Hacksaw Ridge (2016) film review

Year: 2016
Running Time: 138 minutes
Director: Mel Gibson
Writers: Robert Schenkkan and Andrew Knight
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Luke Pegler

Hackshaw Ridge is now showing in cinemas everywhere and is distributed in Australia by Icon Film Distribution.

Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge is frightfully graphic, violent and confronting, but ultimately life-changing in the most beautiful of ways and an absolute triumph in filmmaking.

Hacksaw Ridge is the story of the unlikely American World War II hero, medic Desmond Doss (brilliantly poratrayed by Andrew Garfield). Doss was a man, who because of his strong religious beliefs, refused to carry firearms during the war much to the disgrace of his superiors and fellow soldiers. However, despite being unarmed he was able to single-handedly save 75 men during the Battle of Okinawa and become the first Conscientious Objector to be awarded the Medal of Honour.

The story of Desmond Doss is truly incredible in itself, but the screenplay written by Robert Schenkken and Andrew Knight along with Andrew Garfield's inspired performance give greater depth, understanding and respect to the character and his heroics. Doss was not a traditional war hero by any means in that he would not go into war with any type of weapon because as a Seventh Day Adventist he believed that thou shalt not kill. It is a beautiful thing how strong in his faith Doss was and how his faith was what gave him the strength to carry all the men he saved to safety on his own. The understanding of his character and his beliefs are strengthened for us in the way the film shows us his past and the events leading up to his enlistment. The superb character development allows one to feel close to and empathize with Doss and whether you agree with his beliefs or not, you still understand and respect them which is a thought that is more than relevant in everyday life.

Andrew Garfield completely shines as Doss and is so far the role of his career. He gives a performance which is wonderfully restrained in the right parts and is incredibly moving and intense when it also should be. He completely embodies the role of Doss and makes him likable, relatable and into the hero who always has the audience on his side wanting to cheer for him.

While it is loving towards the character of Desmond Doss, Hacksaw Ridge is still an astonishingly brutal, but realistic piece of war cinema. The Battle of Okinawa is terrifying in every sense of the word as it is accompanied by a sense of dread and suspense formed by the horrifyingly graphic visuals and the implication of sudden and random bloody death. It requires a great amount of will power not to look away at all throughout the final third of the film as it is so incredibly confronting and graphic. It is hard to call any of these visuals anything pleasant, but the cinematography by Simon Duggan is truly exquisite. From the opening scene, the film is beautifully shot and entrancing with it's slow motion shots and spectacular war-torn landscapes.

Despite it's hard edge, Hacksaw Ridge is also rather romantic thanks to the beautiful chemistry between Garfield and Teresa Palmer, who plays Doss' wife, Dorothea. The two resonate whenever they are on screen together and it is the type of old-fashioned love many people only dream about now. Hacksaw Ridge is also a career high for Palmer, as it is to date the best performance of her career. Just like Garfield, she is likable and incredibly sweet and sensitive. Hugo Weaving and Rachel Griffiths, who play Tom and Bertha Doss also give tremendous performances.

Hacksaw Ridge is the best war film to have been released in years. It is gritty, unforgiving and relentless, but at the same time inspirational, moving and entrancing.

9/10

Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go
Year: 2010
Director: Mark Romanek
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield, Sally Hawkins

