Because it was filmed and projected (in Manhattan, at least, at the AMC Loew's on 68th Street) at 120 frames per second, this was an interested movie from a technical standpoint, even before I saw it. One of the last posts to that thread noted that SLATE didn't like the movie. Because I like Ang Lee's movies, don't worship SLATE and wanted to see if the 120 fps makes any noticeable difference, I saw it anyway.

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk is set half in Texas and half in Iraq. It's about a publicity event as a football stadium in which the newly christened hero of the war (Billy Lynn, played by screen newcomer Joe Alwyn) and his buddies are honored in an event of All-American hoopla, with flashbacks to that horrid day in Iraq. Like most Ang Lee movies since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it is a thorough, slightly ponderous, but ultimately excellent movie which I can wholeheartedly recommend, touching on themes of friendship, Americanism, family, isolation and PTSD.

What about the 120 fps? It was extraordinary, because unlike the 48 fps techniques used in The Hobbit, Lee and his DP, John Toll shot it to emulate 3-point photography, which mean s it wasn't weird. There was almost none of the eye-strain I associate with 3D, although there was a greater sense of depth, with a psychological flattening, like looking at the figures in a pop-up book. This increased the sense of isolation.

It's still experimental technology and was supervised by the company that made the projector. The film stopped once, resulting in some computer code, a ten-minute delay and a free pass to any AMC theater in the city. Even without the Annie Oakley, it was worth it

"Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" is a co-production between America, Britain and China and the latter is probably because the director here is 2-time Academy Award winner Ang Lee. This is the man's newest work. No need to elaborate further on him as most people certainly now "Brokeback Mountain", "Life of Pi" or some of his other works. With this film here that runs for slightly under 2 hours, he gives us his take on war-themed movies as the Iraq War is a huge topic in here. But still I must say, it was a good watch for me, even if sometimes war films do not have the greatest impact on me. The reason may be that there are other maybe more important plots in here that made it pretty interesting for me, for example the protagonist's background back home. For lead actor Joe Alwyn this was the very first career performance for him and we will see what he can make of it in the long run. Playing the title character in an Ang Lee movie is a really big thing though. And for screenplay writer Jean-Christophe Castelli, who adapted the Ben Fountain novel here, it was also the first effort as a writer. For that it was pretty solid, but of course he worked with Lee on many other occasions too.

Now for the film itself. It had some really good moments, like the scene of the desperate fight and the death of Vin Diesel's character (wait what? how isn't he unkillable? he is Vin f***ing Diesel no). But my favorite scene was still the one with the soldiers at the halftime show and how they stand there and how we see them while listening to Destiny's Child's song "Soldier". It really includes all the absurdity one could imagine, with what these men have been through and how the general public sees them. Many people have respect probably, but very few understand what they have been through and the scenes with the security staff are the perfect example of that. As a huge Kristen Stewart fan, I was also happy to see her in here and I think she played her role very well, even if the illness aspect was probably not as effective as it could have been with the monetary references about her treatments. It was still nice to have her in here, even if people who don't like her (and God knows there are many) will probably not be convinced by what they are getting in here.

In general, I would not say that this is an actors' movie (despite the inclusions of known names like Hedlund, Tucker or Martin),but it is much more of a scenario movie if you know what I mean. It's about the stark contrast between war and life in the United States, maybe even taking the geographic component into account. And while I would not say that this is anywhere near my very favorites from 2016 I believe that, as I wrote in the title, it's a pretty good work by Ang Lee again, and everybody else who worked on it. The scene with the DC song I mentioned earlier is a contender for best 5 scenes of 2016 for sure because there is so much you can feel during it and write about it. There are some weaknesses with the film too, but nothing really really bad. I personally would have preferred a bit more chronology actually, but that is just personal perception and taste. The good definitely outweighs the taste and I recommend this film to anybody because of its amazing contemporary value. See it.

To summarize, I feel like that Randy Jackson's words from the Geico commercial sum it up best: "yo check it out dawg, that was just alright for me. I mean you got the walk, you got the stance, but I wasn't feeling this. You gotta come a little harder, you gotta figure it out. Ehhhhhh I don't know."

The visual effects in the movie were much more amazing than the movie itself, especially during the half-time show. Even after the movie's concluded I find myself sitting here, wondering and thinking just what the movie was supposed to accomplish and did it do it? Certain aspects of the movie are touching and heart-felt, while a majority fail to stick the landing they were going for. The ending fight scene was ridiculous and if a gun was fired inside a building in a crowded stadium, someone would've gone to jail for it, no matter their rank. I understand the need to want to create drama, but let's color in the lines and not over-exaggerate (i.e. the soldiers act more like a group of frat boys than they do actual soldiers). I'll circle back to the cinematography - it was truly top notch and the war scenes were alluring, but it seems like there's a ton of build-up to the half-time show and while thats visually the best part of the movie, it just seems like there was no substance otherwise.