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Hacksaw Ridge starring Andrew Garfield: Poetic, Brutal and Beautiful

Posted on December 5, 2016 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Hacksaw Ridge starring Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington and Teresa Palmer. Directed by Mel Gibson.

UPDATED: HACKSAW RIDGE Awards, Nominations and Box Office

Hacksaw Ridge is currently (as on January 1st, 2017) is rated at 8.5 on ?MDB voted by over 42,000 people. It’s Metascore is 71, and is currently at number 90 on IMDB’s Top 250 Films list.

The budget is about 40 million, and its current box office (domestic and international) has surpassed 136. The movie was nominated for 3 Golden Globes: Best Motion Picure (Drama), Best Actor (Drama, Andrew Garfield), and Best Director (Mel Gibson). It won AFI for Movie of the Year, and won several Australian Film Institute Awards including Best Actor, Best Direction and Best Screenplay.

Hacksaw Ridge starring Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn & Sam Worthington

Based on the incredible true story of Desmond Doss, Hacksaw Ridge is a movie about how a young combat medic didn’t bend his pacifist beliefs for anyone, and ended up being a war hero without having fired a gun or used a weapon (with the wonderful exception where he used a rifle to make a makeshift sliding stretcher for his wounded sergeant).

Plot Summary

Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) grows up in a violent home. Even though he has a loving mother (Rachel Griffiths), his father (Hugo Weaving) frequently uses violence on them, including his brother Hal (Nathaniel Buzolic; Kol from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals).

Their father is not necessarily evil; he is just a war veteran dealing with survivor’s guilt and PTSD horribly.

Doss boys seem to have a violent streak themselves. During one fight, Desmond almost injures Hal beyond repair, which triggers Desmond to embrace the peace-loving nature of his religion.

Desmond Doss grows up to be a loving, caring and determined man. He falls in love with beautiful nurse Dorothy (Teresa Palmer), which further ignites his love for medicine. Not having been educated well, being a paramedic seems to be his only option. Fuelled to serve his country and do something while others are also risking lives, he enlists. However, he objects to doing any weapon training and gets treated horribly by most of his fellow soldiers in training and superiors.

However, he eventually manages to get what he wants. And as horrifying violence and mayhem surround them, everyone who ridiculed him gets to see what he is truly made of – again and again and again.

rsz_hacksaw-ridge — Actual scene. Image via The Independent.

Hacksaw Ridge was directed by Mel Gibson. Unlike his other directed films, he is not a producer this time. He also doesn’t star in it either, unlike Braveheart, or The Man Without a Face.

I haven’t seen Apocalypto or The Passion of the Christ. However, I have seen Braveheart (and The Man Without a Face, which is not a war film.) – and while Hacksaw Ridge isn’t quite there, it is pretty damn impressive.

Hacksaw Ridge is also understandably more violent. Braveheart had swords and arrows. Hacksaw Ridge doesn’t shy away from any shot that might make you cringe or want to look away. It has more blood, more severed limbs, and people in more pain. It makes you uncomfortable, and not for the sake of show or art. War is hell, and Mel Gibson makes sure you feel that in your veins.

Many people, including the cast argue Hacksaw Ridge is both a love story and a war story; you might consider it one or the other. But I disagree. Hacksaw Ridge is an epic anti-war movie with beautiful romantic scenes and horrifying war scenes. But it is more a respectful, albeit glorious, biography of a humane man of faith than a war film or a romance.

Teresa Palmer and Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge.

I’m agnostic. I don’t like religious motives or messages much. But you see, Hacksaw Ridge might show a Bible, but anyone with a heart can’t disagree of how Doss has interpreted the message: “Don’t harm anyone. And absolutely, do not kill.”

And he does exactly that. He doesn’t fight back when people hit him, which might be considered extreme. But he is proving a point. He is proving his principles. And he ends up saving 75 people in the course of about 12 hours. He helps a lot more.

He gets shocked and wounded and tested. But he doesn’t give up. He prays to be able to save another man. And then prays to be able to save the next.

Comparisons to Saving Private Ryan

Comparisons are being made for better and worse, and it’s only natural.

– Like Saving Private Ryan (aff. link), Hacksaw Ridge asks some very hard questions about humanity.

“Is the life of 8 men more or less important than the life one 1, if the mother of that one kid has lost three of her four kids in the same war.”

vs.

