ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER REVIEW
“Another massive swing in a bold new direction for Anderson, as different from his prior movies, as anything else he’s done.”
There’s a darn good reason why there’s so much anticipation whenever there’s a new movie from Paul Thomas Anderson, maybe partially since he seems to spend a lot of time developing each new project. Actually, it’s somewhat hard to believe that he’s been releasing movies for less than 30 years, since he’s been so pervasive throughout those decades, always getting people talking about his latest effort.
And yet, if you were to watch One Battle After Another, not realizing it’s written and directed by Anderson, there are very few clues that it’s a “P.T. Anderson movie.” If nothing else, Anderson has proven countless times that he has absolutely zero interest in making the same movie twice. This one is “inspired by” Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel, “Vineland,” which itself took place during the Reagan era of the ‘80s. If you decided to read Pynchon’s book, in order to prepare for this movie (I haven’t), you’ll quickly learn that “inspired by” is the proper description of a movie that doesn’t even use the same names for its characters.
Anderson’s film begins with a raid on an immigration detention center by a group of domestic terrorists, led by Leonardo Dicaprio’s explosives expert Bob and his lover, Teyana Taylor’s Perfidia Beverly Hills. The latter gets into the face of Sean Penn’s camp leader, Captain Steven Lockjaw, humiliating him, stealing his cap and gun, and instigating events that would continue for decades as Lockjaw seeks revenge. Perfidia eventually gets pregnant – not that it stops her from any of her rebel activities. After delivering her baby girl, Willa, she goes off on her own, before Lockjaw catches up with her, gets her to rat on her colleagues, and puts her into the witness protection program. Always rebelling, she runs off to Mexico, leaving Bob to raise Willa on his own. 16 years later, Willa (played by Chase Infiniti) is just trying to keep her constantly-stoned father on the straight and narrow, but when Lockjaw shows up, they both go on the run, Willa helped by Regina Hall’s Deandra, a member of Bob’s rebel group, the French 75. Bob turns to Willa’s martial arts sensei (Benicio del Toro) for aid.
Obviously, a lot of stuff happens in Anderson’s latest, even if the plot is actually simpler than it might sound. There are many things that are better to experience while watching the movie, rather than me trying to describe them and telling you how to feel. For instance, Anderson has a couple of actual car chases, including one after a bank heist that harks back to Michael Mann’s Heat. There’s also a bit of a Catch Me If You Can vibe to Anderson’s latest, and not just because it’s DiCaprio on the run from an adversary, as in Spielberg’s movie.
Despite that, One Battle is by no means the Leonardo DiCaprio show. After we meet his domestic terrorist, code-named Rocket Man, during the opening raid, he actually disappears for a good chunk of the movie. Instead, the film shifts focus to Perfidia, before she too is gone, before becoming more about Sean Penn’s appropriately-named Captain (later Colonel) Lockjaw and his obsession, not only with Perfidia and the French 75, but also with Bob and Willa. Don’t worry, he has his reasons, but to get into them in any sort of detail, also might ruin the film experience Anderson is trying to create. Similarly, while politics play a major role in the story, to try to parse or explain them seems something better left to the viewer’s interpretation.
With Lockjaw, Penn and Anderson may have created one of the all-time great movie villains with an absolutely staggering performance by Penn as this truly unique antagonist, allowing DiCaprio to handle most of the comedic heavy lifting. If I thought for a second that Anderson’s film might be submitted to the Golden Globes as a comedy – it won’t be, since most of the humorous stuff is in the trailer – DiCaprio would be a shoe-in to win the GG for comedy with his characterization of Bob, who spends much of the movie running around in a ratty bathrobe. That last act, which mostly takes place in the desert, is where the film’s kinetic pace reaches another high. This is not Phantom Thread, and that’s actually a good thing.
Anderson’s impeccable reputation allows him to work with many equally creative below-the-line people, and some of the best in the business. While nothing really jumps out in terms of the visual crafts – costumes, hair and makeup are all fine – Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood delivers such a varied score that gets so crazy at times that it makes the film’s frenetic speed feel even more hectic. I’ve decided not to get into the whole “Vistavision” of Anderson’s latest. I just caught it in digital IMAX, and it looked great, with absolutely no need or desire to watch the movie in its retro formatting. I’m sure that Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist would still be a good movie if viewed on an Apple Watch.
One Battle After Another is another massive swing in a bold new direction for Anderson, as different from his prior movies, as anything else he’s done. It clearly confirms him to be one of the most original and creative filmmakers working today, if only for his efforts to deliver new experiences to film fans. The movie already has a lot of people talking, and that should continue right through awards’ season.
Rating: 8/10
One Battle After Another opens nationwide on Friday, September 26.
Not reading until after I see. But so damn excited.