When Mel Gibson returned to the director's chair for a gritty WWII biopic, nobody expected a quiet Sunday school story. What we got was a visceral, blood-soaked paradox. The rating of Hacksaw Ridge tells a story of two very different halves. On one side, you have critics and award bodies hailing it as a masterpiece of faith. On the other, some viewers find the tonal whiplash between a "golly-gee" romance and rats eating human entrails almost impossible to stomach.
It’s been years since it hit theaters, but the conversation hasn’t slowed down. Honestly, the numbers are kind of staggering. We're talking about a movie that holds an 84% to 89% Tomatometer score depending on the day, paired with a massive 92% audience rating. People didn't just watch it; they felt it.
The Numbers Behind the Rating of Hacksaw Ridge
If you look at the raw data, the film is a certified heavyweight. It didn't just scrape by; it dominated the 2017 awards circuit.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 84% Critic Score / 92% Audience Score.
- IMDb: A solid 8.1/10 from over 660,000 voters.
- Metacritic: 71/100, which indicates "generally favorable" reviews.
- Academy Awards: 6 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. It walked away with Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing.
Why the gap between the Metacritic 71 and the Audience 92? It basically comes down to Gibson’s "sledgehammer" style. Critics often find his lack of subtlety a bit much. They call it "vintage Mel-odrama." But for the average person sitting in a dark theater, that raw, unrefined emotion hits like a freight train. You aren’t just watching a movie; you're trapped on that ridge with Desmond Doss.
Why the "R" Rating Matters So Much
The MPAA gave it a "Hard R" for intense, prolonged, realistically graphic sequences of war violence. That isn't just lawyer-speak. It is one of the most violent films ever made. Period.
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You’ve got heads exploding. You’ve got soldiers literally being used as human shields—decomposing ones at that. It’s gross. But here’s the thing: it had to be. To understand why the rating of Hacksaw Ridge is so high among faith-based audiences, you have to understand the contrast.
Desmond Doss wasn't just a guy who didn't like guns. He was a Seventh-day Adventist who walked into a literal meat grinder without a single weapon. If Gibson had made a PG-13 war movie, we wouldn't understand the stakes. We had to see the "hell" to appreciate the "saint." Veterans of Okinawa, like 95-year-old Joe Clapper, have gone on record saying the film’s depiction of the ridge was hauntingly accurate. The violence serves the pacifism. It’s a weird contradiction, but it works.
Realism vs. Hollywood: What They Got Wrong
People often check the rating of Hacksaw Ridge to see if it’s a "true" story. It is. Sorta.
Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Doss is widely praised for its sincerity, but the script takes some serious liberties for the sake of drama. For instance, the whole courtroom scene where Doss is almost court-martialed? Mostly fiction. His father, played by Hugo Weaving, didn't actually burst into a hearing with a letter from a former general. In reality, the military just eventually gave up and let him be a medic.
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Also, the timeline is squished. The movie makes it look like Doss saved those 75 men in one frantic night. In real life, his heroics on the ridge happened over several weeks in May 1945. And that famous scene where he kicks a grenade away? The real Doss actually tried to smother a grenade with his boot to save his buddies, which resulted in 17 pieces of shrapnel in his legs. He then waited five hours for a stretcher, only to jump off it to let another wounded soldier take his place.
Basically, the real-life Doss was actually more of a bada** than the movie version. Gibson actually toned down some of the real events because he thought audiences wouldn't believe them.
The "Gibson Effect" on the Critics
You can't talk about the rating of Hacksaw Ridge without talking about Mel Gibson’s "Redeemer Award" from the Razzies. It was his big comeback. Before this, he was essentially persona non grata in Hollywood.
The film's success proved that his technical skill is still top-tier. The sound design is incredible. You can hear the "whiz" of bullets and the "thud" of mortars in a way that feels 3D even on a home setup. The editing is fast, chaotic, yet somehow never confusing. This technical mastery is why it sits so high on "Best War Movie" lists alongside Saving Private Ryan.
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Actionable Tips for Your Next Rewatch
If you’re planning on diving back into this film or watching it for the first time, keep these things in mind to get the most out of the experience:
- Check Your Sound System: This is one of the few movies where "Best Sound Mixing" actually means something to the average listener. Use headphones or a good soundbar.
- Look for the "Double Bowline" Knot: Pay attention to the knot Doss uses to lower the men. It’s a real knot he actually used, which he happened to learn during his youth.
- Read the Citation: After the movie, look up Desmond Doss’s actual Medal of Honor citation. It reads like a superhero script.
- Mind the Kids: Seriously. The "R" rating is no joke. This isn't a family-friendly Sunday school movie despite the religious themes.
The rating of Hacksaw Ridge isn't just about stars or percentages. It’s a reflection of how much we value conviction. Whether you love the melodrama or find it "wearily formulaic," there’s no denying the power of a man who stays true to his soul while everyone else is losing theirs.
To better understand the historical context, you might want to look into the specific topography of the Maeda Escarpment. It was much more of a sloped, jagged series of "jumps" than the sheer 350-foot vertical wall shown in the film. Seeing the real photos of the ridge helps ground the sheer physical exhaustion Doss must have felt while dragging 75 grown men across that terrain.