“Is it ever okay to kill and go against your beliefs? Or is it okay to risk everything to make the world a better place?”

– Both films have disturbingly realistic battle scenes. Both films have great casts, though SPR’s might have been slightly more famous. Both are critically acclaimed; both have amazing directors.

– Both films have solid anti-war messages.

– Both films must be seen as movie lovers, and people.

– I liked them both. I just liked HR a bit better.

Mel Gibson is my favorite actor, and he is one of my favorite directors. So there is a positive bias. But HR assaults your emotions for a shorter time. It’s ultimately less depressing despite being equally terrifying at times.

It’s a matter of personal preference. I’m pretty sure I can’t sit through SPR again one more time, just like I’d have to fast-forward HR’s battle scenes. Once is enough.

– Both movies have achieved greatness at shockingly low budgets for movies this size: Saving Private Ryan at 70 mil and Hacksaw Ridge at 40 mil.

Some more reasons to see Hacksaw Ridge

– The training scenes have some good humor. I loved the sergeant’s (Vince Vaughn) reaction to the naked soldier “Hollywood.” Also, Vince Vaughn is in a dramatic role again.

I have loved Vince Vaughn as an actor since Return to Paradise, which is one of my favorite films. It provides one of the most humane, enthralling and impossible-to-make decisions ever, and Vaughn shines in a dramatic role. Sure, he almost always talks fast, but he is as good as drama as he is at comedy. HR takes him to deeper lengths than The Interns ever could or wanted to (which is really entertaining film). The point is, Vaughn has more substance than just being the king of R-rated comedies.

– The romance is very well-done. It’s not sappy or corny. It has a pureness to it we haven’t quite seen since the relationship between Wallace and Murron. It feels real (and well, it was real.) So if like me, you really didn’t enjoy The Choice, here’s Teresa Palmer’s second chance to win you over in a romantic story.

Hacksaw Ridge is a must-see war film. It’s, in my opinion, not the best movie or the best war movie ever made. It’s however a very exquisite one that deserves to be seen on the big screen. It’s not always easy to watch, but you will feel intensely. You will occasionally escape your reality and the depressing things going on around the world. However, you’ll also be faced with the uncensored ugliness of war. I’d say it is great entertainment, but that’d not be the best choice of words. I wasn’t entertained. I felt. A lot, and all the time.

Written by Robert Schenkkan and Andrew Knight. Also featuring Luke Bracey and Milo Gibson (one of Mel Gibson’s 8 kids). Directed by Mel Gibson.

How about you? Have you seen Hacksaw Ridge? What did you think?

Never Let Me Go starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield & Keira Knightley

Posted on March 2, 2012 Written by ripitup

never let me go movie poster — Never Let Me Go starring Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan & Keira Knightley.

Never Let Me Plot (with minor spoilers)

It is the late 70s. Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Ruth (Keira Knightley) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield) go to a strict English boarding school where they are not allowed to go outside the school perimeters and their health is observed with suspicious scrutiny.

As one teacher points it out, these are not regular children. They are clones who were created so that they would grow up to be organ donors. And it is not just one time, one organ. Their “mission” will be to donate as much as their body allows. Most die during their second or third time. And dying is the ultimate accomplishment, the fulfillment of their purpose.

These clones, apart from the restricted upbringing, are pretty much like other children. They learn about subjects, play in the schoolyard, make friends and even fall in love. But by the time they are allowed outside contact, they wouldn’t know how to exist in a world outside the one created for them.

As they grow up, Ruth hooks up with Tommy, who shares a much more intense and emotional bond with Kathy. Feeling excluded, Kathy decides to become a “carer” – a clone who takes of other donors until they “complete the mission”. While this gives the carer more freedom and a couple of more extra years, they are all eventually called upon their “duty”. Will Tommy and Kathy be able to reconnect before this happens?

***

Any Good?

Never Let Me Go is a drama with sci-fi elements. Based on the book of Kazuo Ishiguro, and written for the screen by Alex Garland, it is a very emotionally gripping, morally disturbing and ultimately a depressing film. It is currently rated at 7.2, and while the acting deserves a higher rating, the story does not.

Major Spoilers:

( I won’t give away the ending, but a crucial element in the story. Of course, if you read the book, feel free to read it. You already know.)

