Hacksaw Ridge is directed by Oscar-winning director Mel Gibson (Braveheart, Passion of the Christ) and stars Andrew Garfield (Amazing Spider-Man, The Social Network), Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, and Garrett Hedlund. The story is about Desmond Doss, an American soldier during World War II, who saved 75 soldiers during the Battle of Okinawa while being a conscientious objector. This is a story that feels like it should have been made a long time ago and Gibson treats this hero’s story with great care, while not holding back on showing the brutality of war. Garfield gives a career-best performance in this film and blends into this character perfectly, while making the audience believe in why Doss believed so strongly in his beliefs. Most of the supporting cast is more than serviceable, with Weaving, as Doss’s father, and Worthington, as his commanding officer, the true standouts. Weaving almost steals the screen in every minute of his screen time and perfectly portrays the struggle that a father had in sending his son to war during this time period. The battle scenes in the film are visceral and show the different battle tactics of the Japanese and American soldiers in a harrowing fashion. The main fault of the film is the casting of Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers, Swingers) as Doss’s training sergeant. Vaughn is too over-the-top with his performance and feels like he is in a completely different movie than the rest of the cast. Overall, Hacksaw Ridge is one of, if not the best, films of the year so far and will be a major player in the awards races towards the end of the year.

Hacksaw Ridge: 9.5 out of 10