HACKSAW RIDGE (15, 139 mins) War/Action/Drama/Romance. Andrew Garfield, Teresa Palmer, Vince Vaughn, Luke Bracey, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, Sam Worthington, Richard Roxburgh, Nathaniel Buzolic. Director: Mel Gibson.

Released: January 26 (UK & Ireland)

Director Mel Gibson returns, all guns blazing, with a riveting wartime drama based on the true story of Desmond Doss, who served with valour during the Second World War without having to fire a single bullet.

He became the first conscientious objector to receive America's highest military award, the Medal of Honor, which is bestowed on the precious few who have distinguished themselves with incredible gallantry beyond the call of duty.

In Doss' extraordinary case, he ran into a hail of Japanese bullets in May 1945 at the Battle of Okinawa, without a weapon to return fire, and risked his life to rescue injured soldiers from the blood-soaked battleground.

In an era of questionable morality, when principles are repeatedly compromised for the sake of selfish gain, one man's inspirational journey of righteous self-sacrifice is an invigorating tonic.

Gibson directs with verve, orchestrating hellish battle scenes.

Aerial bombardments scythe through flesh, ripping limbs from torsos or exploding craniums as a well-targeted bullet careens through an eye socket.

The senseless slaughter of young men in the prime of their lives is heartbreaking.

Desmond (Andrew Garfield) is born and raised with his brother Hal (Nathaniel Buzolic) in Lynchburg, Virginia against the picturesque backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

His father Tom (Hugo Weaving) is an emotionally scarred veteran of the First World War and mother Bertha (Rachel Griffiths) educates her brood using The Bible.

At an early age, Desmond almost kills Hal and he is haunted by the episode.

"To take another man's life is the most egregious sin," counsels Bertha.

Her words have a profound effect on Desmond, who takes up a vow of pacifism, even when he enrols in the US Army.

He intends to follow the lead of his nurse girlfriend, Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer), and serve as a medic.

However, Desmond is ushered into combat training under no-nonsense Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn) and instantly makes enemies of the rest of the squad, especially bullying ringleader Smitty Ryker (Luke Bracey), by refusing to carry arms.

Desmond's defiance leads to his arrest for insubordination and he faces a trial behind closed doors overseen by Captain Glover (Sam Worthington) and Captain Stelzer (Richard Roxburgh).

Hacksaw Ridge pulls no punches in its depiction of the horrors of conflict.

Garfield delivers a mesmerizing lead performance, as a gentle and caring man who yearns to serve the country he loves, but isn't willing to abandon his moral compass in the name of patriotism.

Gibson's bravura direction marries moments of silent, agonizing regret with explosions of deafening pyrotechnic spectacle.

It's a brutal, uncompromising assault on the senses that tunes into Doss' religious beliefs and clings onto them when tearful capitulation seems like the only option.

:: SWEARING :: NO SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 8/10

T2 TRAINSPOTTING (18, 117 mins) Drama/Comedy/Romance. Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Anjela Nedyalkova, Scot Greenan. Director: Danny Boyle.

Released: January 27 (UK & Ireland)

Choose life with nae regrets.

Choose to belatedly revisit one of the defining films of the mid-1990s, which shoved a dirty needle into the arm of Cool Britannia and stuck up two fingers to the notion that successful homegrown films could only be pristine period dramas or feel-good romantic comedies.

Choose the holy filmmaking trinity of director Danny Boyle, screenwriter John Hodge and producer Andrew Macdonald, who induced that intoxicating rush of blood to the head 21 years ago.

Choose a narrative joint rolled from Irvine Welsh's novel Trainspotting and the sequel Porno, cut with whirling camerawork that propels embittered characters down a new rabbit hole of nihilistic desire.

Choose the reunion of a predominantly Scottish cast on location in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Choose vivid visual flourishes, projections, shadows and hallucinogenic flashbacks to realise each surrender to the siren song of addiction.

Choose another achingly hip and unabashedly retro soundtrack under the influence of award-winning Edinburgh band Young Fathers, Wolf Alice, Underworld and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

Choose a multi-faceted portrait of modern masculinity - fathers estranged from children, impotent husbands, friends torn apart by betrayal - to sow the seeds of anguish and reminiscence.

Choose a flabby-bellied two hours rather than a lean 93 minutes of the original to follow Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) as he returns home to beg forgiveness from Spud (Ewen Bremner).

Choose revenge, the poison coursing through the veins of reluctant publican Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller) when he discovers Renton is back in town.

Choose seething rage, which drips from the tongue of psychotic jailbird Begbie (Robert Carlyle) as he finally glimpses life without bars.

Choose a detour to the familiar breathtaking vista of Corrour rail station, framed by the rounded hill of Beinn na Lap, to pay tribute to those left behind.

Choose flashes of brilliance - a darkly humorous explosion of bodily fluids, a funding pitch that describes a sauna as "an artisanal bed and breakfast experience" - punctuated by cute visual nods to the first film.

Choose Spud as the trembling, emotional core, willing him to succeed as he struggles to sever ties to heroin and discover self-worth.

Choose a head-on collision of solemn memorial and wistful nostalgia, stoked by the words of Sick Boy's Bulgarian girlfriend, Veronika (Anjela Nedyalkova): "Where I come from, the past is something you forget. Here, it's all you talk about."

Choose the sinking realisation that the giddy high of the first time you watched Trainspotting - that breathless sprint down Princes Street to Iggy Pop's Lust For Life, the headfirst plunge into the worst toilet in Scotland, the needle drop of Underworld's Born Slippy - isn't going to be replicated.

Choose to stop being a tourist in the rose-tinted glow of that glorious past that became a cultural phenomenon.

Choose T2 Trainspotting, with reservation.

:: SWEARING :: SEX :: VIOLENCE :: RATING: 7/10