2016's "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime
Walk" by Ang Lee.
Starring Joe Alwyn as Billy, Garrett Hedlund,
Steve Martin, Kristen Stewart, and Vin Diesel.
“BLLHW” is about a military unit that served in
Iraq (mid 2000's) and is currently on a 2 week "tour" of the USA,
being promoted as heroes of the military. The movie takes place primarily at a
football stadium, as the squad is prepped for the half time show, while Billy
has flashbacks of both the PTSD and plot explanation variety. Billy's sister
(Stewart) wants him to go and see his doctor so he can get diagnosed with PTSD
and be honourably discharged from action, but Billy has his doubts and may just
return to the front for more action (a subject covered much more aptly in
2008's "Hurt Locker"). At the same time, the squad negotiates with a
football team owner (a smug Steve Martin) over the movie rights to their story.
Ang Lee shot the movie in 4K AND at 120 FPS, leaving
no doubt as to each actor’s number of face pores. However, inside the bits and
bytes of data rests some of the worst dialogue I've heard in a while ("if
you open the door a crack, all the light gets in"), some uncomfortably bad
camera work that made me want to get these people's faces out of my personal
bubble, and some violations of the 180 degrees rule. Because of the epicentre
of America setting (the military in a football stadium, run by a titan of
industry), I wonder if the movie was intended as satire. But that question is
typically not so hard to tell... Easily the most poorly named ("Billy's
long day" or "Billy's long flashback American nightmare" work
better), and disappointing movie of 2016,
Taiwanese director Lee has made absolutely sublime works previously. Subjects
as broad as Jane Austin adaptations to 70's suburban ennui to gay cowboy
romances to comic book adaptations to the surreal journey of an adolescent
travelling oceans with a tiger to Wuxia martial art fables, Lee has done it
all. Here he adds "underwhelming military propaganda" to his resume.
2/5
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