Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

Plot synopsis:
October 23, 2004Video footage is seen of two insurgents in Iraq carrying a wounded staff sergeant toward a foxhole. A soldier named Billy Lynn (Joe Alwyn) intervenes and shoots the insurgents to run to the sergeant while fending off other shooters. The footage of the heroic act circulates throughout the media, and Billy becomes a national hero.Thanksgiving Day, 2004Billy wakes up and goes to join his Bravo Squad - Sgt. David Dime (Garrett Hedlund), Mango (Arturo Castro), Foo (Mason Lee), Crack (Beau Knapp), Lodis (Brian "Astro" Bradley), Holliday (Ismael Cruz Cordova), and Skyes (Barney Harris). The squad has been going through a promotional tour with their producer Albert Brown (Chris Tucker). A rep from the Dallas Cowboys named Josh (Ben Platt) goes to pick up the team in a limo.Two days earlier, the squad was holding a funeral for their fallen sergeant Virgil "Shroom" Breem (Vin Diesel), whom Billy was trying to save in the video. After the funeral, Billy returned home to his mother (Deirdre Lovejoy) and sisters Kathryn (Kristen Stewart) and Patty (Laura Lundy Wheale).In the limo, Albert tells the squad that he is in the process of negotiating a deal to make a movie based on their heroics, joking that Hilary Swank wants to play Billy.During his training on tour, Dime and Shroom were aware that Billy had a criminal record before he was stationed out to Iraq. Billy explains that Kathryn was in a car accident that left her with multiple stitches on her face and lower body, leaving her with scars in the present. Her fiance dumped her in the hospital, prompting Billy to destroy the man's car and chase him with a tire iron. He signed up the next day so that the charges would get dropped.One of the Bravos' missions involved them raiding a compound to take down possible insurgents. They take down two men in front of their wives and children. Billy recalls the face of one of the children staring daggers at him for taking his father.The squad arrives at the football stadium for their show. A number of excited and anxious fans talk to them to express gratitude for their work or to share hateful comments about those that the team is fighting. They sit for a press conference, where Billy spots one of the cheerleaders, Faison (Makenzie Leigh) smiling at him. After the conference, Faison walks over to Billy and starts up a conversation with him. He tells her how it feels weird to be honored for the worst day of his life. She offers some optimistic insight before they go off and have sex.Billy and Mango go off with a stadium employee that shares a joint with them. The three of them talk about having nothing to look forward to when everything is over.We see a flashback of Billy sitting under a tree and talking with Shroom, who always spread nothing but wisdom and love to his teammates.Another flashback shows Billy sitting to have dinner with his family upon his return home. They left the news on, which is focusing on war-related topics. The family starts to have an argument that ends with Mrs. Lynn slamming the table, giving Billy a bit of a scare.The squad sits to watch the game right before they are set to get up for their appearance during the halftime show with Destiny's Child. It's also mentioned that the squad is set to return to Iraq shortly after their promotional tour is over. Billy gets a phone call from a doctor that Kathryn spoke to in regards to trying to have him honorably discharged so that he doesn't have to go back to Iraq so that he won't have to suffer any longer.The squad changes into their camouflage outfits for the halftime show. The lights, exploding sounds, and overall hectic atmosphere causes distress to some of the guys, particularly Crack, who pushes one of the producers and has to be calmed down by the other guys. Destiny's Child performs their songs, and Billy walks down the middle during the song "Soldier".After the show, the guys get into it with the stage manager who acts like a dick to them for still being on the stage before the game is about to start up again. They head on to continue watching the game. One guy watching the game makes a comment to the guys about their opinions on gays in the military. Crack replies by putting the guy in a sleeper hold until he passes out.We go back to October 23rd and see the event in full. Shroom went out to take on the insurgents and was shot badly. Billy ran in to save him, shooting the insurgents that came near him. Another one shot at him from behind a truck, only to get shot to pieces. Billy took Shroom into the foxhole, but another insurgent came toward Billy. Shroom grabbed the man's gun and gave Billy an opportunity to attack. After a brief struggle, Billy stabbed the insurgent in the neck until