Even after scoring his second Best Director Oscar for Life of Pi back in 2013, Ang Lee is still not done pushing the envelope. At the outset, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk might seem like a fairly plain story for Lee to hang his hat on. It centers on a young man who returns home from war and feels strange about being honored for the things he’s done. We’ve seen it before. However, what shakes things up a bit is Lee’s choice to shoot the film at 120 frames per second, the highest frame rate ever used for a film. You may remember Peter Jackson attempting to use a similar technique with his Hobbit films, shooting at 48 frames per second. However, most agreed that it just made the film look like an odd daytime soap opera, especially considering the droves of visual effects. Can Lee pull off what Jackson didn’t, with a more grounded setting? We will have to wait and see, but expect this one to be in the conversation around Oscar time.
Side note: This might be the strangest collection of actors I’ve ever seen. Never did I think I would see Chris Tucker and Vin Diesel in the same film. Thanks Ang.
Advertisement