Hacksaw Ridge

I am a fan of WWII history-especially the Pacific theater since I have been living in Japan for some time, so that was the main appeal to see Mel Gibson's latest film, Hacksaw Ridge (2016). I went in expecting the usual Gibson antics-Christianity imagery/themes thrown in your face-excessive violence (actually, I was interested to see what he would bring to the combat scenes), melodrama, etc. It is essentially the true story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor. However, it has been Hollywood-ized and Gibson-ized to be a more simplistic story of religious conviction in the face of war. There's comic relief with Vince Vaughn as the wise-cracking platoon sergeant and a cast of soldiers who would be identified by a single characteristic such as being vain, an Italian, college educated, etc. The battle scenes in Okinawa were certainly compelling and worth seeing on the big screen. It was a flawed but interesting film-far from a masterpiece, but moving and and entertaining nonetheless.