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Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk Movie Review

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk is a 2016 war drama film directed by Ang Lee and starring Joe Alwyn in the main role. It is one of Lee’s worst movies.

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“It’s sort of weird, being honored for the worst day of your life“

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After a horrifying battle in Iraq, Private Billy Lynn and his fellow comrades are brought home for a victory tour. Soon, he recollects the harsh realities of the war and struggles to cope with life. What an odd movie this is. I do get why this material (a novel) appealed to Lee in the first place, or at least I think I know. There is this intimacy and character study at its center that Lee knows how to do well and he is among the best in Hollywood in that actually.

However, the end result still felt uninteresting. It’s a boring drama that is overlong and not holding much interest for those who don’t live in the US. There are much better movies out there that deal with PTSD and the complexities of wars. This one has its moving moments, but for the most part it’s not thought-provoking enough to be more memorable.

The characterization is also only okay, which was a problem for what was supposed to be a character study. Joe Alwyn was terrific as the titular Billy Lynn. He is the heart and soul of the picture and by far the only well realized character. Others fare much worse. Hedlund and Diesel aren’t as well developed, though they are important to the story while the female characters are utterly forgettable and thinly written. Each and every scene with the girls felt like filler to me.

When critics discussed Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, they mostly focused on its failed technological elements. I cannot comment on that particular issue as I did not watch it in the theater where you could only see the high frame rate and all those other innovations. Watching it on the small screen, I could not see any of those “achievements”. In fact, the flick looked rather plain to me. Its title was only used for one longer sequence while the rest was this awkward structure of flashbacks and psychological examination that doesn’t really work. The editing and pacing are truly terrible here.

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Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk is the oddest and most unnecessary movie that Ang Lee has ever directed. While it is very well acted and sometimes moving, it failed as a character study because the characters’ development was mostly weak. It does deal with some important issues, but the execution was terrible, particularly in the poor editing and in the frustrating flashback structure.

My Rating – 2.5