One Battle After Another

Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the explosives expert for a revolution in One Battle After Another (Distributed by Warner Bros.)

One Battle After Another is a tremendously timely movie about revolutionaries, extremism, authoritarianism, hypocrisy, freedom and family. It is exhilarating, brilliant, insightful, thought-provoking and extremely captivating. Despite being 153 minutes long (not including the end credits), it feels maybe half that length, never dragging for even a second of its run time. Written/directed by the great Paul Thomas Anderson, it doesn’t feel like he is talking at his audience. He gets all of his fascinating ideas on the screen in a way that is not merely interesting, but genuinely, thrillingly, entertaining.

This isn’t a character study and it doesn’t value message over story. There is a ton of plot, with a bunch of characters each searching for something. The truth, mostly; or at least what they think the truth is. Everyone is fighting for what they believe in, however misguided or misinformed. Though One Battle After Another has elements of a thriller, punctuated with humor, the action is limited to what is absolutely necessary to tell this story.

So many movies telling timely stories are angry or depressing. This one isn’t. It isn’t specifically about anything going on today. You won’t hear any current events or notable names referenced even once. There are parallels to be seen, yet PTA never draws attention to them. This is an enjoyable piece of entertainment that just so happens to have a lot of currently relevant things to say about power and rebellion.

Perfidia (Teyana Taylor) and Bob on a mission

Perfidia and Bob are revolutionaries. She is a force of nature, bending the world to her will. He is the explosives guy, following her destructive lead. They have a child, Perfidia disappears and Bob takes their daughter into hiding. Sixteen years later, Bob and Willa’s location is found by a colonel who wants them dead, forcing Bob to once again fight for freedom.

On top of everything else, the biggest motivator in the plot is a father’s love for his daughter. Every single thing Bob does is to keep Willa safe. He may be emotionally damaged, jittery and constantly stoned/drunk, but he is always worried about his daughter’s safety. He has effectively shut himself away from the cause for her benefit, not allowing her to have a phone (because the government can track it) and needing to know where she is at all times. Though he is a mess, at least she is protected. When things go south, they’re separated and Bob needs to push his addled brain into action to make sure Willa is okay.

As Bob, Leonardo DiCaprio leans heavily on love of family and fear of the past catching up to him. The character could have been a bit of a joke, but PTA’s screenplay is careful not to mock him. When he rages at a resistance member who won’t give him an address because Bob can’t remember the last part of a complicated decade and a half old password, the joke is not on him. It is on the ridiculousness of bureaucratic speedbumps inside of a revolution. The fury in that situation is both incredibly relatable and very funny. It is a really strong performance in a movie full of them. DiCaprio creates a sympathetic antihero because, unlike most of the other people we meet in this world, his desperation is unselfish.

Hate-filled Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn)

The rest of the cast is wonderful as well. Teyana Taylor makes such a loud statement as Perfidia that her shadow hangs over the whole movie, despite not appearing in the majority of it. Chase Infiniti matches DiCaprio’s emotions as teenage Willa. Benicio Del Toro is funny as a deadpan Sensei, helping Bob escape the military with a matter-of-fact shrug.

However, the performance that will get the most attention is Sean Penn as racist, sexist, violent, self-serving, power-hungry Col. Steven J. Lockjaw. In the first scene, he is humiliated by Perfidia in a way that gives birth to an obsession driving everything he does for the rest of his life. Lockjaw is a terrifying man, barely in control of his anger at anything threatening to get in the way of his desire for authority. He seems ready to explode at any moment. Penn plays him as though there is a monster inside, on the verge of bursting out. PTA’s screenplay sees him as clearly as anyone else. Lockjaw has one instance of happiness and it is so sad, so pathetic, that it brings everything the movie is saying to a head.

One Battle After Another (loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland) is a fantastic achievement by one of the best filmmakers working today. I can’t remember the last time I walked out of the theater thinking “I can’t wait to see that again.” This is a great movie.

5 out of 5

Cast:

Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob

Sean Penn as Col. Steven J. Lockjaw

Chase Infiniti as Willa

Teyana Taylor as Perfidia

Regina Hall as Deandra

Benicio Del Toro as Sensei Sergio St. Carlos

Written/Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson