Yet another time loop feature as ex-special forces agent Roy Pulver (Frank Grillo) relives his murder day-in, day-out. It’s months into repitition and each day Pulver, knowing what to expect, survives a little longer. As a physicist, his ex-wife Jemma (Naomi Watts) is undoubtedly involved in some way – as is her dodgy boss, Mel Gibson (Braveheart, The Beaver).
An all-action opening twenty minutes as, like Pulver, we witness the extensive events around his murder as they are repeated time and time again. It’s a snappy start to what descends into a ‘save the world’ from the mad scientist predictability. Director Joe Carnahan targets Boss Level at the tongue-in-cheek Crank mould, but sadly Grillo, likeable as he is, cannot carry the film in the way of Jason Statham. And Watts (in particular) and Gibson are essentially wasted in their respective under-developed roles.
Rating: 42%
Director: Joe Carnahan (The A-Team, The Grey)
Writer: Chris Borey (Open Grave), Eddie Borey (Open Grave, Deadly Beloved), Joe Carnahan (The A-Team, The Grey)
Main cast: Frank Grillo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Grey), Naomi Watts (The Impossible, 21 Grams), Mel Gibson (Braveheart, The Beaver)
Hacksaw Ridge, the latest directorial outing by Mel Gibson is a big, emotionally manipulative blockbuster of a war film. But, based on the true story of seventh day adventist Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to win the Medal of Valor, there’s an over reliance on faith and patriotism to fill in the slots between the battle scenes.
An Opinion or Two 