Hacksaw Ridge (***1/2)

Mel Gibson is certainly a director of considerable talent, and excusing his brushes with scandal, he is still a man who knows his craft and exudes a confidence on screen. "Hacksaw Ridge" is his first directorial effort in 10 years, and although at times the films fails to reach it's full potential, it's still a reminder that Gibson isn't someone we want banished from Hollywood.

In a time when it feels like World War II movies have been tired out, here comes another one that tells the true story of Desmond Doss. Unlike most soldiers, Doss is a Seventh Day Adventist who refuses to go against the 10 Commandments, particularly the one against killing. Enlisting to serve his country, his only slight is that he will not touch a gun. At first he is told that this will be acceptable. Boot camp certainly proves him wrong.

This is a movie that is told in two very distinct parts: the blossoming romance on the eve of enlistment, and the hellfire of battle itself. When you think of a war movie you must introduce the characters as everyday people. Doss is raised in Virginia, son to a drunk and lover to a nurse at a nearby hospital. On their first date he can't help but stare at her in the dark, ignoring the newsreel footage of battle. In another film that black and white image would be enough to spark Doss to enlist. Instead, he just smiles and smiles and wonders whether he should kiss her or not.

We see the fragments of why he is so against violence. His father (Hugo Weaving) who at one time lost his friends in World War I, is now a raging alcoholic who takes out his anger on both wife and kids. His only solace is the cemetery where his friends are now buried. Guns are expected in war, but in life, Doss sees them as a tool to only incite destruction. When so many people arm themselves to fight, he decides to work as a medic to try and save people instead.

Boot camp sees all the typical scenes one might expect, including peer bullying, obstacle courses, and a barrage of insults from the drill instructor (Vince Vaughn in a curiously non-comedic role. His performance and delivery of lines is astonishingly bad in an otherwise fine cast. This is the first true time I can honestly say that an actor was absolutely miscast). As he continues to refuse weapons training, Doss is thrown in a military prison and threatened to be locked up the duration of the war. We know he won't be, but it's still required in the film to establish the drama of the scenario.

As I said, the film is very clearly two stories, and part two hits the audience like a freight train as the nightmare of battle manifests on screen. Gibson, the director whose battle scenes in "Braveheart" are still considered some of the best of their kind, knows how to film action. The left-to-right path of the allies move across screen at Hacksaw Ridge; a precipice of mud and trenches on the shores of Okinawa. Taking this fortress means changing the tides of war. The battle which is filmed in extended sequences that truly are horrific, show blood and gore the likes of which we haven't seen in a war film in quite some time. Steven Spielberg didn't necessarily revolutionize war films with "Saving Private Ryan," but the intensity certainly harkens back to it.

Doss is remembered as having saved nearly 100 wounded soldiers from the battlefield when all other troops retreated. Through the night and into the next day, he worked to slowly drag men from the mud and lower them down a 50-foot cliff to their salvation. It's almost too fantastic to be a true story, and yet Mel Gibson himself said he was drawn to this story because it was about "a real life superhero without the spandex." After the war Doss even became the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor.

The film (nearly 2.5 hours) wraps up so quickly that it felt like a 3-hour movie that was missing the final reel. A quick montage shows the final moments of the battle and show some incredible real-life footage of the elderly men who actually knew Doss. Aside from some moments of cliche (how can a war film ever seek to be original when so much has been seen) and that brisk wrap-up to such an unbelievable story, I still would recommend the movie. Andrew Garfield in the leading role is at times a bit too hammy to demonstrate the depth a character like this would have, although such selflessness is maybe 100% accurate. I was happy to learn a bit more about one of America's unknown heroes.