One Battle After Another's strong performances, comedic interludes, thematic resonance and tense set pieces warrant a solid recommendation.
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It stinks how much of the discussion about this movie hasn't been about the actual movie. Initially the discussion was around the studio's apparent inability to categorize the film with previews being dropped in with superhero flicks, comedies, and horror movies in equal measure. A scattershot approach you wouldn't necessarily expect to promote a movie from Paul Thomas Anderson, one of our modern era's defining auteur filmmakers. When it was actually released almost all of the positive buzz around the movie was overshadowed by persistent discussion about how much the movie cost to make and how far away it was from the "break even" point. Even though it was easily the highest grossing movie of Anderson's career, has garnered a ton of critical acclaim and is likely set to make even more money after the awards nominations drop. Meanwhile the critics and audiences who actually discussed the movie quickly dubbed it as one of the best movies of the year. So, finally, after all of the hubbub has died down, I got a chance to see the film. But how can any movie live up to these kinds of expectations? Let's dive in.
The Setup
The movie follows a former revolutionary now going by Bob, who has descended into a paranoid state of drinking and smoking weed, while raising his daughter Willa. A paranoid state that's about to go into overdrive as the man who sent Bob and Willa into hiding, a corrupt military officer named Col. Lockjaw, sets out to capture and likely kill the pair. Soon the duo are on separate paths as they chase and run across the nation in a desperate attempt to survive.
Having seen the movie I both get and don't get why folks had so much trouble categorizing this movie. Because it definitely looks and feels a lot like a standard Paul Thomas Anderson movie with its larger than life characters in a grounded world that's full of dark humor and brimming with tension. So what's different? Action, or at least a lot more action than the average Paul Thomas Anderson fan would expect.
If I'm being honest, I think the focus on the movie's action elements has been a bit overblown. Because while the action heavy beats do reveal a different side to Anderson's filmmaking chops, this doesn't look or feel like an action film. Almost all of the action beats are long bits of tension punctuated by brief bursts of violence that drives the plot forward in one way or another, whether it's a montage of Bob's early revolutionary days or the brief bits of gunplay and car stunts that appear towards the film's end.
It's almost like an entire group of critics forgot about the literally explosive bits in There Will Be Blood. But that's a nit pick about the discussion surrounding the movie. How is the movie itself? Pretty great and more than a bit timely. Here's what stood out to me.
Timeless Ideas Delivered in A Timely Fashion
Something One Battle graciously does is keep the time period that everything is happening a bit loose. There's some technology and cultural items that feel of this era, see vaping, cell phones and a non-binary character, but it's not like we've got Trump-clips interspersed as people talk about or carry out immigration raids.
This is pretty intentional as well, since the movie emphasizes that the fight against authoritarianism is never really over, hence the title.
Something I think the movie captures so well is how exhausting the revolutionary lifestyle can be, which is what Leonardo DiCaprio's Bob represents.
When we first met Bob he's enthusiastic. Eager to blow stuff up and throw his fist up in the name of revolution, and equally enchanted with his revolutionary girlfriend. But as soon as his daughter is born, he, rightly, decides it might be time to retire and make sure his daughter, a future revolutionary, lives long enough with enough support. But after Perfidia, his girlfriend, is caught and abandons them both and Bob is forced into hiding, he somewhat justifiably has fallen into a substance addled paranoia as he makes token gestures to his revolutionary ideas at the least opportune times.
Because it's a lot easier to be on the run from the law and blow stuff up when you don't have a daughter who depends on you to survive. Especially as the political landscape around you isn't getting better.
But, Bob's not fully right either because he's basically descended into a fugue state where he's constantly paranoid, barely functional and not being the father he can and should be to his daughter. It's what makes his freakouts with revolutionary contacts both so sad and funny because he really should have things like code words at the ready, but also, he's been through it. It's hard to fight for forever.
The movie also provides a glimpse at what can and does drive a number of revolutionary types. Some people it's belief in the cause. Others its connection to people, demonstrated by Benicio del Toro's Sensei. And some people, like Willa's mother, seem to have a livewire spirit in them that wants to resist whatever's in front of them. It's how you end with sticklers for rules and firearm specialists in the same camp.
On the flipside we have Sean Penn's Col. Lockjaw who is basically a modern conservative talking head, with all of the hang-ups, insecurities, and penchant for violence you'd expect. All so he can join a white supremacist cabal that's trying to run the country from a literal bunker.
He's literally the kind of guy who would conduct gigantic raids that kick-off protests, personally escalate that protest into a riot, all to hide the fact that he's trying to find, capture and kill a young girl that may or may not be proof of his affection for black women. He's not complex, but then again, the motivations of men like this so seldom are.
He's literally the kind of guy who would conduct gigantic raids that kick-off protests, personally escalate that protest into a riot, all to hide the fact that he's trying to find, capture and kill a young girl that may or may not be proof of his affection for black women. He's not complex, but then again, the motivations of men like this so seldom are.
If nothing else it feels like an accurate portrayal of the dichotomy between authoritarians and those that resist them.
Excellent Technical Filmmaking Chops
Were I will give credit to Anderson, in the filmmaking department isn't for the action beats, but how well each of these scenes are constructed to move the story along, all while leaving plenty of room for DiCaprio's Bob to act like a drug-addled idiot, conveying character motivations and putting together a broader picture of the world the movie is taking place in.
The tonal transition within set pieces and scenes is absolutely masterful like an early bank heist that shifts from kind of amusing to terrifying or an extended sequence in the film's middle that is one of my favorite scenes of the year.
And as much as I alluded to the action beats not being the "go-for-broke" stuff you might expect, Anderson's mastery of tension is fully intact here. He makes extended chase sequences have weight, adds in some visual flair you don't typically see in these kinds of scenes, and keeps the audience on the edge of their seat, desperate to see how one of our heroes is going to make it out of this particular situation.
Likewise, the usage of the Vistavision film stock gives the movie the 70s style edge its clearly aiming for, both in look and feel.
Great Performances Across the Board
Something that's very fun about this movie is how every character seems to come in with a distinctive and different energy whether its Teyana Taylor's livewire performance as Perfidia, the unsettling combo of restraint and intensity coming from Penn's Lockjaw, the steely resolve of Chase Infinity as Willa, Benicio del Toro living up to his Sensei title, and of course there's DiCaprio as the hapless Bob who's always one step behind and very pissed off.
The actor/directing combos work so well here not just because of the dynamics at play within each scene, but also because how much of this movie relies on words that people aren't saying directly (see a great performance from a one scene actor who lies for Bob).
I do like that the first time DiCaprio paired up with a director like Anderson, he gets to play a buffoon. A well-intentioned buffoon, but a buffoon nonetheless. Like he's Mr. Magooing his way through a military hit squad coming to get him, cursing like a sailor as he deals with the revolution's customer service branch and it almost every case doing things as ineffectively and awkwardly as humanly possible. So much of the humor in this movie leans on DiCaprio, and it's all the better for it.
The Verdict: Solid Stuff
Though I'll avoid hyperbolic praise, One Battle After Another's strong performances, comedic interludes, thematic resonance and tense set pieces warrant a solid recommendation. 8/10
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