In My Own Words
"Never Let Me Go" was one film I was really looking forward to seeing. It is one of those films which I first hear about while it is in production and know nothing about it, yet I know who is in it and just that makes me want to see it. "Never Let Me Go" is the second pairing up in a feature film of Keira Knightley and Carey Muligan. I believe that these two are two of the finest British young actors going around at the moment. Firstly you have Knightley, who has proved that she can do it all. She can do the young roles, the damsel in distress, the tough girl, the object of affection and the historic roles. All of these she can do well, and has earned herself an Oscar nomination for "Pride & Prejudice" in doing so. At the present time she is also appearing in "The Children's Hour" in London's West End. There is nothing she can't do. Then you have Carey Mulligan. Mulligan has completed the majority of her work in British television, but 2009 and 2010 were big years for her in regards to film. Her break through role was as Jenny in "An Education" in which she recieved wide acclaim and her first Oscar nomination. As much as I admire and love Mulligan's performances, I would love to see her in a role which would require her to smile a bit more! Maybe a romantic comedy should be on the cards for her to break up her intense dramatic roles and show that beautiful smile of hers. Don't get me wrong, I don't want her to turn into an actor who only does the cutesy rom-com roles, but she has such a beautiful smile, it would be great for her to show it off on screen once or twice and lower the intensity. However, she does intense extremely well.With these two involved, "Never Let Me Go" looked like a winner to me, even when I didn't know what it was about. We are all guilty of this, but what is a better marketing tool than your favourite actor or actors?

These are my own words and here is my review.

Review
"Never Let Me Go" is the new film from Mark Romanek based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro. It is an interesting and unsettling film, but also very tender and emotional. It has been described as a film about love and betrayal, which it indeed true, but it is also about growing up and the emotions which make us human. "Never Let Me Go" centres around three school friends, Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightley). The film opens in Hailsham, a strict, but pleasant boarding school when the friends are young. Their friendship and dynamics with one another change as they get older and they come to experience emotions and feelings between one another that one would not suspect at such a young age. All this because Hailsham was not as it seemed and they were not normal children.

"Never Let Me Go" is not what it is made out to be. Perhaps this is a good thing as it makes the film more intriguing and interesting, but it is not a good thing if you are expecting a movie truly about love. There is a great deal of emotion in this film, the large majority of it being hard emotion. You feel so much sorrow for these three characters and what they have to go through day by day. It actually puts your life into greater perspective by making you realise the freedom you have to do what you want to do and be who you want to be. "Never Let Me Go" is largely a character based drama, focusing primarily on who these three main characters are and how they feel as a result of the walls which are put up around them. Although the audience does not see anything which would make them cringe in pain, they do feel pain just from the thought of what these three friends have to go through. It is a credit to the film makers that they can create stir up so many feelings and make so much of an impact by something which they cannot see. The film is beautifully directed and the cinematography is quite superb. Romanek captures the tranquility and serenity of the English boarding house extremely well. The scene at the beach is also a standout in his direction.

"Never Let Me Go" has a great story and is brilliantly written and cast. Carey Mulligan gives another superb performance as Kathy H. She is able to tell the audience so much just from the look in her eyes. Her performance reaches its peak towards the end of the film. Honourable mention should also be given to Isobel Meikle-Small, who plays the younger Kathy H and looks uncannily like a younger version of Mulligan. Throughout the film, it can seem as though Andrew Garfield has drawn the shortest straw, as he has perhaps the easiest role throughout, but then in one particular scene towards the end of the film he completely blows everyone else in the film out of the water. His performance brings tears to your eyes in this particular scene, and it shouldn't be a question of which scene this is after you see it. It is so good to see Garfield complete a role which is completely different from his role in "The Social Network" as it proves that he has a long and bright future ahead of him, and not just as the next Spiderman. However, on screen Mulligan and Garfield do not have a great amount of chemistry. They do not seem quite as in love as the story makes them out to be. Keira Knightley also gives a great performance in which she goes through all the emtions one would in such a situation with complete believability. The interaction between Knightley and Mulligan on screen works superbly as they both know who their characters are and the tension is felt between these two, but also the love is felt between them too.