Many people liked this film, but one fundamental question separated the readers into two groups: the ones who understood why Kathy, Ruth and Tommy, or any other kid for the matter, never tried to run and the ones who thought it simply wasn’t possible that one kid or the other wouldn’t at least attempt to escape. I’m with the second group.

No matter how you brainwash or raise a group of people, not everyone will have the same reaction to events. And remember, these people weren’t tortured. They were told they were going to die. They were told other things were possible for other people. They were fed, and they were even allowed to watch TV. Hell, they even had access to porn magazines. Yet none of the kids tried to get violent. Or defensive. None of them tried to run. This is what makes the movie ultimately a very depressing experience. I am not saying we should have gotten a happy ending. Or even it should have been one of the three major characters that rebelled. I am simply saying that it was a disappointment for not seeing one irregular behavior.

The screenplay didn’t stray from the original material, so the book doesn’t include any escape attempts either. And while the plot affected me deeply, something in the core felt missing.

Should you see it? – No Spoilers

Yes, but just prepare yourself for a highly emotional and sad ride. And feel ready to feel indignant and angry on the behalf of characters.

My rating: 7/10 for the overall movie,

8/10 for the acting.

More on Keira Knightley Movies

Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen

A Dangerous Method with Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley & Michael Fassbender: Disappointing

Last Night starring Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Eva Mendes & Guillaume Canet

London Boulevard starring Colin Farrell & Keira Knightley

The Social Network starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Armie Hammer

Posted on October 21, 2010 Written by ripitup

The Social Network starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Armie Hammer. A David Fincher Film.

The Makers and The Actors

The Social Network tells the story of Facebook. When I saw the trailer, I wasn’t all that impressed. I didn’t think watching the movie would be any more fun than reading a well-written non-fiction book about how Facebook started and became this huge phenomenon. But I had an invitation to see the movie, and I was a little intrigued. I mean, David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button…) was directing it.

When the opening credits rolled, I was even more intrigued. It was co-produced by the Oscar-winner producer Scott Rudin (No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, The Truman Show…). The executive producer was (twice) Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey (American Beauty, The Usual Suspects, The Life of David Gale, Pay it Forward, 21…). The music was composed by Trent Reznor- a.k.a Nine Inch Nails, an industrial/electronic rock/metal singer/band. I really like Jesse Eisenberg’s acting (The Squid and The Whale, The Hunting Party). And among all these credentials, there was Justin Timberlake as an actor, in a Fincher movie. Well, as annoyed as I am by him as a singer, he doesn’t bug me much as an actor.

The Plot

Right after the opening scene, we are told most of the story in flashbacks as the present time is split between the two lawsuits Mark is facing. One from former best friend Eduardo and from two other Harvard students he was supposed to do business with. Both lawsuits are currently being handled in meetings with the lawyers.

Harvard undergrad, computer programmer Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is a very smart, talkative and arrogant young man with less than impressive social or romantic skills. It is these qualities that get him dumped by his girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara). So he gets drunk, blogs rudely about her and gets the idea to compare all the university girls he can find the pictures of in the internet, makes into a website called Face Mash and sends it to other male students. His helper is his best friend, Harvard Economics undergrad Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield).

This ends up crashing Harvard’s servers, giving Jesse a bad name academically and well, among girls. But two Harvard students – rich, successful and athletic Winklevoss twins Cameron and Tyler (both played by Armie Hammer) are impressed with what Mark is capable of. They, along with their best friend and business partner Divya (Max Minghella) offer him a gig. They want to create a social network for Harvard students. They have the idea, plans and the means and they need the creative programming of Mark. He accepts, but he already has a bigger idea on his own. A much better enhanced network, better than Friendster and Myspace. He needs the funding of Eduardo, so he offers him a partnership and makes him the CFO. He delays meetings with the Winklevosses and buries himself in making The Facebook (it had a “the” in the beginning)It becomes a huge hit, pissing off the Winklessvoss twins and Divya. They try to agree on an action to take and in the mean time, Eduardo and Mark are enjoying a popularity they never had before. They even enhance the network by integrating a couple of other universities. So Eduardo wants to monetize the popularity but Mark isn’t sure yet. This difference in opinion will only get more complicated as Napster’s inventor Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) loves the idea and meets them. Mark is fascinated by Sean’s reputation and attitude, while Eduardo hates his guts from the very beginning.

