One Battle After Another

And now we go from One Paul to Another with One Battle After Another.

Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film has been hyped up as his most mainstream movie. It's got chase scenes, shootouts, bad language and fun stupidity. It doesn't have a mainstream source material - Vineland by celebrated hermit Thomas Pynchon (yes, the same Pynchon whose Inherent Vice Mr. Anderson filmed in 2014) - but it's got a nice runtime of 161-minutes. 

But Jethro, not everyone's gonna take to the runtime, or even its politics!

You can't please everyone, Baxter. Let's just get to it.

Back in their day, Ghetto Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) fought The Man with their revolutionary group, The French 75. The film opens with them liberating prisoners at a Migrant Detention Camp run by Capt. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), who soon becomes obsessed with Perfidia. Perfidia eventually sells out the French 75 to Lockjaw, forcing Pat to flee to the city of Baktan Cross with his and Perfidia's daughter, Charlene. 

Sixteen years later, Pat & Charlene are now Bob & Willa Ferguson (the latter played by newcomer Chase Infiniti). Lockjaw, now a Colonel, wants to join a spiffy Neo-Nazi club, the Christmas Adventurers Club. The only problem is that Willa might actually be his daughter. So, he shows up looking for the Fergusons with full military support. Deandra (Regina Hall), a former French 75er, spirits away Willa to a convent; meanwhile, a washed-up Bob struggles to reacclimate to the good fight. Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio Del Toro), a community leader and Willa's Karate sensei, is ready to help. Thus begins a three-way quest between Bob, Lockjaw's forces and even the Christmas Adventurers to find Willa first.

It sounds like a lot, but it hardly feels boring with Andy Jurgensen’s editing prowess. Midway through the film, we get a dynamite sequence of events as Bob flees Lockjaw's forces across town. He desperately tries to get in touch with his French 75 comrades. Their receptionist, “Comrade Josh” (Dan Chariton), refuses to talk until Bob answers a certain password, which he's since forgotten. It takes up quite a bit of the film, but it's so compelling that you'll hardly notice the time. In fact, all of the action scenes, such as the opening raid and the climactic chase, are dynamite. They're made especially dynamic by two of Anderson's other longtime collaborators: cinematographer Michael Bauman & composer Jonny Greenwood. 

Mr. Anderson's longtime casting director, Cassandra Kulukundis, is a guaranteed nominee for the inaugural Casting Oscar. There really isn't a weak link in this ensemble. As Bob, DiCaprio is more of a loser than an action hero, but he still tries to do good. You'll empathize with him as much as you'll laugh at his comically maddening password scramble. He and Infiniti have a great chemistry; the latter, in particular, is quite amazing when she asserts herself as the story's true heroine. As Lockjaw, Penn is a pathetic loser and a loathsome creep, which makes for a fascinating mix. He's oddly pitiable when the Christmas Adventurers give him a nasty surprise. All of that comes after he's horrifyingly and hilariously injured during the climactic chase, conveyed by excellent prosthetic makeup.

Who else do we have here? We have Sergio Sensei, who's more of a foil to Bob than a mentor, but he's still a cool guy. Taylor leaves quite an impression as Perfidia, who mostly disappears after the first half-hour. Deandra has no love lost for Perfidia, as Hall expresses in her best moment with Infiniti, but Perfidia's depressiveness makes it easier for the audience to. The Christmas Adventurers are mostly a bunch of losers, but John Hoogenaker's Tim Smith is their biggest standout. Eric Schweig also stands out as Avanti, Lockjaw's bounty hunter who eventually saves Willa at the cost of his life.

Over fifty years ago, Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow baffled the Pulitzer Prize committee so much that they opted to skip out on that year's Fiction Prize. Pynchon's other novels, especially Vineland, aren't that conventional either. So, if you're intimidated by One Battle After Another's runtime, rest assured that it's a reasonable approximation of its most comprehensible themes. These themes highlight one of this year's most memorable films, as well as one of the most fascinating movies of all time. That's how good it is.