One Battle after Another Review

Evan D.

With the world seemingly collapsing all around us at an alarming rate, it becomes difficult not to feel helpless in the face of it all. Activists are targeted, immigrants are criminalized and the suffering is an end to itself. The people perpetuating violence on the weakest among us, dividing us to gain power on our backs, count on this disillusionment. With One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson supposes that the most radical act of rebellion in a crumbling world might just be building community, helping one another and teaching your kids not to grow into fascists.

Perhaps that oversimplifies the plight of Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio,) a lapsed revolutionary turned recluse in an effort to protect his daughter Willa (Chase Infinity) from her parents’ past. Bob and Willa’s mother — named Perfidia Beverly Hills and played by Teyana Taylor — were radical leftists, liberating immigration detention centers and bombing the offices of uncooperative representatives. Their movement, The French 75, failed to produce the change they sought in the world, but their relationship did yield a daughter. Perfidia felt the cause was more important than anything else, so she left while Bob and Willa went into hiding.

Fast forward 15 years and the pair now live off the beaten path somewhere in the American west without phones or any contact to the group Bob left behind. Their relative serenity is suddenly broken when they become the targets of Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn,) the military commander and white supremacist whose fixation with Willa’s mom forced them into hiding in the first place. Lockjaw’s pursuit of the Fergusons sends Bob on a spiraling odyssey to save his daughter and himself.

Like just about all of Anderson’s films, One Battle After Another turns the depths of human love and desire into a sprawling, often comedic adventure. Lockjaw is hellbent on finding Bob and Willa because they are the last connection to his fixation with Perfidia. She exploited his fragility and now her family is the one final obstacle keeping him out of a neo-Nazi group called The Christmas Adventurers. Bob, meanwhile is saddled with his own insecurities around ensuring his daughter’s security. He wants desperately to protect her but has no idea how to handle all that comes with that as Willa approaches adulthood. It is a problem he frequently seeks the answer for in a six pack of Modelo or the end of a joint.

DiCaprio and Penn prove tremendous foils, even as they share only one early scene together. Two men, on opposite ends of an existential conflict, unable to fully overcome being spurned by the same woman. Not that Anderson ever equates the men to that degree. Lockjaw is a vile, racist villain, perhaps the most directly so of anyone in a PTA film. In a fashion typical of DiCaprio in the last decade, Bob is something of a sad-sack, although with a good heart beneath it all.

It’s an archetype Leo has played before but never quite to this level. There is such a sincerity to Bob’s paranoia, an endearing haplessness to his attempts at connecting with his daughter. Each time he loses it over a forgotten revolutionary passphrase or needs to be bailed out by (a delightfully game) Benicia del Toro’s competent Sensei, its a riot, but DiCaprio always flashes a hint of fear and helplessness behind those deep blue eyes. He’s as entertaining as he’s ever been in one of his most nuanced roles. For my money, it’s the best performance of the year so far in the best film of the year by far.

As Bob runs though the motions of his revolutionary past so his daughter can have a future, he crosses paths with men and women taking actions big and small to make this world a better place. A karate sensei sheltering immigrants from raids, a bounty hunter (Eric Schweig) whose morals wont let him hurt a kid and a whole host of radicals willing to give Willa a chance to be more than her mother was.

In an age where white supremacy seems ascendant and immigrants are being abducted in plain sight, One Battle After Another could not feel more timely or relevant. It’s a film that acutely understands that the evildoers are entrenched in power and anyone pushing back in the slightest is deemed a radical. Willa never did anything herself, but shes a target anyways. Fighting back against fascism and racism takes many forms and Anderson’s film recognizes all of those contributions.

One Battle After Another has all of these ideas swirling around it but at the core it is as entertaining as anything PTA has made before. Never before has a nearly 3 hour runtime flown by so quickly. Every needle drop is perfect interspersed with a thrilling, propulsive score. From top to bottom each cast member gives a dazzling performance. It’s that brilliant blend of message and massive entertainment. For all the problems it invokes and carnage it bears witness to, One Battle After Another is ultimately a hopeful story. Bob and his revolutionary compatriots may not have righted the world in their youth, but thanks to their efforts Willa has the chance to try herself. 10/10