Hacksaw Ridge
After the best part of a decade spent cowering in Hollywood’s doghouse thanks to his reprehensible off-screen antics, Gibson makes a spirited bid for redemption with this sprawling biopic of Desmond Doss, a WWII combat medic who saved 75 lives during the Battle of Okinawa and became the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honour. With its protagonist’s backstory rooted in devout Christianity, domestic violence and alcoholism, the material proves, for better or worse, a natural fit for Gibson. Andrew Garfield is relentlessly endearing as the wide-eyed idealist Doss, even when he’s grappling with clunky, on-the-nose dialogue. Meanwhile, the battlefield-set final act affords the opportunity for some of the year’s most spectacularly bloody action scenes. While this crudely mixed cocktail of syrupy sentimentality and eye-popping violence sits heavily on the stomach, there’s no denying its potency.
Hacksaw Ridge | Directed by Mel Gibson (USA, Australia 2016) with Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington. Starts Januargy 26.
Check showtimes on OV search engine.