THE STORY – When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.
THE CAST – Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor & Chase Infiniti
THE TEAM – Paul Thomas Anderson (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 162 Minutes
Ever since his feature directorial debut, “Hard Eight,” in 1996, Paul Thomas Anderson has established himself as one of the finest living American film directors over the course of nearly thirty years. He has made countless films that have stood the test of time, but he has never made a film quite like “One Battle After Another.” Ambitious in scope, action-packed, exhilarating, politically charged, heartfelt, and often very funny, it’s his most urgently pressing work to date due to its modern political and social content. Given the current state of the world today, it may very well go down as the film of our time. At 162 minutes, it races forward with a tremendous amount of energy, driven by Andy Jurgensen’s propulsive editing and a Jonny Greenwood score that shifts from playful, jazz-inflected piano lines to earth-shaking operatic grandeur. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland” but very much infused by Anderson’s own personal feelings and fears towards the absurdity of America today, it’s an action-comedy, a political call to action, and a father-daughter drama all wrapped up in one, giving audiences a complete cinematic package that stands as the very best of the year.
The film begins sixteen years ago with a fiery declaration made by the French 75, a radical revolutionary group. Under the cover of night, the fearless men and women storm the Otay Mesa Detention Center on the U.S.-Mexico border, freeing detained immigrants held there by ICE and U.S. Marshals under the command of Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn). Among the French 75 are lovers Perfidia Beverly Hills (a fierce and electrifying Teyana Taylor, who leaves an unforgettable impression in the film’s first 30 minutes) and Pat (Leonardo DiCaprio). Detonation charges are set, people are freed, and those who are in charge are rounded up as the tables turn. It’s an opening that sets the tone for the rest of the film, where political violence is shown not as a celebrated act of defiance but as a necessary act of last resort, fraught with consequences. Perfidia and Pat are living life dangerously, fighting one battle after another as the group targets banks and other pro-government and capitalist institutions. But when Perfidia becomes pregnant with their child, Charlene, Pat wants to slow down their revolutionary exploits and settle down as a family. Perfidia, always one to put herself first, disregards this advice and gets herself compromised by Col. Lockjaw in more ways than one, ultimately leading to her departure from the country. Consequently, this leads to her betraying her allies and family, leaving Pat and their newborn behind. With the government’s firm grip tightening around them, Pat changes his name to Bob Ferguson and his mixed-race daughter’s name from Charlene to Willa. They relocate to a different part of the country called Baktan Cross (not an actual geographical location) and lay low for years without cell phone usage, a ton of cautionary training, and lots of paranoia and drugs for Bob, who lives with guilt and regret. However, one day, sixteen years later, Bob’s paranoia turns out to be true, and when he least expects it, Col. Lockjaw finds him and Willa, hunting them down to finish what was started sixteen years ago. Willa is taken, and Pat, as high as ever, must rise to the occasion and find the courage in himself to reintegrate himself into the French 75 and fight one more battle to save his daughter. What follows is an inevitable showdown suggested by the film’s title that is both literal and personal for its filmmaker, the characters, and the audience.
A common theme in Anderson’s work, whether it’s “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia,” or “There Will Be Blood,” is family. And for all the outrageous and deeply serious scenarios “One Battle After Another” puts forward, Anderson never loses sight of this being a father-daughter story, which is crucial to making sure the audience is emotionally invested in the story and characters as he takes us on a wild ride through the hilly roads of the desert to the underground societies that are secretly held in America’s underbelly. Bob’s desperate search for Willa forces him to reconnect with his revolutionary past, calling on comrades who cannot trust him unless he says the passwords and codewords over the phone to assure them he is who he says he is. One refreshing element of this particular Anderson film is that it’s set in the modern day (most of his filmography tends to be period pieces), and with that comes the intensity of trying to outrun the ever-long and powerful reach of the United States Government. They can track phones, round up your friends, intimidate your loved ones, and use any and every technological or cruel human means at their disposal to get what they want, which helps to give the film overpowering stakes for such ordinary people to overcome.