he bled out. Billy went over to Shroom, but he was already gone. Dime ran in and cried with Billy, telling him how proud he was of his actions.Billy and Dime later meet with Norm Oglesby (Steve Martin), the owner of the Cowboys who is also investing in the movie project about the squad. However, instead of the previous offer of $100,000 to each member of the squad for the movie, Oglesby has reduced it to $5,500 apiece, which infuriates the squad. Dime angrily rebuffs his offer. When Oglesby talks to Billy in private, he tells Billy that this story is no longer his, but it's now America's story. Billy also shoots down Oglesby's offer and joins Dime in refusing to do business with him.As the squad leaves, they get attacked by the stage manager and his goons. This gives Billy a full wave of PTSD imagery. The stage manager and his goons get arrested later.The squad is preparing to make their return. Billy meets up with Faison briefly before leaving. He says he wishes he could run away with her even though he has to go back. They share a kiss before parting ways. Not long after, Kathryn goes to pick Billy up, but with merely an expression, he makes it clear he can't stay. She is upset, but he goes over to talk to her. They share a tearful hug.Billy goes to the limo, which he sees as a humvee. He enters and imagines Shroom talking to him one more time. In reality, he is with the squad. They all tell Billy they love him right before they leave.

Tags: flashback

Review:
He sees and thinks.He might find that life is difficult to choose,finally he go back to the place where he belongs.If you can feel you are Billy Lynn, you can feel how ridiculous this society is.Nobody understands you,people see what they want to see.the sad thing is, you can change nothing but follow the direction of fate.If you don't have sensory substitution,this movie is boring.From the beginning of Billy's halftime show， I can't help crying.
The manner in which returning soldiers face 'instant glory' is overshadowed by the inherent bully-ism by a public that does not understand the cancer of war and how it metastasizes throughout our troubled planet.The film is told from the point of view of 19-year-old private Billy Lynn (Joe Alwyn) who, along with his fellow soldiers in Bravo Squad (Garrett Hedlund, Arturo Castro, Mason Lee, Astro, Beau Knapp, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Barney Harris and Vin Diesel) becomes a hero after a harrowing Iraq battle and is brought home temporarily for a victory tour.
Billy finds a possible entry to fame through a film about Bravo by Albert (Chris Tucker), thwarted by the wealthy insensitive would-be backer Norm (Steve Martin), an introduction to love by one of the Dallas cheerleaders Faison (Makenzie Leigh), and in the end, though disenchanted with America's reaction to what soldiers suffer in war zones, Billy makes the 'long halftime walk' back to his beloved buddies of Bravo as they prepare to return to duty.
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk gives us the workings of cinema master Ang Lee in this boisterous, ballsy film that wishes it was better than what it is.
The supporting cast featuring Garrett Hedlund, Kristin Stewart and Vin Diesel are all stellar in their own rights but without a well told story backing them up, their efforts feel useless.Overall, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk is beautiful to look at and definitely keeps in line with Ang Lee's Life of Pi more so than with any of his other films but what Life of Pi had in the way of story, this film lacks every step of the way.
Through flashbacks the film shows what really happened to his squad - contrasting the realities of war with America's perceptions.The biggest problem with 'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk' is its unappealing Writing.
It is clear Lynn is suffering with PTSD, his sister does not want him going back to fight and during this final appearance he gets friendly with a cheerleader.The film was a plodding boring dirge, a surprise given that it was directed by two time best director Oscar winner, Ang Lee.A lot of the story is told in flashbacks but it badly hampers the pacing of the film.
It is often hard to make a good war movie that isn't based on a true story, this is likely because when audiences know that it is fictitious the stakes wouldn't be so high, and it won't really touch people's hearts so to speak.
Instead what two-time Oscar-winning director Ang Lee (!) and his screenwriter, Jean-Christophe Castelli give us is the most clichéd, unrealistic, uninspiring, pointless and offensive war film since the later "Rambo" movies.Billy Lynn (newcomer Joe Alwyn) is a 19-year-old trouble-maker who enlisted in the Army under the good ol' "go to war or go to jail" option.
