off well enough with friendly introductions from (almost) everyone in his company, but as soon as they arrive at rifle training, the commanding officers and fellow recruits turn on him and try forcing him to drop out through beatings, harsh punishments, and at one point the officers even attempt to Court Marshal Desmond for disobeying direct orders.
The most outstanding part of training camp sequence was Vince Vaughn's portrayal as the hard and strict sgt. Howell. Most viewers are likely used to seeing Vaughn playing light-hearted comedic roles, but he did an absolutely stunning job as the sergeant in Desmond's company. The comedy during his scenes at boot camp felt natural and was reminiscent of the funny quips and rude remarks of the Boot Camp segment of Full Metal Jacket.
The real powerhouse section of the movie was the Okinawa portion. Here Desmond and the other soldiers transform from young, fresh recruits into hardened soldiers. As they arrive on the Island, the film foreshadows the upcoming display of death and brutality by showing a procession of trucks carrying corpses and wounded soldiers followed by a small amount of mostly unharmed survivors.
Mel Gibson shows himself as a truly talented director during these scenes. Hacksaw Ridge has some of the best combat scenes I've ever scene in a war film. The choreography and cinematography were masterfully done and directed during the combat scenes, and each one started so abruptly and violently that they honestly made me jump harder than most horror movies do.
The Okinawa scenes are heavily emotional as we see the opinions of Doss' fellow soldiers towards him change from disdainful and disrespectful to feelings of admiration and great respect. He charges into hell alongside them without a single way to defend himself and with his only personal mission being to save lives. Eventually, the U.S. troops are all driven off the ridge, except for Doss. Desmond Doss decides to stay behind on the ridge and head back into the enemy lines 70 times to rescue wounded soldiers on both sides. In the end, Desmond ends up wounded himself and the audience is left with a final scene of him in the tent alongside all the soldiers he rescued, followed by a few brief testimonials from the real Desmond Doss himself, as well as a few close friends and fellow soldiers.
Overall, this is honestly one of the best films I've ever seen of any genre. The writing and directing was incredibly well done, as were the acting performances of every single character that had more than just a few seconds worth of screen time. The story was incredibly well done, also. It did a good job of objectively showing the story of Desmond's deeds at Okinawa without taking a heavy-handed religious approach (which could have made Hacksaw Ridge feel like an extremely graphic Hallmark movie).
My only honest gripes about this movie have to do with minor overlooks in the story, for instance: At one point Desmond gives away his meat rations since Seventh Day Adventists are practicing vegetarians, however, earlier in the movie at dinner he and his family are shown eating meat. Those oversights are few and far between, and are the only real detraction from the movie.
On a scale of 1 to 10, Hacksaw Ridge is a definite 9 in my opinion due to it's incredible cinematography, writing, and acting. It's a serious contender for being among the greatest war movies ever made.
