One Battle After Another (M) – 162 minutes

Writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson’s rigorous commitment to excellence in filmmaking (Magnolia) pays off again big time in One Battle After Another.

Featuring stellar performances from Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro and others, it is an epic, darkly comedic, dramatic, action thriller.

As Pat Calhoun, DiCaprio is in a frenzied relationship with revolutionary Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylo).

He blows things up and she in trenchant about wanting to enact change.

Both are members of a group called French 75.

When they break out detained immigrants from a California detention centre, Perfidia humiliates the commanding office Captain Steven Lockjaw (Penn).

Ambitious, he is sexually charged by her.

Later, when he catches her in another subversive act, he only agrees to free her if she has sex with him.

A pregnant Perfidia is not mother material and literally leaves her partner, Pat Calhoun, holding the baby, named Charlene (Chase Infiniti).

If that isn’t complicated enough, when Perfidia goes one step too far and is captured after a robbery gone wrong, she becomes a stool pigeon.

No members of the French 75 are safe.

Calhoun and Charlene adopt new personas and flee.

Then, we cut to 16 years later.

Calhoun cuts a paranoid, drug and alcohol addled figure. Charlene is self-reliant and spirited.  

But it is just a matter of time before Calhoun’s past catches up with him, embroiling Charlene in a deadly battle of wits.

There is so much more to this movie, with twists aplenty.

Among the other threads is the emergence of a secretive white supremacist movement.

One Battle After Another has been loosely adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland. 

It is a satirical, postmodern look at failed utopian promises of the 1960s counterculture and the rise of conservatism and state control in America.

Despite an extended running time of 2 hours 42 minutes, a great deal happens in the movie.

Paul Thomas Anderson keeps the action moving.

In fact, there is never a dull moment in a film that requires concentration to follow.

Benicio del Toro plays a calm hand as Sergio St. Carlos, Charlene’s sensei, who also offers shelter to undocumented foreigners.

Leonardo DiCaprio is a dominant figure throughout, a compelling and driving force who transitions his character well through various phases.

With a bizarre hairdo, sharp jawed, military fit Sean Penn is a telling choice as Steven Lockjaw, a man who will pursue his prey at all costs.

Teyana Taylo is mighty impressive too as a driven and passionate revolutionary with no off valve.

Also imposing is Chase Infiniti as intelligent and resourceful Charlene, who faces many hurdles.

One Battle After Another is a story with political intrigue and emotional resonance.

It has extra poignancy because of the current, divisive state of the US and the world.

Come the film awards’ season, it is certainly one to watch out for.

Rated M, it scores a 9 out of 10.