ACTION COMEDY
Paul Thomas Anderson’s ambitious and fast-paced cinematic epic, One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Chase Infiniti, updates ’80s political paranoia to address contemporary culture wars and the US immigration crisis, cementing its status as a masterful work of cinema
STARS: 4.5/5
Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest epic, One Battle After Another, has experienced heaps of praise since it hit cinema screens. Many were quick to call it the film of the year due to its complex and current plot, which provides an interesting perspective on the intensely growing tensions taking place in the United States regarding the right wing’s harsh approach to immigration.
The story centres on Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a former radical revolutionary now living a stoned, off-the-grid existence with his sharp, defiant teenage daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti). Bob’s past catches up to him when his old nemesis, the chillingly obsessive Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), reappears in an attempt to clean up some loose ends in relation to his past with the radical anti-fascist political cell, the French 75, leading to Willa’s disappearance.
What follows is a frantic, hilarious and ultimately moving scramble across the American borderlands of Southern California and Mexico as Bob—armed with a questionable goatee, a flannel robe, and a dying 1G phone—is forced to stop living in the past and get over the heart break inflicted by his ex-partner in crime, Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), to rescue his daughter from the clutches of his evil enemy, Colonel Lockjaw.
Multiple genres
The film seamlessly weaves in and out of multiple genres. It is an electrifying action film, boasting some of the best car chases and shootouts of the year, driven by a pulse-pounding, anxiety-inducing score from English musician and repeat Anderson collaborator Jonny Greenwood, which perfectly provokes the right sense of tension and unpredictability at key moments throughout the film.
At the same time, it’s a dark, screwball comedy, finding humour in Bob’s struggle to recall revolutionary code words, his befuddlement with his daughter’s progressive politics and the sheer absurdity of the fascist “Christmas Adventurers Club” Lockjaw is trying to join.
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Thematic urgency
However, the film’s power lies in its thematic urgency. Anderson updates pop culture author Thomas Pynchon’s 1980s Reagan-era paranoia to address contemporary issues of political repression, immigrant detention and the enduring nature of the culture war.
The title itself suggests a generational inheritance of struggle, brilliantly embodied by the relationship between Bob, his revolutionary ex-partner Perfidia and Willa. DiCaprio grounds the chaos with a deeply felt performance, transforming Bob from a burned-out relic into a primal, protective force of nature, confirming that the most significant “battle” is the one fought for family.
While the film is sprawling and tonally complex—a hallmark of Anderson’s style—it arguably never loses momentum. The first three quarters of the film maintained a consistent dramatic pace, with spot-on dialogue, which challenged the last quarter to keep up.
One masterpiece after another
It is a vital and ambitious piece of cinema that proves that mainstream success and uncompromising artistic vision are not mutually exclusive.
One Battle After Another is a masterful work that cements Paul Thomas Anderson’s status as one of the essential American filmmakers working today, showing his undeniable talent to create moving and memorable works of art of any genre he chooses.
Perfidia Beverly Hills – song and lyrics by Jonny Greenwood | Spotify
F………KING Wonderful. I could not help myself – I’ve seen it twice!!!!