History Film / HacksawRidge

* CombatPragmatist: Howell, Ryker and Glover were initially critical of Desmond's refusal to bear arms and tried to either force him to either give in or quit, but in their viewpoint, any serviceman in their right mind would have the common sense to use a firearm in general and thought Desmond was being unpractical with his beliefs. They eventual warm over and respect Doss for standing by his beliefs.

* ActorAllusion: Creator/HugoWeaving's character is a bitter person traumatized by his past that prompts him takes it out on his wife and kids, however, is still a decent person enough to genuinely loves his family and even comes to his child's resume when he's in trouble somewhere, sounds a lot like Weaving's early voice-over role as the sheepdog Rex from ''Film/{{Babe}}''.

* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: The second half of the movie focuses on [[WarIsHell the brutality of war]], but also includes a quiet night when [[FireForgedFriends Dawes and Smitty bond]].

* {{Adorkable}}: Desmond Doss. Just look at this first interactions with Dorothy in the hospital.

** After Doss' first date with Dorothy, he kisses her without consent, resulting in a smack. While it does show that even she found it creepy and unsettling and was ultimately quick to dismiss it, his actions does show how differently they treated things like this back in the 1940s.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:After going through absolute hell to rescue the 75 men, Doss earns the respect and admiration of his comrades and superiors and eventually gets back to the US where he lives a long happy life with Dorothy and their son Tommy on a small farm in northwestern Georgia, despite his injuries and the lingering effect of the tuberculosis he contracted during the war. Desmond and Dorothy were together for just shy of 50 years, until her death in 1991. Desmond remarried Frances Duman in 1993, and remained with her until his death in 2006 at the age of 87.]]

* EverybodyHasStandards: Smitty and Howell, two of Desmond's most vocal critics, aren't particularly impressed when Desmond's squadmates start beating on him, and Smitty actually sticks up for him. Howell even seems genuinely (but subtly) aghast when he sees Desmond's face in he morning.

* IHaveAFamily: A wounded soldier frantically says he has kids when another medic soldier tells Desmond to give the solider some morphine and leave him. Desmond gives the wounded soldier some morphine, but doesn't leave him.

* ISurrenderSuckers: A group of Japanese soldiers emerge waving a {{white flag}}, but then toss grenades at the Americans.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Jerks they may be, the men in army are right that a battlefield isn't the best place for a pacifist.

* JungleWarfare: Averted. The US Navy and Army has ensured that any thick vegetation that was on the ridge was destroyed. It doesen't mean that taking the ridge is any easier though, as the Japanese simply dug fortifications underground.

* KissKissSlap: Desmond kissing Dorothy without her concent--yet also without much resistance--lands him a slap afterwards.

* LargeHam: Howell as any self-respecting [[DrillSergeantNasty military hard ass needs to be]].

** After his second day at Hacksaw Ridge when he is med-evac’ed, Doss' trip down on a gurney is shot as though he was ascending into heaven.

* NarratingTheObvious: Just so the audience knows what going on, Desmond says out loud "We just lost our cover." when the Navy ends its bombardment of the battle field.
* NeverGiveTheCaptainAStraightAnswer: Played literally when a private calls Captain Glover to make him aware of 'Hollywood' and other injured having returned from the battle field via Doss' hands.

* PeekABooCorpse: Desmond's OhCrap moment when bumping into a hanged Japanese in the tunnel system underneath the battle field.

* PlayingPossum: Desmond plays dead on the battle field in order to avoid being detected and killed by the enemy forces.

* RealPersonEpilogue: The WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue start off with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2ktL53aMy0 black & white footage]] of the real war hero Desmond Thomas Doss as he receives the Medal of Honor. We also get to see his wife Dorothy.

** Desmond didn't meet Dorothy while she was a nurse at a hospital. In fact she didn't become a nurse until after the war. They met when she came to his church selling Adventist books. He also didn't miss their wedding by being put in a holding cell, as they were already married by that point.

* FallenHero: Thomas Doss was a WWI veteran, but by the time of the film, he's reduced to an abusive LowerClassLout drunkard of a father and husband. However, Tom is still a sympathetic character as his trauma from his service is what turned him into the way he is and hates himself for his abusive behavior.

''Hacksaw Ridge'' is a 2016 Australian-American [[{{Biopic}} biographical]] [[WarMovies war film]] directed by Creator/MelGibson and starring Creator/AndrewGarfield, Creator/VinceVaughn, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Creator/HugoWeaving, Ryan Corr, Creator/TeresaPalmer, Richard Pyros and Creator/RachelGriffiths.

** The Japanese are revealed to have the entire ridge tunneled, allowing them to show up anywhere.

* DeadpanSnarker: When he isn't shouting, Howell is very fond of directing stinging insults at his men.

* MultipleDemographicAppeal: The first act centers around the love story between Desmond and Dorothy which clearly caters to the female audience while the second and third act are depicting the brutal reality of war which is more appealing to the male audience.

* ZergRush: True to World War II Japan, the Japanese soldiers attempt a Banzai charge that only ends up being stopped by a battleship dropping shots directly on the battle area.

* {{BFG}}: Smitty Ryker wields a M1918 BAR with lethal effect, mowing down dozens of Japanese soldiers.

* AdultFear: Desmond's parents get a heavy dose of this in the beginning when Desmond and Hal get into a fight ending with the former knocking the latter unconscious with a brick. Hal thankfully survives, but Desmond and his mother are aware that Desmond could've killed him.

* NakedOnArrival: Milt 'Hollywood' Zane, for no reason other than to show off his physique to everyone. The trope initially serves to show how much of a Jerkass the character is, as well as being blatant [[MrFanservice fanservice]]. After a dose of [[BreakTheHaughty comeuppance]] at the hands of [[DrillSergeantNasty Sergeant Howell]], the trope morphs into NakedPeopleAreFunny as Zane is forced to complete training in the nude.

* BreakTheHaughty: The cocky Milt "Hollywood" Zane shows off his physique by exercising [[NakedOnArrival nude]] in front of everyone. When [[DrillSergeantNasty Sergeant Howell]] shows up for an inspection,

* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Milt 'Hollywood' Zane suffers from this after Sergeant Howell forces him to complete training while naked.

** This may be justified, as this is the first time we are meeting Doss' platoon and giving them all shaved heads would make it more difficult for the audience to tell the new characters apart.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Smitty. He acts quite assholish to Desmond because of the latter's nonviolent beliefs, even smacking him with his bible. He was also ''[[EverybodyHasStandards against]]'' another group of men for beating up Doss for the reason. And later on, he proves to be quite brave and selfless in battle, and even admits that he can be an asshole.

** Howell is just a guy [[DrillSergeantNasty doing his job]] [[JerkassHasAPoint who doesn't think a guy who doesn't want to even touch a gun should be allowed into a combat zone where other soldiers will be forced to rely on him.]] He comes to respect Doss after he takes a vicious beating but still refuses to quit.