Hacksaw Ridge is the way that a religion based film should be done. The film doesn't dumb down the characters or show that Christianity is the way to go. It tells the story of a man who sticks to his own convictions and follows his own path to get what he needs to get done.
Released by: Lionsgate
Release Date: November 6th, 2016 (Theatrical)
February 21st, 2017 (Blu-ray)
Region Code: REGION A (locked) (Blu-ray)/ REGION ONE (DVD)
Run Time: 2h 19m
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
Video: 1080p (2.35:1 Aspect Ratio) (Blu-ray)
480p (2.35:1 Aspect Ratio) (DVD)
Desmond Doss: With the world so set on tearing itself apart, it don't seem like such a bad thing to me to want to put a little bit of it back together.
THE FEATURES ⭐⭐⭐
The Soul of War:
Making Hacksaw Ridge (1h 9m, HD)
In 1955, producer Hal B. Wallis approached Desmond Doss
about turning his story into a feature film. Doss turned Wallis down because he
did not want his story turned into a typical Hollywood film. 45 years later,
Desmond was convinced to do a documentary about his life. He wanted to be able
to tell his story in a way that made sense. To Doss, a documentary made sense.
This doc, and a few other books, were the basis for the
screenplay that would be kicked around Hollywood for 14 years. The producers
took the film to Walden Media, who wanted to make the film, but had
reservations about the violence in the film. They told the producers that the
film had to receive a PG-13 rating. After not being able to cut the screenplay
down to the rating Walden wanted, the producers took the film to another
company.
Thus is the story about how the film ended up being made.
This doc focuses on the background, in a lot more detail than I provided, and
the making of the film.
I learned quite a bit about the film and grew more
appreciative towards the film. A lot of heart and soul went into making this
film and this doc does a really good job at showing us the ins and outs about
the making of Hacksaw Ridge
.
.
Veteran’s Day
Greeting (1m 2s, HD)
Gibson tells us how important veterans to Americans and then
shamelessly plus the film.
Deleted Scenes (4m
32s, HD)
There are five scenes presented here. None of them are substantial
and were right to be cut.
Theatrical Trailer
(2m 33s, HD)
We also get four trailers at the beginning of the disc for
Patriot’s Day, Deepwater Horizon, Hell or
High Water, and Blood Father. These
trailers can also be watched from the special features menu.
THE PACKAGING ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I am reviewing the steelbook that is exclusive to Target.
The film is also available in a normal blu-ray package.
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| Click the picture to order |
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The steelbook has a matte finish and is gorgeous to look at.
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Also included is a slip of paper with a code redeemable for a digital copy, either through iTunes or any Ultraviolet provider like Vudu.
The blu-ray is REGION A (locked) and the DVD is REGION ONE.
THE PICTURE ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Director Mel Gibson has always had a really good eye when it
came to the look of his films and Hacksaw Ridge is no different. The scenes that take place before the war (ie the
Doss’s home life and bootcamp) are bright and sunny. The greens are full of
life and sun has a comforting yellow. Of course these scenes are going to be
bright because they are the opposite of the war scenes, which carry more earth
tone colors. The reproduction of the colors is beautifully done here and there
is no trace of any digital manipulation. This is a beautiful transfer of a
beautiful film.
is no different. The scenes that take place before the war (ie the
Doss’s home life and bootcamp) are bright and sunny. The greens are full of
life and sun has a comforting yellow. Of course these scenes are going to be
bright because they are the opposite of the war scenes, which carry more earth
tone colors. The reproduction of the colors is beautifully done here and there
is no trace of any digital manipulation. This is a beautiful transfer of a
beautiful film.
THE SOUND ⭐⭐⭐⭐
In the making of doc, there is a lot of talk about the music
and sound effects done for the film. They talk about how they had to balance
everything out so that the most important sound (music, effects, etc) are
heard. This track is bombastic and loud. The earlier scenes have a quietness to
them, inviting us into the world the film is creating. We get the sense that we
would like to live in the town that Doss is from. Once the film gets to the war
scenes we feel as if we are there. The track goes into overdrive in these
scenes and the work done by the sound mixers comes to full fruition. We hear every
bullet hit, whether it is in the ground or flesh. This is the best track for a
war film that I have heard since Saving Private Ryan.
THE FILM ⭐⭐⭐1/2
OVERALL ⭐⭐⭐1/2
While I wish that Lionsgate would have given us more in the
special features department (maybe put the doc about Doss on the disc) I am
happy with what we have. Sure, the deleted scenes are a bust, but we get a
really great making of as well as the film’s theatrical trailer, which we
almost never see on discs anymore. The film is really good, but I did have a
few problems that will most likely become non problems over time. This is a
nice package and if you can get the absolutely stunning steelbook, then that is
what I would recommend.
 (Summit) Blu-ray Review + Screenshots){kind=link}
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