"Never Let Me Go" is an emotional film. There is nothing presented on screen which would make this visually a hard film to watch, but the thought processes it sets you on and the way it makes you feel are not easy things to face. This does make for a splendid work of art as it makes you feel and think things that you wouldn't have unless you had seen this film.
7.5/10

The Social Network (2010)

Year: 2010
Director: David Fincher
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Rooney Mara

In My Own Words
"The Social Network", otherwise known as "The Facebook Movie", is one movie I should have reviewed a long time ago. Facebook is a big part of our world today, whether we like it or not. Everything is on Facebook, even Movie Critical is on Facebook (free plug!). It's hard to imagine what life was like before Facebook. What did we do when we were on the internet? We didn't spend as much time on it as we do now. I am on Facebook right now, how about you? It's not hard to understand why Mark Zuckerberg is such a powerful man. Anybody who creates something that ultimately becomes part of our lives is a very rich and powerful person. The concept of Facebook really seems quite simple, so couldn't we all be billionaires just by thinking up something that seems obvious and then putting it into motion? It is quite empowering though isn't it, anybody can be an entrepreneur. Of course, you need contacts and finances to get it going. "The Social Network" can be empowering, if you let it be. Don't be empowered to betray all your friends though, that's not really a nice thing to do.

So how much of "The Social Network" is true? That is what everyone wants to know. Mark Zuckerberg wanted everyone to know taht even though he is not depicted as so in the film, he really is quite a nice guy. Zuckerberg has said that there is many inaccuracies in the film, but the film makers did get his clothing right. "The Social Network"is based on the book "The Accidental Millionaires" by Ben Mezrich, which is a piece of fiction. It is based on actual events, but there is a lot of exaggeration involved. However, what is exaggerated makes good entertainment.

These are my own words and here is my review.

Review
On December 15th 2010, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was named TIME Person Of The Year. Zuckerberg is no doubt one of the most influential people in the world at the present time due to his major success in the business world with Facebook. "The Social Network" is the film based on his rise to success and fame and all the bits in between. It is not the most accurate of films, but is definately good entertainment. "The Social Network" is immaculately made. It is thrilling, unsettling at times and an absolute pleasure to watch. David Fincher has once again shown his film making talent, turning a film that could have been a typical college film into a dramatic and tidy piece of art. Jesse Eisenberg is Mark Zuckerberg, the Harvard student who is a little too much of a genius for his own good. He's not popular at all and all the girls think he is a jerk. However, when he creates The Facebook his luck changes. What was first supposed to be just a social network for Harvard students starts to reach schools across America and then across the world. However, as the tagline for this film says, you don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.

"The Social Network" was one of the most anticipated films of 2010 and also one of the great successes. It is nominated for 6 Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture-Drama, and deservingly so. Without the right director, it could have been cheesy and just another film about American college lofe. Fincher was the perfect director for the job. The musical score is perfect for each scene, especially the rowing regatta scene, and the cinematography is brilliant. The editing is perfect and the film is full of little surprises for each scene. In it's own way, it is a lot of fun to watch the film and there are many scenes which will ring true to how Facebook has changed interation in the world. For example, when Eduardo's girlfriend, Christy says to him "How come your relationship status on Facebook still says you're single?" The script is also very clever and witty. The opening scene with Mark and his then girlfriend, Erica is a great piece of scriptwriting. Their banter and conversation piece is a brilliant way to start the film and get the audience's full attention from the word go. The ending of the film is probably the only thing that seems a little out of sorts. It ends quite abruptly and it feels like it ends where it does because it isn't quite sure where it should go from there.

Jesse Eisenberg was a great choice to play Mark. He plays the part so well. He isn't the stereotypical nerd you normally see in films, but he still differentiates himself from the "cool" crowd at school. Eisenberg is extremely unsettling at times and can seem quite evil considering how obsessive he becomes. Andrew Garfield gives the best performance of the film as Facebook's co-founder, Eduardo Saverin. He is brilliant and scene-stealing and could well be taking home the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe he is nominated for. Unlike Eisenberg's character, he is extremely likable and has that "good guy" air about him. Justin Timberlake gives the best performance of his career so far and it is ironic that a successful musical artist plays the character of the person who people in the music world strongly dislike. Rooney Mara is also perfectly suited to smart talking Erica and Disney personality, Brenda Song shines in a role that is completely different for her.

Overall, "The Social Network", like the man it is based on, is a great success. It is well written, well directed and well acted. A great film to see for anyone who is on Facebook...which is almost everyone.
9/10