Humorously fumbling through security protocols he can’t remember while wearing a bathrobe, oversized sunglasses, and a beanie, DiCaprio wrings both comedy and pathos out of these moments. Anderson understands that his star is at its best when toggling between relatable humor and devastating dramatic weight, and DiCaprio delivers one of his strongest performances, recalling some of his best work in films such as “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” It may not be anything we haven’t seen from him before, but it’s very much playing to his strengths, as he leads the film with the expected charm and conviction he’s shown us on screen for decades.
Chase Infiniti, in her first on-screen film role as Willa, emerges as the film’s breakout performance. She brings toughness, vulnerability, and a startling level of confidence to every scene she’s in, holding her own opposite DiCaprio and notably an intensely frightening Sean Penn with what seems like smooth ease. She radiates star power in every frame, signifying she has a bright future ahead of her. Penn, meanwhile, gives one of his best performances in many years. His Col. Lockjaw is terrifyingly precise with his rigid posture, robotic walk, and tight-lipped menace (almost as tight as the shirts he wears) that masks combustible rage under an excessive desire for acceptance in the Christmas Adventurers’ Club (led by Tony Goldwyn), a white supremacist group “dedicated to making the world safe and pure.” And while they’re played up for goofy laughs, it’s horrifying to realize how real and widespread such a group is in today’s society and how men in positions of power, such as Lockjaw, want to be a part of it. Col. Lockjaw could easily have been a caricature, but Penn imbues him with a dangerous mixture of unpredictability and inner complexity, ensuring that he’s not just a one-dimensional villain but someone whose motivations the audience can fully understand, even if he remains an evil man fueled by hatred and a deep level of insecurity he’s masking under a facade of bravado and machismo.
Benicio del Toro’s Sergio St. Carlos (Willa’s karate sensei) is a constant pleasure throughout, making a lot out of a little and leading the audience into some of the film’s more fascinating corners. Particularly, he’s presented as one of the leaders of what is called a sanctuary city. In this place, local governments limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, aiming to protect immigrants from the threat of deportation. This results in a close-knit community of immigrants who run several local businesses, live in proximity to one another, and maintain constant communication, with planned escape routes in case the government ever comes for them (think of it as a modern-day Underground Railroad of sorts). Such a vast network of love and support stands in direct contrast to how Anderson portrays the all-white Christmas Adventurers’ Club, highlighting how each group operates within their respective communities and pushes their movements today.
Sergio is also given the film’s centerpiece line of dialogue, paraphrasing Nina Simone when he asks Bob, “You know what freedom is? No fear. Just like Tom Cruise.” As he selflessly helps Bob with his battle, Sergio stands as one of many who fight the good fight without fear in the face of an intimidating foe who wants nothing more than to keep those different from them down and out. Each character exhibits their own displays of bravery, and Anderson wisely never portrays Bob, Perfidia, Sergio, Willa, or Regina Hall’s Deandra (who resurfaces to aid Willa and avoid capture from Lockjaw) as superheroes or action movie stars such as Tom Cruise. These are everyday, flawed people who are taking on an imposing system that is larger than they are, but the very fact that they’re willing to mobilize, try, and do anything to fight back is admirable and inspiring enough.
“One Battle After Another’s” exploration of political violence is one that will generate tons of conversation, considering how contentious and prevalent such feelings are at this current moment, especially when it almost seems like there’s no other solution to fight back with left, and the country continues to fall into fascism right before our very eyes. If anything, Anderson is giving audiences the chance to fancifully watch these characters as heroes in their own right who can do the things we cannot. And if their actions inspire us to take any non-violent action at all to fight for a more just and better world, then it will have all been worth it. However, Anderson does not shy away from the consequences of taking such action, which gives “One Battle After Another” its own form of tragedy in both title and narrative. Perfidia is ready to lay everything down for the cause, but is Bob? What about those who follow them or those who have the struggle passed down to them from one generation to another? As Willa tells her father, she didn’t ask for this and that was just how the cards were rolled out to her (“Dice,” he corrects her. “Not cards, dice.”). But when the possible results from going to such extremes can only result in exile, jail, death or the slimmest chance that the change you’re seeking will become a reality, is the battle worth fighting? Anderson’s film allows enough room for audiences to contemplate such questions, granting us the power to choose the future we want to see and be a part of.
