ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, Alana Haim, Wood Harris, Shayna McHayle, Paul Grimstad, Dijon Duenas, Tony Goldwyn, Starletta DuPois, D.W. Moffett, Kevin Tighe, Jim Downey, Eric Schweig, Tisha Sloan, James Raterman, April Grace, voice of Jena Malone.
The latest film from auteur Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, etc) is a darkly comic, gritty and edgy chase thriller that taps into some of the contemporary social and political issues of a divided and fractured America today, including the hot button issue of immigration, racist cabals, extremism, authoritarian government overreach and the aggressive weaponization of the military for political purposes.
Pat Calhoun (Leonardo Di Caprio) is a revolutionary and part of an underground extremist left-wing group known as French 57 whose aim is to expose injustice, abuse and government corruption. Alongside firebrand fellow revolutionary Perfidia Beverly Hill (Teyana Taylor, from Coming 2 America, etc), he attacks a detention centre near the Mexican borders to liberate immigrants being detained there. This brings them into conflict with Colonel Steven J Lockjaw (a strong jawed and taciturn Sean Penn), who is dedicated to closing down the group. But he is also sexually attracted towards Perfidia. Lockjaw catches Perfidia in the act of planting a bomb in a hotel but lets her go after she agrees to have sex with him.
After giving birth Perfidia soon abandons Pat, leaving him to care for their daughter Charlene (newcomer Chase Inifiniti in her feature film debut). Perfidia though is captured following a botched bank robbery and, to save her skin, she turns informant. Perfidia manages to escape from witness protection and hides out in Mexico. No one from French 57 is safe, so Pat takes Charlene and disappears off the grid, changing his name to Bob Ferguson and renaming Charlene as Willa. He grows paranoid and becomes addicted to a combination of drugs and alcohol.
Sixteen years later Bob’s past catches up with him as Lockjaw comes hunting for Charlene. Lockjaw has been approached to join a covert and powerful group of white supremacists operating under the benign sounding name of the Christmas Adventurers Club, which hides their sinister agenda. But to join them he needs to erase all traces of any connection between him and Perfidia and Charlene. This sets in motion a pursuit through a murky world of terrorism, and illegal government investigations.
One Battle After Another has been adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland – this is Anderson’s second adaptation of a Pynchon novel following 2014’s Inherent Vice. While it retains the author’s paranoid tendencies and cynicism, Anderson has taken liberties with source material and included many contemporary touches that make it seem more relevant and topical and attuned to events unfolding in America today. It seems prescient. It also has echoes of Daniel Goldhaber’s 2022 anarchic independent film How To Blow Up A Pipeline. However, this is arguably Anderson’s most ambitious film to date, both thematically and dramatically.
The film does contain a couple of strong and well staged action sequences. The film’s climax features an extended car chase along a deserted and hilly stretch of road that is filled with a palpable sense of menace. It has been atmospherically shot in widescreen by cinematographer Michael Bauman (Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, etc). Regular collaborator Jonny Greenwood’s dissonant score enhances the tension.
Anderson has assembled a solid ensemble cast, which includes three Oscar winners, to breathe life into the characters. Di Caprio continues his trend of working with interesting film directors who challenge him and draw solid performances from the actor. Here he delivers another solid performance and brings a frantic energy to his performance as the disheveled Bob, who spends most of his time dressed in a tatty dressing gown as he races to save Willa. There is plenty of humour in watching him try to reconnect with his wild radical past and even remember key passwords and codes. Penn makes for a very creepy and disturbing, amoral and unapologetically racist character. He brings his usual intensity to the role, although his driving motives seem unclear and ambiguous. Penn seems to have worked out though as he sports an impressive set of muscles and buffed physique. Taylor has a strong presence and brings a mix of intelligence, physicality and resilience to her role. Benicio Del Toro brings some touches of humour to his role as Sergio, a martial arts sensei who maintains a calm presence while events seem to be spiraling out of control around him. Newcomer Infiniti is also good as the rebellious Willa who regards her father’s paranoid ways with a healthy dose of adolescent cynicism.
One Battle After Another is a confronting film, but the plotting seems a tad complicated and unnecessarily muddled. And with an overly generous running time of 162 minutes the pace is allowed to slow down at times.
★★★☆