It's hard to understand how a director like Ang Lee who has in his filmography films like Life of Pi made a film as bad as Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, one of the worst films of 2016, the cast is interesting, it has names like Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, Steve Martin, Vin Diesel, Chris Tucker and etc, and the protagonist Joe Alwyn is not bad, but it is a very average performance, the direction of Ang Lee is common, the film has some moments of battle, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk is one of the worst movies of the past year, I do not recommend it, Ang Lee made his worst film in his career, we hope he gets himself Redeem in the next.
I discover to have more questions: this is just closer to what I see and my eye was cramming for more details, more clarity, more lights, more performance , more ways of studying human faces, more drama, so I am in the curve of searching for the new answers in what digital film can offer us and two years ago Tom Rothman came to me with this wonderful book, it is a coming of age story, of a young solider , he did something heroic, and been brought back to celebrated it in a climax in a Dellas thanksgiving football halftime show.
"Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" is the perfect film to honor our heroes.Based on Ben Fountain's novel, scripted by Jean-Christophe Castelli, newcomer Joe Alwyn plays 19-year old private Billy Lynn who came home from the war with his fellow soldiers in Bravo Squad after a gruesome battle that took the life of one of their own.
Much of it is thanks to legendary cinematography John Toll ("Braveheart," "Legends of The Fall"), the editing also seems so seamless, I've seen a lot of war movies in my lifetime, many of them carry similar approach, but none quite as immersive as "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk."Joe Alwyn is an absolute revelation, Garrett Hedlund is astounding, Steve Martin is superb and Kristen Stewart gives one of this year's most heartbreaking performances.
In the '80s, Vietnam vet turned Oscar winning writer/director, Oliver Stone, was bold enough to challenge the war through his films like "Platoon" and "Born On The Fourth Of July." Ang Lee's "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" delivers that same courage, in today's world where there are some of us wondering if this war was even worth it, we tend to forget that our soldiers are human beings too, with family and PTSD, they're not some kind of pawns on some lawmakers' geopolitical chessboard.
I'm bettin' some right wingers would watch this film and think of it as some kind of liberal agenda, they're entitled to their opinion, but you gotta admit, parading our soldiers through sports events and parties just for propaganda in order to recruit more young folks to take up arms, not to mention the way we often treat veterans after they've returned home, "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" brings up all of those hard-hitting issues, it pierces through right to the very heart of our own reflection.-- Rama's Screen --.
It's this line between honor and propaganda that takes up much of the new movie from two-time Oscar winning director Ang Lee (Life of Pi, Brokeback Mountain).The story is based on Ben Fountain's 2012 novel, and revolves around soldier Billy Lynn's and his fellow "Bravo" squad members as they make the rounds back home (in 2004) for publicity after their intense battle sequence is caught on camera.
There is much at play here: how the soldiers interact with each other, how they are treated by the general public, how they are used by the team's owner and the Army for self-serving reasons, and how Billy juggles the stress of war, the spotlight of heroism, and the demands from his family.Director Lee opted to experiment with the ultra-realism of the new 120 frames per second in 4k 3D, rather than the standard 24 fps.
Of course, this is Ang Lee's film, so there is no shortage of stunning visuals and expert shots.Beyond the technical aspects, this movie is simply a bit clunky to watch, not very well written (screenplay by Jean-Christophe Castelli), not very well acted, and has an overall awkward and unfinished feel to it.
Their scenes together are nearly unwatchable.Supporting work comes from Vin Diesel as Billy's philosophical officer in recurring flashbacks to the war, Garret Hedlund as the current squad leader, a miscast Steve Martin as team owner Norm Oglesby (a Jerry Jones type), and Chris Tucker as the incessantly yammering agent/producer trying to put a movie deal together for the soldiers.
Worse, nothing about the film feels like an Ang Lee movie.The story is about Billy Lynn (Newcomer Joe Alwyn) a 19-year-old American soldier returning from a tour of duty in Iraq.
