Hacksaw Ridge

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by The Hermit, Aug 2, 2016.

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  1. alanb

    alanb Senior Member

    Location:
    Bonnie Scotland
    Interesting - that other movie where the guy goes to a Japanese prison - Unbroken - struggled with Alcoholism later in life too.
     
  2. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    That's the story we were discussing. :)
     
  3. I like Full Metal Jacket, Saving Private Ryan, Apocalypto etc, so I should like this but the reviews I've read so far are very mixed and the thought of some flag waving, hackneyed, cliched over-drawn (unnecessary?) prologue doesn't exactly entice me in.
     
  4. neo123

    neo123 Senior Member

    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
    If you do like Full Metal Jacket and Saving Private Ryan, you should like this movie. If not, then your tastes must've changed since since seeing those other movies. For me, the slowest part (and worst part) of the movie was the beginning (all the backstory about him and his family and girlfriend,) but once he signed up and went off war, it was non-stop action. The boot camp scenes were good too with a little bit of courtroom drama mixed in.
     
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  5. I saw this today and I have mixed feelings about it. I admired it but can't say I loved it. Contrary to what a lot of people have said I actually really liked the first part as we get to know Doss and discover the events in his life that shaped the man to come. The battle scenes are well executed too but I can't stop thinking about the game-changing Saving Private Ryan these days and I just think everybody is trying to up the anti with regard to making war movies more visceral and more 'real' or bloody, without necessarily improving on that incredible blue-print. The numerous ruminations of SPR were also missing here. With that said I never once felt as though I was there within the action as I did with SPR. This film somehow feels a little detached and it's like an outsider's view, a little clinical like Kubrick, perhaps. With SPR I remember seeing it in theatres and actually being scared for the protagonists. Here it just wasn't the same. Of course the prowling low level camera is straight from Kubrick's Paths Of Glory so this film knows what it is indebted to and pays homage to the right originals. It was impressively shot and acted but is that enough?

    I'm not even sure why this film is called Hacksaw Ridge really as it isn't about that battle and little historical context is given within the film to anchor the battle within the larger war efforts or to ensure the viewers know how high the stakes were and what was being fought for or the strategic targets. Hacksaw Ridge itself was the background to Doss' story of bravery. I kept thinking I wanted to know more about the battle itself.

    Finally the epilogue felt a little tacked on and unnecessary as if to award further gravitas to what we'd already seen and heard. Overall I thought it was a good film and a perfectly fine way to spend a couple of hours but I never once thought it was a great film. I'm still thinking what an incredibly brave and courageous man Doss was though so maybe that's not a bad thing.
     
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  6. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

     
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  7. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Sorry I didnt think this warranted another thread so my apologies for going a bit off topic. Just too much not to post this:


    As always it seems when I see an amazing story like this it leads me to read more. Not to take away from the main character of this movie. But after reading some of the recipients of the medal of honor, this one kind of stuck out.

    David B. Bleak - Wikipedia

    The gentleman served in Korea. Here is the citation:

    "Sgt. Bleak, a member of the medical company, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and indomitable courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. As a medical aidman, he volunteered to accompany a reconnaissance patrol committed to engage the enemy and capture a prisoner for interrogation. Forging up the rugged slope of the key terrain, the group was subjected to intense automatic weapons and small arms fire and suffered several casualties. After administering to the wounded, he continued to advance with the patrol. Nearing the military crest of the hill, while attempting to cross the fire-swept area to attend the wounded, he came under hostile fire from a small group of the enemy concealed in a trench. Entering the trench he closed with the enemy, killed 2 with bare hands and a third with his trench knife. Moving from the emplacement, he saw a concussion grenade fall in front of a companion and, quickly shifting his position, shielded the man from the impact of the blast. Later, while ministering to the wounded, he was struck by a hostile bullet but, despite the wound, he undertook to evacuate a wounded comrade. As he moved down the hill with his heavy burden, he was attacked by 2 enemy soldiers with fixed bayonets. Closing with the aggressors, he grabbed them and smacked their heads together, then carried his helpless comrade down the hill to safety. Sgt. Bleak's dauntless courage and intrepid actions reflect utmost credit upon himself and are in keeping with the honored traditions of the military service."


    lol, these guys are like superheroes. I can just see the guy whacking the two other enemy soldiers heads together. Gee whiz, what happened to heroes like these guys?
     
  8. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    I wonder if he then also poked them in the eyes and pulled down their clown pants?
     
  9. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    I dont know lol. I know this is a very serious subject, but the visual I get from that cracks me up. I can hear him saying "Really?? Come ooooon! Really man??" and then F it, *wack*. Like some Indianna Jones move lol. Now that would make some newsreel footage.
     
  10. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    What the movie didnt show is when Doss was injured from the grenade as they were carrying him off he saw another soldier injured. He then climbed off the litter(stretcher) and told them to go tend to the soldier that was more seriously injured. He then got shot again in the arm which caused a compound fracture. He then took a rifle butt or part of a rifle of which he made a splint for his arm and crawled a considerable distance to safety. What the hell? Wow.
     
