Hacksaw Ridge: Strongly Recommend!

Spoiler Free

A lot of good war movies start with some sort of phrase that reads “Based on true events.”

Hacksaw Ridge opens with the phrase “These events happened.”

Up front that change charges you emotionally to invest in this story. It makes the story that you’re about to see more real. More personal. More amazing.

Bottom Line Up Front: This may be the best war movie ever made. It’s definetly in the top five.

Lets look at a brief overview and I’m going to try to not inject any spoilers here because, oh boy! You need to enjoy this one!

One of the things that makes this movie work well is that it’s actually four stories.

First, it starts with the pre war exposition of the childhood of the point of view character Desmond Doss. (Yeah he’s our hero)!

Of note, this section of the movie drops us into the Depression Era 1930’s mid war in the USA and delves into Desmond’s troubled childhood which is under the shadow of the “Great War.”

Second, as Desmond approaches adulthood, this show turns into a love story and he finds the girl of his dreams and their courtship unfolds.

Third drops us into the Basic Training montage.

There is a duality to Hacksaw Ridge’s Basic Training sequence in that if you’ve seen any World War II basic training montage you’ve seen this before.

However, this sequence does a brilliant job as a second expositional series to introduce the battle buddies that Desmond Doss actually goes into battle with. It also keenly tests Doss’ character and shows us his tenacity in the face of adversity.

Vince Vaughn just steals the show in this section of the film as the training Sergeant. Probably the best movie portrayal of a World War II drill sergeant ever.

Fourth: Hacksaw Ridge.

This is a brutal unflinching immersion into the war experience during the Second World War using all of the most modern special effects possible.

Add the ingenous and couragous journey of Desmond Doss in this ultimate hell is ultimately heart warming and rewarding.

And it’s all true.

This movie is rated a hard R (in the USA) and it deserves it. I still recommend you watch this movie.

I can’t think of a better War Movie. (as of May, 2021).

Hacksaw Ridge is available to view on Amazon Prime!