One Battle After Another
I’ve never thought of Paul Thomas Anderson as an action-film kind of director. While never boring or slow, Anderson’s films are typically more cerebral, often centered around complex studies of the internal mental states of his primary characters. Which makes his latest work, “One Battle After Another” so striking. After all these years, the greatest director of my generation has finally tackled the action genre. And boy, has he knocked the proverbial ball out of the park.
The set-up
Based on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel “Vineland,” “One Battle After Another” follows revolutionary warriors Pat and Perfidia (Leonardo DiCaprio and Teyana Taylor) through a high-powered attack on a large holding compound for supposedly illegal immigrants. Their group, known as French 75, uses all manor of explosives and gunfire to release the hostages. Then they go after right-wing political figures, fire-bombing their offices and even disrupting the power grid. Their motives may be admirable, but their methods are obviously outside the law.
After giving birth to a baby daughter, Charlene, Perfidia leaves Pat and the baby to continue her fight against oppression and political operatives. When she is captured by the authorities, Perfidia is forced to name names of others in the French 75 movement. At this juncture, Pat and little Charlene are forced into a witness protection program of sorts, moving to the fictitious sanctuary city of Baktan Cross, and assuming new identities.
Quick fast-forward
Now known as Bob and Willa Ferguson, we fast-forward to Willa’s high school years. Bob is now spending his days drinking and smoking pot. We’re not sure what, if anything, he does for a living, but maybe expenses are covered by what’s left of the French 75 movement. I guess we’re not supposed to wonder certain things. By all accounts, Willa is a smart and fairly popular girl at her school.
The relative calm of the Ferguson’s life is disrupted when Colonel Steven Lockjaw (a brilliant, over-the-top Sean Penn) joins a white supremacist group and needs to kill Willa to cover up a brief interracial affair he had with Perfidia back in the day. Fearing he is Willa’s natural father, Lockjaw sets out to “destroy the evidence,” as it were.
Greatest action sequence
When the French 75 get word of Lockjaw’s forthcoming raid, they “rescue” Willa from a high school dance, while Bob enlists the help of Willa’s martial arts instructor Sergio (an absolutely hilarious Benicio del Toro), who himself harbors many illegal immigrants. The ensuing chase sequence is one of the most intense, edge-of-your-seat cinematic experiences of all time. “One Battle After Another” makes “Bullitt” seem tame by comparison. This is the stuff that great action films are made of, and even though it’s never been Anderson’s forte before, he provides us with almost an hour of harrowing bedlam and turmoil. Trust me, you won’t look at your watch once.
Having said that, this isn’t some rip-off of Quentin Tarantino’s recent work. Yes, “One Battle After Another” is intense, and it features a lot of gunfire and explosions. But it most certainly does not delve into the realm of gratuitous violence that has plagued so much of Tarantino’s output of the past decade or so.
Excellent DiCaprio
And unlike his Tarantino roles – which are more caricatures than characters – DiCaprio’s Pat/Bob is a real, fully-developed character, with heart and soul, who genuinely cares for his daughter. During the extended action sequence, DiCaprio has a priceless ongoing argument with a French 75 underling who won’t provide Willa’s location without the proper password. Thirty years after he last needed it, Bob continually draws a blank on the password, as his anger level boils over – providing the film’s funniest running gag.
Indianapolis native and 2018 North Central graduate Chase Infiniti turns in a very strong performance as Willa. But the key role here is that of Sean Penn. He is so outrageously bombastic as Col. Lockjaw, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him garner a third Oscar for this role.
Ranking with other Anderson films
Now, where does this one rate amongst Anderson’s other films? I consider his “Magnolia,” “There Will be Blood,” and “The Master” to be among the greatest films ever made. “Boogie Nights” and “Licorice Pizza” are just a notch below. And I would have to rank “One Battle After Another” in that “just a notch below” group. This is certainly his most commercially accessible picture – and it should therefore be his biggest hit. “Licorice Pizza” is probably my favorite film anyone has made so far this decade. But “One Battle After Another” is certainly in my Top 10 for this decade. With apologies to Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, there simply isn’t a better active director on the planet than Paul Thomas Anderson.
Political connection
Now, I wish I didn’t have to write the following paragraph, but I must. The political pundits should have a heyday with “One Battle After Another,” as it easily lends itself to a discussion of our current administration’s obsession with immigrants and sanctuary cities. But this film was shot during the last presidential administration, and its source material is a novel written clear back in 1990. So, any correlation between “One Battle After Another” and today’s political climate is merely coincidental. If this film garners Anderson a long-overdue Best Picture Oscar, expect him (and all of Hollywood) to be derided as “left-wing lunatics.” And it would be just like the academy to honor “One Battle After Another” for that very reason – even though it is a master stroke of filmmaking all on its own. To its detriment, this film and politics will be inseparable.
Andy Ray‘s reviews also appear on https://townepost.com/tag/film-review/