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  11. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    Just saw this, and I was also getting Saving Private Ryan flashbacks, but that's always going to happen now when we see hyperreal battle scenes. SPR set the bar very high for that, but Hacksaw Ridge is very well shot, and quite gruesome in spots. This seems to be Mel Gibson's thing. I thought the extensive backstory was well considered to really get us into the mindset of Desmond Doss. As for Doss, the bravery of this man is beyond comprehension-it gives you hope for mankind. Slightly off topic but this has been a great season for real life stories like "Hacksaw Ridge", "Hidden Figures" and "Loving" shining a much needed light on exceptional individuals facing enormous challenges, and the resiliency of the human spirit.
     
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  12. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Beautiful film.
     
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  13. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    That was "Unbroken" about Louis Zamperini. He struggled with alcoholism for several years directly after being released from the prison camp, before his life took a 180 degree turn. It was a shame the movie didn't touch on any of that stuff. It could have been another gripping 30-minute extension of the film, which ended up focusing way too much on one episode of his life.

    Those backstory scenes were maybe my favorite part of the film. That stuff made the movie so much better.
     
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  14. townsend

    townsend Senior Member

    Location:
    Ridgway, CO
    My wife rented this movie and I endured the first half. I really lost interest by that time, so I was dishonorably discharged from watching the second half of the movie.

    This movie is too cliched. For one, I felt like the lead character was Forest Gump's brother. Yes, I know, he was from West Virginia, but he was a little too goofy in the movie. Secondly, who was the bright casting director who cast Vince Vaughn -- a comedian:doh: -- as a drill sargeant? Please don't compare his performance to Steve Carell -- another comedian -- in Foxcatcher. I thought Carell did a great job assuming the character of John du Pont. OTOH, I kept waiting for Vince to crash a wedding. Saving Private Ryan is a movie with far more substance than Hacksaw Ridge.
     
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  15. jojopuppyfish

    jojopuppyfish Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    I saw it and thought it was very good.
    Big question: When the troops scaled down the rope from the cliff, why didn't the enemy cut the rope?
     
  16. Manimal

    Manimal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southern US
    Good movie! ( relative to today's stuff). The best ( and disturbing) depiction of high projectile damage to the human body. Everyone should see this just to get a feel of what veterans had to go through, and not the "glossed" over version Hollywood gives the public. War is hell and this movie depicts it.
     
  17. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    I give it a good, not great. I found Apocalypto more entertaining. My favorite is probably the theatrical cut of Payback. That movie is hilarious.
     
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  18. I'm glad someone else had the nerve to ask this as I sat there thinking how stupid and incredibly obvious it was. My initial response was "Typical Hollywood rubbish - that would never have happened like that - the Japanese would have simply cut the ropes and have been done with it but then we'd have no film" but I then watched a documentary afterwards on the real life assault and read a few articles. It seems the Japanese missed a trick there as they indeed never cut those ropes! For once Hollywood got it 100% correct, however strategically daft it might seem.
     
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  19. rjp

    rjp Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    i love movies....i'm sure this one is excellent.

    why do i have zero desire to see this film?
     
  20. I don't know. I give in. Why do you have zero desire to see this film?
     
  21. rjp

    rjp Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    i don't know, tell me......please.
     
  22. War film fatigue? Inflated expectations which you anticipate won't be met? Mel Gibson?
     
  23. Lightworker

    Lightworker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Deep Texas
    Unintentionally, I assume. This would be a great candidate for the revived MST3000.
     
  24. jojopuppyfish

    jojopuppyfish Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Some more info here:
    https://www.quora.com/After-watchin...-didnt-the-Japanese-just-cut-that-rope-ladder
     
    SteveM likes this.
  25. I finally saw this tonight. It was good, but I didn't think it was great.

    It seems that every modern Pacific War film gets a bit carried away with the explosions and bullet wounds, save for Flags of Our Fathers.

    Most of the time when people get hit with bullets blood just doesn't fly like that. Grenades don't throw off big fire balls (especially those weak Japanese grenades), and a single bazooka round won't send up a pillbox into yet another fiery explosion.

    The reason Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers has more of an authentic combat flow is because care was taken to get the nuances right. And that's what I'm talking about here, the nuances, which becomes the difference between a Hollywood budget fest, and getting it right.

    I'm not saying that men weren't killed and wounded at that rate on Okinawa, because they were, only these backflips and arial somersaults upon getting hit was just way out there.

    I can add more. When PFC. "Ghoul" was obviously concussed, that guy would have been evacuated. Even in WWII. They had learned enough from the first World War to evacuate any signs of a concussion, and a medic or corpsman would have simply sent them back.

    What was up with basic training in this film? Desmond arrives well after a platoon was barracked, and one of the guys already knows everybody's life story before they even meet their Drill Instructor? No way. They would have all arrived at the same time with the DI riding their asses as soon as they got there.

    I guess this was a bit too much like Windtalkers for my taste. Don't even get me started on the medics handing out morphine like candy, and Vince Vaughn's character (doped on morphine) accurately killing a dozen Japanese as he's being pulled away. When he gets let down from the ridge he falls right on his shot up legs and doesn't even bat an eye. :rolleyes:
     
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