Before watching Hacksaw Ridge, I watched the trailer a few times (who am I kidding, I watch it a million times) and every time watching it, I got those chills and I told myself to go watch it when it came out. Were those chills worth the wait? God, yes!

WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

The movie is based on a shocking true story about Doss, who joined an army because he wanted to serve the country. He always wanted to be a doctor so when he met Dorothy, his future wife, he decided to study for doctor and after his brother joined the army, he joined too. He was very religious, so he couldn’t kill anyone and that is what makes the movie so interesting. At the beginning, everyone is calling him a coward and everyone’s telling him to go home, but he refuses, so they sent him to the army court (or however that is called). If you play a drinking game like every time someone tells him to go home, you take a shot, you would be drunk or dead in like… 10 minutes? Although you know that he’ll win in the court, these scenes were interesting. Also, at the beginning of the movie we learn a lot about Doss, his past and how he met Dorothy. The love between Dorothy and Doss are not forced like in a lot of movies.

The acting in this movie is great. I can already see an Oscar nomination for Andrew Garfield (Desmond Doss). His acting is so good that I think he has a chance to win it. There is one “Oscar scene” which is telling us the nomination. I really like how he talks to the officers in the army. Everyone’s telling him to go home and he’s smiling and he’s telling them how he’s going to serve the country. Also, his religiousness is well acted and written. There is one scene when he’s saving all the wounded soldiers and every time he saves one he says:”Please, Lord, help me get one more.” That scene creeped the shit out of me. Those scenes are very emotional, so if you have a light heart, you’ll probably cry a lot. There are a lot of other actors that did great, like Teresa Palmer (Dorothy) or Hugo Weaving (Tom Doss), but this would take too long to analyze.

The action scenes are great. They are fun, bloody and a lot of times disturbing. You can tell that this is Mel Gibson’s movie for sure. You can see a lot of soldiers without legs, crawling around. Also, when soldiers get shot, they don’t get shot with only one bullet, they got shot with 10 bullets and that makes the scene bloody as hell. All these scars, no legs and bullet holes are very detailed and I think that this could be another Oscar nomination for the best makeup and hairstyling.

The soundtrack is great. I really like it because it’s an original score and it has that war feeling. It reminds me of Saving Private Ryan, although I can say that this is better. The visual effects are great. The explosions, fire and guns are done great. I have to give a credit to a sound designers. While watching scenes that are during night, when Doss is saving other survivors, he is crawling to them and everything is quiet. But there are few moments when some Japanese soldier notice him and they suddenly start shooting at him and that scares you shitless. There are a lot of critics that don’t like the ending of the movie. The last battle was shown in a montage and it lasts for like… 10 or 15 minutes. For me, it was great because it is an emotional ending and Gibson used montage to score that. And he did it.

At the end, Hacksaw Ridge is the best war movie so far. I can say that it is at the rank of Saving Private Ryan, just better. I am expecting this movie to be nominated for the best movie of the year. Thank you Mel Gibson for making this movie!

My rating: 11/10 (One of the best)