When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue one of their own’s daughter.
Paul Thomas Anderson may have finally secured his Best Director Oscar with this new politically charged black comedy thriller that I can describe in no other word than a masterpiece.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Bob Ferguson, once a leader of the leftist revolutionary organization the ‘French 75’ alongside his wife, Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor). The two lead operations to liberate immigration detention centers, among other violent acts of rebellion, all while being unable to keep their hands off each other.
After an encounter with the demented Captain Lockjaw (Sean Penn), Perfidia realizes she is pregnant. The identity of the child’s father remains a mystery that charges the rest of the film.
Facing life in prison after a heist gone wrong, Perfidia rats on her fellow rebels, leaving Bob to escape with their daughter and leave the revolution behind. Sixteen years go by, and Bob has become a bum who does nothing but smoke weed all day, reminisce about his glory days, and struggle to get his daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), to take him seriously.
Lockjaw receives an invitation to join the “Christmas Adventures Club,” a ridiculously racist and powerful organization resembling a combination of the KKK and the Illuminati. His initiation stalls when rumor spreads he may have a mixed-race child somewhere, leaving him with no choice but to find her and eliminate the evidence.
Bob must call on his former revolutionary allies to help rescue his daughter. This is where the laughs really take off. It’s like seeing The Dude from “The Big Lebowski” run with the Antifa movement. There is a killer recurring gag where Bob uses the phone to contact his allies, but he’s too stoned to remember the code phrases they use to communicate with each other.
Benicio del Toro plays Sergio, Bob’s accomplice (who the latter affectionately refers to as ‘sensei’), still active in revolutionary operations and always one step ahead of the authorities. Del Toro plays Sergio with a quiet confidence that contrasts Penn’s cartoonish villain.
The unforgettable characters, the jump-scare brutality, and nonstop laughs channel the Coen Brothers at the top of their game. Studios need to give more auteur directors like Paul Thomas Anderson big, hundred-million-dollar budgets and allow them to tell stories that don’t revolve around superheroes.
The tasteful musical score by Jonny Greenwood will keep you engaged and have your heart racing. The impeccable cinematography by Michael Bauman makes this movie as visually stunning as it is thought-provoking.
“One Battle After Another” is a masterclass in storytelling that works as a poignant political satire and an anarchic black comedy thriller. This is a dense story full of rich characters told with a directorial flair few others could ever hope to pull off. We need more movies like this.
In Theaters Friday, September 26th
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