Mel Gibson is making his return to the director’s chair with this week’s release of Hacksaw Ridge into theaters. The film tells the story of a conscientious objector in World War II, played by Andrew Garfield.
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Hacksaw Ridge opened in third place at this weekend’s box office. The film earned $5.2 million on Friday and is expected to earn a total of $14-15 million in its first three days.
It was the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Sorcerer Supreme who won this weekend’s box office. Marvel’s Doctor Strange beat projections to earn $84 million.
Gibson has some thoughts on Marvel’s films. In an interview with The Washington Post that pre-dates this weekend’s box office numbers, Gibson was asked about how the graphic violence that his films – including Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ, and Apocalypto – are known, particularly how it seems to be at odds with the message of Hacksaw Ridge.
“[The action] almost has to be — I don’t mean to be callous about it — but it has to be like a sporting event,” Gibson explains. “You have to know who’s who, who your protagonists are, who’s doing what, what screen direction it’s all going in. In the midst of that, you have to have what appears to be chaos. It’s ordered chaos.
“I’m trying to get to your animal. That’s it. That’s war. I’m trying to make a visceral, fully emotional, immersive experience.”
But in the midst of that explanation, Gibson points a finger at Marvel Studios, criticizing the superhero giant for putting out movies that are full of “violence without conscience.”
“To talk about the violence question, look at any Marvel movie,” he says. “They’re more violent than anything that I’ve done, but [in my movies,] you give a s— about the characters, which makes it matter more. That’s all I’ll say.”
Marvel isn’t the only superhero studio that Gibson has been publically dismissive of. He also had some unkind words for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
It is a little strange to hear Gibson being so dismissive of Marvel now after voicing a much more measured opinion earlier this year. In 2014, he even said he’d consider directing Iron Man 4.
Following Hacksaw Ridge, Gibson plans to direct the sequel to The Passion of the Christ, titled Resurrection.
Hacksaw Ridge is the extraordinary true story of conscientious collaborator Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He believed the war was just, but killing was nevertheless wrong; he was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon. As an army medic, Doss single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. He was the first conscientious objector to ever earn the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Hacksaw Ridge is directed by Mel Gibson, written by Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan and stars Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Hugo Weaving, Ryan Corr, Teresa Palmer, Richard Pyros and Rachel Griffiths.
Hacksaw Ridge is now playing in theaters.
