Ang Lee proved with Life Of Pi that he can utilise advanced movie technology without sacrificing emotion or character, and he's looking to something similar with his latest, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. Check out the trailer that has now arrived online.
For this one, adapted by Jean-Christophe Castelli from Ben Fountain's 2012 book, Lee has used ultra-high frame-rate shooting techniques for certain sequences. The format has proved controversial in the past (see the complaints about the first Hobbit film), but Lee may just have pulled it off.
The story follows the titular 19-year-old soldier (played by newcomer Joe Alwyn), who along with his squad has survived a tough battle in Iraq that made headlines and turned the troops into instant celebrities.
Shipped home for a promotional tour by the army, they’re scheduled to return to combat after the final engagement of the trip, a halftime show of a Thanksgiving Day American football game in Texas. As the game progresses, we see flashbacks to what Billy and his platoon endured in the heat of battle.
Looking into how America treats its veterans as both heroes and a tool in future war efforts, the film also features the likes of Kristen Stewart, Vin Diesel, Garrett Hedlund, Chris Tucker and Steve Martin. It'll be out in the US and UK on November 11.