Hacksaw Ridge (Higuys Bridge)

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Hacksaw Ridge (Higuys Bridge)

Postby TheStuboy » November 25th, 2016, 8:26 pm

Spoilers ahead. This afternoon I figured I would take in a movie and then find seven or so geocaches before it got too dark. I wanted to see Hacksaw Ridge for a while since the previews looked okay, and I knew little to nothing about the film. In fact I had no idea it was based on a true story (spoiler). Anyway, Hacksaw Ridge follows the story of Desmond Doss, who because he was a Seventh Day Adventist, refused to use a weapon in war... and he got away with it. He goes to Okinawa (apparently not the only places he went, but we don't see the other places) and has to fight for Hacksaw Ridge, a large cliff area the Japanese heavily defend.
The movie shows Doss's past, and his enlistment in basic training and how he refuses to hold a weapon and faces a couple of beatforces including Vince Vaughn, his drill sergeant.
I was honestly waiting for the film to speed up. I'm like, I realize that some of this is important, but for the most part the first half is slow. Then we go to the battle scenes, which were well done aside from the sheer ridiculousness of it all. I told my brother that some of it seemed unrealistic, as in there is no way in hell people would survive that. But I guess they did. There are some brutal scenes, and a lot of body parts all over. This was first shown to us in Saving Private Ryan, and by now, its got to the point where it's like yeah, I know, war is hell. Trying to gross me out like Fury did doesn't earn you points. I care more about story than gore.
I did see a couple of continuity errors, and people getting shot only to be okay later. I was also confused with the two guys who look like Sam Worthington. I couldn't tell them apart at times, especially when their helmets were on.
The film ends kind of hea. Andrew Garfield gets his bible back, and he gets stuck halfway down the cliff but he's okay. He just says heaaa really loud and then the film goes into interviews with the real life people. It was only at the very end did I realize that the events in this film really happened. It kind of improved my outlook on the film at that point. Had I known that earlier, I may not have thought how ridiculous some of the action was.

I thought the acting was decent, although I'm confused with some of the casting. I don't see Vince Vaughn as a drill sergeant. Granted he did the best he could with his short part, but hea. Sam Worthington is a beatforce (which is why he was in Terminator), and so are some of the other cast members. I'm not really sure what to think about Andrew Garfield. He did okay, but like Spiderballs, I'm not sure I like him yet.

Mel Gibson (who plays the voice of the bus driver) has done better films (Braveheart being the one that comes to mind), and this is no Braveheart. It is also not Saving Private Ryan. Some of the reviewers said this was the best war film since SPR. I disagree. There have been better (not American Sniper though, that film was kind of overrated). One of the biggest problems I had with this film was the over-use of slowmo. Just stop! If you need to show important action, please use another technique to show it. That's one of my pet peeves, especially if it is overdone.
It is, however, an okay film, but certainly not the best war film I've ever seen (SPR). I did enjoy the action sequences and some of the historical accuracy (not sure about how true most of it is though). It reminded me a lot of the Call of Duty 2 opening level at Pointe Du Hoc in Normandy; except you don't have Germans shooting down from you on the ridge, who could have also just as easily cut the ropes. God why didn't they think of that. Stus.

Hacksaw Ridge will be in my top ten of 2016, but lower on the list. It gets a 3 out of 5. Subsequent viewings may be more forgiving but we'll see.

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"You're not Sam Worthington!"
"No but later in the movie I just might be, you'll never know!"

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This was one of the scenes in the film where I said to myself "bullshit". You don't know Karate, you know crazy!

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We were soldiers once, in a movie that sucked worse than this film.
"I won, you losht, get ushed to it shon"
Danny Glovershh - Shhootersh.
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