There's a lot of pomp and celebration, girls fall at their feet, Hollywood wants to make a movie out of it, et al; but through all the glitz and glam, Billy is struggling to play along and we see this through a series of flashbacks that takes him and us back to that fateful day in Iraq.Adapted from a 2012 novel of the same name, the story is a satirical take on how the public perceives a soldier.
Along the way, he finds his heroism manipulated by film producers Norm (played by Steve Martin) and Albert (played by Chris Tucker) who are trying to land a movie deal out of the events that squadron's faced.Based on the novel by Ben Fountain, this drama capitalizes on themes of patriotism and honor, and opens light on social issues that run between the grim realities of war and the distorted views of active combat by citizens back at home.
Looking for something Oscar- worthy though, you are probably better off looking elsewhere.Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk is a shallow war drama that fails to arrest viewers with its timely themes and Ang Lee's scattershot approach to an otherwise thoughtful examination of its eponymous character versus America's fantasized perceptions of war.
He's hailed a national hero, but deep down he does not resonate with that sentiment.Ang Lee made some astonishing films in recent years, and i had high expectations of "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk".
I appreciated how Lee played out the story through flashbacks, and gave the audience progressively greater detail into the struggle the main character is going through while trying to come to grips with conflicting loyalties to his family and his fellow soldiers, and at the same time trying to see if people see him as Billy the war hero, or Billy the pure-hearted kid from small town Texas.All in all, I'm definitely glad I was able to see it in 120fps - and that Lee had the courage to shoot it like that.
For a film made by one of the modern era's greatest story-tellers, Billy Lynn's Long Half Time Walk is an incredibly disappointing film.That for all its so called technical wizardry (the film was shot at the highest ever feature film frame rate) the film seemed to have forgotten how to tell its rather simple, yet over-stuffed story that's filled with some of last year's most cringe-worthy snippets of dialogue.It's really hard to fathom just what director Ang Lee was thinking here.Coming away from one of his biggest successes in the form of the artistically stunning Life of Pi and previous hits such as Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, you'd expect a lot more from Ang Lee, and in adapting Ben Fountain's well-received book of the same name, it seemed as though Billy Lynn really could've been one of those big commercial drama hits that also plays extremely well to the awards crowd.The finished product is anything but however, as this emotion free affair, that sometimes does look awfully pretty (in an odd artificial-like way) fails to make us care one little bit about newcomer Joe Alwyn's Billy Lynn and his crew of fellow American soldiers and as the title suggests this really does become a loooong walk (more for us than anyone else) as Lee's film goes from barely interesting scene to less interesting scene as we partake in a series of meet and greets and war flashbacks that never feel like they're threatening to become anything more than sporadically engaging.You get where Lee and his team were trying to go, a darkly funny and sometimes downright sad look at the way in which war shapes people's lives but when the film we get is filled with such average dialogue, cookie cutter characters including Steve Martin's do-gooder football team owner Norm and Chris Tucker's loud-mouthed agent Albert and one of the dumbest romantic side plots we've seen in sometime, there's really no wonder as to why this film was a huge bomb upon initial release.Final Say – A good example showing off that wiz-bang new technology or so-called technological advancements don't make a good movie, Billy Lynn is an unengaging experience that fails to capture our hearts of imaginations and while there are the odd sprinklings of decent moments within this forgettable walk, you expect a lot more from the likes of Ang Lee.1 ½ angry roadies out of 5.
'BILLY LYNN'S LONG HALFTIME WALK': Three Stars (Out of Five)Director Ang Lee's new Iraqi war drama, based on the book (of the same name) by Ben Fountain.
Now his entire squad is famous, and they're in talks for a movie deal, as well as doing a major publicity tour (which ends at the Dallas Cowboys halftime show).The film has some good scenes in it; and some great insight into the Iraqi war, and the effects it had on the soldiers involved (as well as their loved ones at home).
