Mel Gibson may have fallen out of favor with Hollywood but his movies are awesome. Hacksaw Ridge is another Mel Gibson master peace. Hacksaw Ridge is a biographical drama that takes place during World War II and tells the experiences of Desmond Doss, an American pacificist combat medic who is a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, refusing to carry or use a firearm or weapons of any kind. Doss became the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for service above and beyond the call of duty during the Battle of Okinawa.
Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), grew up just outside of Lynchburg, Virginia. As a young man he nearly killed his younger brother, Harold “Hal” Doss (Nathaniel Buzolic), during an altercation. This experience along with his Seventh-day Adventist upbringing strengthened Desmond’s belief in the commandment, Thou shalt not kill. Years later, Doss meets and falls for a nurse, Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer). when he brings a car accident victim to the hospital. At the outbreak of World War II, Doss, wanting to do his fair share, is motivated to enlist in the Army. His father, Tom Doss (Hugo Weaving), a troubled World War I veteran, is deeply upset by the decision. Because he is a conscientious objector, Doss intends to serve as a combat medic. Before leaving he asks for Dorothy’s hand in marriage and she accepts.
Doss is placed under the command of Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn). He excels physically but becomes an outcast among his fellow soldiers for refusing to handle a rifle and train on Saturdays. Howell and Captain Jack Glover (Sam Worthington), attempt to discharge Doss for psychiatric reasons but fail. Howell then torments Doss by putting him through grueling labor, intending to get Doss to leave of his own accord. Despite being beaten one night by his fellow soldiers, Doss refuses to identify his attackers and continues training. Doss was made fun of, his fellow soldiers suffered weekend passes withheld and much more was done to get Doss to quit and go home. Still he would not leave. Finally, upon completion of basic training and on leave, during which time Doss intended to marry Dorothy, he is arrested for insubordination for not following direct orders directing him to carry a firearm. To see how Doss gets out of this, marries Dorothy and ends up assigned to the 77th Infantry Division and deployed to the Pacific theater during the Battle of Okinawa, you have to see the movie.
You will see the most remarkable scenes in a war movie imaginable. I thought “Saving Private Ryan” was graphic but it really has nothing on Hacksaw Ridge, I was more than blown away. These men were in the fight of their life is way beyond an understatement. Doss did something so profound, he deserved more than a medal for, more than respect and more than a heroes recognition. Mel Gibson proudly captured the fear, the intensiveness, the faithfulness, the determination and the heart that went into the task at hand and what it really is to fight a war on the battlefield. There is nothing we, the civilians at home, shouldn’t want to do for these brave men coming home from war, broken up both mentally and physically and even whole after what they go through. Hacksaw Ridge is a movie for all to see. Of course if you can’t stand blood, it’s not for you. GREAT JOB MEL AND THE CAST OF HACKSAW RIDGE, WHICH IS BASED ON A TRUE STORY!!
[HACKSAW RIDGE is nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Film Editing, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing]
While I am a staunch Christian, I didn’t like this version of the life of Jesus. It didn’t flow, it was choppy and all over the place. It seemed to highlight many significant events from the “New Testament” instead of telling a complete story. I’m not sure why they made “Son of God”. Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” is hard to follow. There is also another older TV mini series (“Jesus of Nazareth”) that was excellent. “Son of God” is a spin-off of the History Channel’s mini-series, “The Bible.” In” Son of God” I found several differences between scripture and the movie. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave, he never went into the cave. Jesus simply shouted “Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:43). This really doesn’t change anything but movies like this teaches people who may not know what happened. I also didn’t understand why Jesus (played by Diogo Morgado) was always smiling, even when He was angry. That doesn’t lend itself to the reality of His feelings about what was going on. There were a couple of other inconsistencies but again, insignificant. I feel the filmmakers lacked respect for true scripture. My biggest problem was how choppy the movie was and one problem I’ve always had, the Bible says Jesus’ skin is bronze and His hair white, like lamb’s wool (Rev 1:12). Also in that part of the country, people were not white. I’m not saying Jesus was Black but he certainly was not white with blue or light gray eyes. There was nothing different, only lacking in “Son of God” and other than spreading the Gospel, which in this case was not completely accurate, I can’t recommend that anyone should see this movie.
Machete Kills is getting a lot of buzz. This is a movie you have to go in knowing it’s just for entertainment. It’s extremely violent and full of sexy innuendos. This movie has so much blood shed that it’s hard to keep up with the countless bodies left all over the place. Imagine Charlie Sheen as president of the US and Cuba Gooding, Jr. as a sort of Change Shifter to the likes of Walton Goggins, Lady Gaga and Antonio Banderas. I couldn’t believe the amount of stars that graced this dark, comical, crazy, twisted kill ride. Danny Trejo plays a legendary killer who seems invincible. Michelle Rodriguez plays Machete’s sort of side kick. Jessica Alba opens up this movie along side Machete doing what they do best, killing people. Sofía Vergara plays the host of a house of ill repute. You will see everything from gun shooting boobs to gun shooting vaginas. Amber Heard plays Miss San Antonio among other things. Finally, Mel Gibson plays the ultimate villain in this very funny, violent, crazy movie. I loved it. I was thoroughly entertained. Just imagine what you know of these stars and the roles they played. That’s funny in itself. There are many more stars and many more to come as the sequel is in the works. We get a little sneak preview into “Machete in Space” which is the next in line to dazzle us into laughter and stupidness. Enjoy!
WOW! What a movie, what a story. The Passion of the Christ made me ashamed to be human. It’s amazing to see how vicious man could be. It doesn’t matter if it was a Jewish man or a Roman man who was responsible for the death of Christ. It was a human(s) that killed Christ. The angry people had the passion and vindictiveness of those who burned so called witches at the stake. What were we thinking?
CAROL's WORLDS 