From then on, we see how The Facebook becomes Facebook, becomes bigger with Sean’s connections and eventually ruining the friendship of Eduardo and Mark, as the lawyers of each party try to prove their client has the right to the riches of this network, which has become universal in the process…

The result:

Well, it is pretty outstanding. It is a dialogue-heavy drama, yet the characters and their lines are intruging, interesting and everything happens so fast, you don’t get the chance to get bored even for a second during the movie’s 2 hours. The acting is just right and I have to say even Timberlake makes a decent Sean. It is a drama with its quite quirky funny moments and entertaining events. It is a must-see. While I wouldn’t go as far as to land the movie in IMDB’s top 250 films ever made, I have to say it has to be one of the best true events-based stories ever written and made. It was based on Ben Mezrich’s book The Accidental Billionaires and adapted to the screen by Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, Charlie Wilson’s War, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The West Wing, The American President, Malice…), another influential name in the movie credits.

If you have anything to do with internet – it doesn’t matter whether you are a social media enthusiast, internet marketer, business owner, entrepreneur or you just like to use Facebook, see this movie. If you are a Fincher fan, see what he can do with this kind of story.

7.8 on IMDB. (updated on January 1st, 2015.)

Favorite Lines:

Gage (lawyer of Winklevosses) : Mr. Zuckerberg, do I have your full attention?
Mark Zuckerberg: [stares out the window] No.
Gage: Do you think I deserve it?
Mark Zuckerberg: [looks at the lawyer] What?
Gage: Do you think I deserve your full attention?
Mark Zuckerberg: I had to swear an oath before we began this deposition, and I don’t want to perjure myself, so I have a legal obligation to say no.
Gage: Okay – no. You don’t think I deserve your attention.
Mark Zuckerberg: I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall, they have the right to give it a try – but there’s no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. You have part of my attention – you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing.
[pauses]
Mark Zuckerberg: Did I adequately answer your condescending question?

Other Jesse Eisenberg Movies

Cursed starring Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson & Jesse Eisenberg

The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg

Lions for Lambs starring Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Robert Redford & Andrew Garfield

Posted on September 30, 2010 Written by ripitup

Lions For Lambs starring Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Andrew Garfield and Peter Berg. Directed by Robert Redford. From 2007.

4 adjectives: Solid, smart, gripping and thought-provoking.

Don’t you love it when you can say these about a movie? The movie was made in 2007. 3 years later, it is still very relevant.

The movie follows three different storylines:

*Reporter Janine Roth (Meryl Streep) interviews Senator Irving (Tom Cruise) in his office.

*Professor Malley (Robert Redford) is talking to a student –Todd (Andrew Garfield) – in his office.

*And in Afghanistan, a group of American soldiers are leaving the “base” for another mission.Peter Berg plays Lt. Col. Falco and he is in charge.

The mission has started a couple of minutes before Irving started speaking to Janine. His purpose and demands are clear. He wants the story to be done by Janine, supporting this mission. Even though Janine tries to question motives and reminds him of the past mistakes, Irving makes great confrontations himself.

At the university, we find out that Todd used to be a great student but he seems indifferent, cynical and apolitical. As their meeting progresses, both Todd and the professor make great points on war, politics, individuality and choices.

The mission fails miserably with only two soldiers surviving. As we watch to see if the rescue team will get there on time, we will get to know more about these two soldiers’ backgrounds…

This movie is simple. It presents you a lot of point-of-views and it gives them well. All the characters seem right. The movie tells a fine story and holds your interest through fine acting, a brilliant battle of wills/points and a really good script. Perfect direction by Redford.

You need to see the movie to see why it is special. I loved finding out why those two soldiers went to battle and the reason was something I hadn’t seen coming…

At 6.2 on IMDB, this movie is one of the most underrated movies I’ve ever seen. It breaks my heart that Fight Club got an 8.8. Yes, F.C was good, really good. But 8.8 for Fight Club and 6.2 for Lions for Lambs? Of course, these movies have nothing in common. Of course, they belong to totally different genres. But to me, humanity and some solid reality check beats originality. I also happened to watch these on the same day. If you have seen Fight Club, you probably remember how Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden kept asking who Edward Norton’s character would want to fight. He even said Gandhi. Well, then. I am making Robert Redford fight David Fincher. And in my club, Robert beat the crap out of Fincher with this one.

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3 Movies with Indecent Proposals: The Box, Indecent Proposal and A Perfect Murder

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