Summary
- Iraq War Veteran Jay Dorleus praises Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk for its accurate depictions of combat and PTSD.
- Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk was a critical and commercial disappointment upon its release in 2016.
- The movie's high frame rate presentation and lackluster script resulted in mostly negative reviews.
Directed by Ang Lee, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk follows Joe Alwyn's eponymous soldier as he embarks on a victory tour following a major battle, with a narrative that aims to explore the differences between Lynn's combat experiences and Americans' perception of the conflict. The movie, which also stars Vin Diesel, Chris Tucker, and Steve Martin, earned mostly poor reviews from critics, with criticism levied at the movie's story and high frame rate (HFR) presentation.
In a recent video for Insider, Iraq War Veteran Jay Dorleus analyzes scenes from Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, finding them to be surprisingly accurate.
According to Dorleus, the film does an effective job of portraying the combat itself, but also the post-traumatic stress disorder that results from it. Read his analysis below, which includes a high score for the film out of 10:
“When he says ‘control your fire,’ that just means don’t shoot all your ammunition at once. Make sure you choose a string of fire that make sense. Typically, a basic combat load for a soldier is 210 rounds. That’s what we carry on our person whenever we go out on missions. That’s seven magazines. You don’t want to run out of ammunition. It happened to me a couple of times, you know, eight to 10-hour battles you’re going to run out of ammunition….
“That’s probably the most accurate scene I’ve seen as far as gun battles. There’s a lot of standoff and they’re just engaging rounds back and forth. That’s your typical engagement in Iraq during the time that I was there.
“What you saw there was an AT4. It is a common issue item for infantry guys, and it was used properly too. You got to make sure you have standoff, that’s getting them away from the walls so they have enough clarity for the rounds to go off. And before they fire, they check their back blast to make sure nobody is behind then.
“That is an accurate depiction of what happens if you’re triggered by PTSD… He doesn’t really know where he’s at, so his buddies had to calm him down and then refocus him, ‘You’re not on the battlefield anymore.’ Different people require different things. In that particular situation, that’s what that guy needed. But every soldier is different and your fellow soldiers will know exactly how to bring you back.
“I would rate this a nine out of 10 because they do a really good job at the rooftop battle scene and also depicting what actually happens when you have a PTSD episode.”
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Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk's Poor Reception Explained
Why Ang Lee's War Drama Wasn't A Hit
The release of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk in 2016 followed the release of Lee's The Life of Pi in 2012. That film earned an impressive 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, ultimately walking away with the statues for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Visual Effects. Billy Lynn's Halftime Walk, however, was not this rapturously received, and neither was Lee's next film, 2019's Gemini Man.
24 frames per second is the standard in film, but Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk is shot at 120. Both Avatar movies experimented with HFR, in addition to movies like The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and Gemini Man, and it remains a divisive visual choice. While it can add to the realism of a scene and make it appear almost life-like, some audiences and critics find it more distracting than anything else. This is a common sentiment in the Billy Lynn's Halftime Walk reviews, with the HFR presentation detracting from emotional moments of drama.
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk was a box office flop, grossing only $30.9 million worldwide on a budget of $40 million.
In addition to visuals that proved distracting, a common criticism is that the film ultimately just doesn't quite hold together narratively. Despite a strong performance from Alwyn, the film doesn't achieve the emotional goals that it seems to be aiming for, in addition to featuring messaging that often feels muddy and even contradictory. Despite these complaints, however, it's certainly noteworthy and commendable that Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk accurately portrays combat and PTSD.
Source: Insider
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
- Release Date
- November 11, 2016
- Runtime
- 113 Minutes
- Director
- Ang Lee
Cast
Joe Alwyn
Chris Tucker
WHERE TO WATCH
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk was directed by Ang Lee, who was responsible for iconic films like Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi. The film revolves around a soldier from the Iraq War set to receive the Silver Star. Becoming somewhat of a celebrity, the man and his unit are able to tour the country and will be seen during the halftime show at a football game, simultaneously finding out after the game they must head back to active duty.
- Writers
- Jean-Christophe Castelli
- Studio(s)
- Sony
- Distributor(s)
- Sony
- Budget
- $40 million
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