“One Battle After Another” is a full-course meal for cinema lovers, offering a thematically rich blend of comedy, drama, and action, with political commentary sprinkled on top. Somehow, it all works under the masterful scripting and direction of Anderson, with a relentless sense of pacing from editor Andy Jurgensen that makes the nearly three-hour runtime fly by, offering the right amount of peaks and valleys to allow audiences to absorb its themes while being entertained. The production spanned several key locations in California and Texas, capturing real communities and landscapes in breathtaking VistaVision, 70mm, and IMAX formats, giving the film an epic size with an estimated production budget of over $130, making it Anderson’s biggest film to date. The climactic car chase in particular is a meticulously staged and thrilling sequence captured over the “River of Hills” in Borrego Springs that recalls the very best of what George Miller captured with the “Mad Max” films, or Steven Spielberg with “Duel” or even James Cameron with “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” Captured all in-camera with many of the stars performing their own stunts, Anderson’s shooting of a straight-up action sequence has a tactile spirit that CGI-heavy blockbusters often lack and audiences are craving nowadays.
Michael Bauman’s grainy yet gorgeous film photography, Colleen Atwood’s already iconic costumes (Bob’s main outfit is set to become a go-to Halloween costume for cinephiles everywhere), and Florencia Martin’s detailed contemporary production design lend the film both grit and resplendence, grounding its revolutionary realism while embracing stylized flourishes. Jonny Greenwood’s incredible score is a character unto itself, shifting moods just as much as the film itself does, with idiosyncratic rhythms, and other times overwhelming it with astonishing dramatic force. As a cinematic experience both in style and substance, “One Battle After Another” is a triumph, especially from a major Hollywood movie studio such as Warner Bros., who was willing to take such a gamble on such a singular and incendiary work from an all-timer filmmaker working at the top of his game.
But coupled with the emotional connection to the story and its characters, this remains easily one of Anderson’s most accessible and crowd-pleasing films to date. For all its spectacle and craft, the heart of “One Battle After Another” lies in Bob’s unbreakable bond with Willa. Strained by years of paranoia and seclusion, and eventually confronted by the almost omnipotent force in the form of Col. Lockjaw, it earns the audience’s sympathy and applause. In a time when state power, immigration policy, and nationalist movements dominate the headlines, “One Battle After Another” resonates with alarming immediacy, all wrapped in an overall sincere and entertaining package. Anderson himself has described the film as a long-gestating fusion of influences ranging from Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland” to his own fascination with revolutionary movements and fractured families, and I’m sure some personal injection too as a white father to mixed-race children who are being forced to grow up in an America that is constantly changing, and not for the better. When Willa reads a letter from her mother later in the film, it becomes clear that she symbolizes the next generation, how the struggle is passed down to them, what they will do next, and how they will fight back in ways that are different from the generations before them. That blend of the personal and political, the ludicrous and the tragic, is what makes “One Battle After Another” so multi-layered and compelling. It may not offer clean resolutions as several characters’ fates remain unknown by the end, but that’s the point. Focusing on Bob and Willa and their effort to be reunited, this is only one battle in a series of others that will continue long after the credits roll and will likely transfer over to us in our daily lives as well.
What is freedom? In “One Battle After Another,” it means “no fear,” and that’s all anyone who is persecuted in this country wants: to be able to live their lives peacefully and contribute to society without fear of knowing that at any moment the government will kick down their door, bag them, and take them away. Sadly, we’re not anywhere near achieving this reality, especially given the current Presidential administration and the unprecedented powers it has granted ICE. But if “One Battle After Another” can force someone, anyone, to confront this reality and inspire them to take a stand against it, then the first battle in a long series of them will have just begun. It’s because of this belief that “One Battle After Another” is more than a movie; it’s a call, not to arms but to consciousness. To wake up and realize what is happening in the world around us, and that action is necessary from even the unlikeliest of heroes. In a career of many masterworks, this may be Paul Thomas Anderson’s most vital film yet. It’s one cinematic delight after another, a battle cry, and undoubtedly not only the film of the year, but for an entire generation, perhaps the entire decade.
