Oscars 2017: 20 Predicted Best Film Nominees Ranked Worst To Best

There are probably some in Hollywood who would happily see Mel Gibson never work again, thanks to past controversies and distasteful, troubling accusations, but he continues to prove himself an engaging director of difficult subject matter all the same. Without the baggage, he might even be considered in far greater terms.

The film is an unexpected focus for a war film: in a genre that is still awash with either jingoistic Call Of Duty propaganda or concerned primarily with the fetishistic portrait of how grim it all was, seeing the story of a conscientious objector embroiled in bloody battle is a breath of fresh air.

In another world, this could have been a Christian movie - not just in ideas, as it most definitely is still - but in finance, agenda and propaganda. It could have been a cloying, awful take on faith (as not-American football movie Greater ended up being last year), but in Gibson's hands it's more simply about human spirituality and perseverance.

And because the story is approached that way, the fact that it's one of the most gruesome war films ever made is entirely incidental - it is not war pornography or patriotic bullsh*t, it's just a man's story about getting on in the most ridiculously hostile environment imaginable.

Oh and kudos for making Vince Vaughn likeable.