Ang Lee's Technically Impressive Film is a High-End Exploration of Americana as it Exists in the 21st Century.Sharp, but Not Biting, Satire is Expressed as the Movie Unfolds the sometimes Unsettling Story of an Iraq War "Hero" that becomes a National Celebrity (read commodity) along with His "Bravo" Squad as They are Paraded Pathetically in Front of 40 Million Viewers at a Half-Time Show on Thanksgiving in Dallas.What goes on is a Spectacle that should have Thinking, Feeling, Patriotic Americans "Up In Arms" at the Exploitation, Political Hackery, and Hoodwinking by the Country's Elite.The Movie is about "Life During (and after) Wartime".
The story focuses on the life of 19-year-old Billy Lynn (newcomer Joe Alwyn) it's told in the form of a first person perspective, he has just come home from the brutal combat in Iraq with Team Bravo who have a tour of the United States ending at Dallas' football stadium where they will be presented as heroes in front of a huge crowd.
The movie is about one particular stop at the halftime show of the Thanksgiving Day football game.During this game, Billy starts to have doubts about his military career, torn between the family he joined the military for (Namely a Sister who needed money for an operation and now feels guilty that her brother entered the Marines for her), and the brotherhood he would leave behind if he left (Like his Commanding officer, played by Garrett Hedlund whose not willing to let a good Marine give up his career).Meanwhile, Christ Tucker is in the movie as an agent for the Marines whose setting them up for a Hollywood movie deal (Interesting enough, I think this movie is the deal that was made).What I like best about the movie is we live in a world right now where it's really favorable to honor those who serve our country, not that I have absolutely anything against this, but it was great to see even Marines roll their eyes a bit over all this propaganda.I did not see it in 3d but it's a good movie to catch in General.http://cinemagardens.com.
Lee is a consummate craftsman and went well out of his way to make this definitive version of the film (he noted that there are no fewer than 6(!) different formats screening) look as good as possible, and I didn't notice any of the darkness issues that usually bother me with the 3D.That said, there's no getting away from the fact that the presentation makes it feel like a made-for-TV movie MOST of the time.
I doubt I'm the only one who feels like this and it may be generational as much as anything, but unless I can get acclimated to it I probably won't be going out of my way to see movies shot like this, especially with higher frame rate.Technical issues aside, Billy Lynn is a good movie in line with more recent "return from war" films.
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime WalkUnder Trump's administration troops can look forward to fighting a lot closer to home.However, the GIs in this drama are just visiting Texas, not invading it.Billy Lynn (Joe Alwyn) and the rest of Bravo Squad will be honored during the Cowboys' Thanksgiving halftime show for an act of bravery that went viral.Meanwhile, backstage, their sergeant (Garrett Hedlund) works with a producer (Chris Tucker) to get the rescue of officer Shroom (Vin Diesel) made, and his men paid.When the halftime spectacle starts, however, Billy's PTSD flashbacks of Iraq and his sister (Kristen Stewart) cause him to question the war.The troops hustling for funding is the most intriguing segment of Ang Lee's eye-catching critique of modern hero worshipping, while Vin Diesel's turn as the philosophical sergeant is the most insufferable.Incidentally, with their stanch allegiance, violent tendencies and love of face-paint, sports fans would make ideal soldiers.
Director Ang Lee has a knack for packing a serious, emotional punch in even the most quiet moments of a movie; and he does that again with "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk," a mostly quiet movie that contemplates the craziness of war: started by the rich; fought by the poor and young; the physical and emotional damage it does to the soldiers and their families; the lies that are told to keep the war effort going; the lip service that most civilians give to the soldiers as life goes on as if there is no war happening, etc.After his heroic actions during the second Iraqi war are captured on video for all of America to see, Joe Alwyn (who plays the title role) and his infantry squad are paraded throughout the U.S. to be used as living propaganda for America's war against Iraq.
But he must make a tough decision whether to take care of himself and take the way out, or take care of his squadmates and go back into combat with them.My most memorable, movie moment of "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" is the scene when a civilian starts making fun of soldiers during a football game.