In Paul Thomas Anderson’s tenth film, “One Battle After Another,” — set in contemporary Southern California and made with his largest budget yet of more than $115 million — the auteur filmmaker blends action, drama and satirical comedy, paralleling the current political and social climate of the United States.
The movie opens with Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob Ferguson and Teyana Taylor as Perfidia, who lead a militant revolutionary group called the “French 75.” Together, they successfully break out migrants from the Southern U.S. border, guarded by antagonist Col. Steven J. Lockjaw, played by Sean Penn.
Flash forward 16 years later, the rebellious leader Perfidia is missing under witness protection, and Bob is left to raise their teenage daughter, Willa, played by Chase Infiniti, alone. Col. Lockjaw returns to hunt Willa, ensuing a search similar to Disney’s “Finding Nemo,” as Bob traverses through the streets and deserts of SoCal to save his daughter.
The nearly three-hour runtime seemed like nothing, as the film is packed with enough guns and comical quips to keep my attention. The funniest scenes occurred whenever Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro were both on screen.
While the role of Bob — a has-been ex-revolutionary akin to Rick Dalton from “Once Upon A Time … in Hollywood” — is by no means the toughest role DiCaprio has played, he still acted it with the most energy.
In the first act it was unclear as to where the story was heading, but the movie picked up pace when Bob frantically ran around the city — paranoid and disheveled with a dead phone in his iconic flannel robe, beanie and sunglasses.
An irregular rhythmic and minimalist soundtrack lies underneath the second act to bring the film its “Uncut Gems”-like tension and carry it through to the third act.
The film concludes with an unforgettable and haunting car chase. Filmed uniquely with a telephoto lens, it felt like a rollercoaster ride in the middle of the theater — stomach in knots, anticipatingwhat might happen next.
Ultimately, the emotional heart of the film lies in the relatable teenage daughter and bumbling father relationship. Willa expresses the generational frustration and familial implications of a revolution, and how that is “just how the cards were rolled out” for her.
Anderson is overt in his political comedy. The comedic elements proposed here pander to leftist demographics who dream of revolution, which explains why my theater — packed with politically hungry college youths — loved this movie.
Still, Anderson manages to poke fun at both sides of the political spectrum with caricatures.
Col. Steven J. Lockjaw is a caricature of broader right-wing militant white supremacists whose masculinity is mocked through codenames in the movie. In other scenes, Bob becomes frustrated over the leftist semantics of codewords and pronouns.
Perfidia, a femme fatale-like character, resembles Black militant leaders of the late twentieth century. However, I believe her character was an overuse of the sexualized stereotypes that Black women — and women in general — have been subjected to for most of movie history.
While it is clear the comedy is satirical, it does not do enough to denounce and subvert the harmful ideology it makes fun of.
Perifidia, along with Willa, faces the barrage of many racist remarks regarding interracial relations in the call for “white purity.” In one intense scene, the mixed-race daughter has “Mutt!” screamed in her face with no backlash.
It felt like the movie was almost trying to subliminally convey a message without actually saying anything directly. The actual issues of immigration, racial politics and militarized policing simply became an aesthetic backdrop for silly moments — like when DiCaprio pumps his fist into the air and hollers “¡Viva la Revolución!” seemingly straight into the camera.
With a movie that feels so relevant to the current political and social reformations of modern America, this was a cruel divergence in wasted potential.
As a Black and mixed-race woman, who also lives where the movie was set, I know how prevalent these issues are to myself, the community and friends I know. So when I left the theater, I was a bit perplexed and disappointed.
“One Battle After Another” is a well-made movie with nothing to say. It has the rebellious spirit — but no actual cause behind the revolt. This film was not about any particular revolution nor any reason for defiance but instead romanticizes the idea of revolution itself.