One Battle after Another is a crazy quilt of revolution, violence, misplaced ideals, consequences, and family. By the way, the title pretty much sums up the plot. It’s also satire, parody, car chases, car crashes, paranoia, and explosions. If it sounds chaotic, it is. The characters tell the story – some better than others.
Back in the day, 16 years before the current narrative, a group of revolutionaries who call themselves French 75 in tribute to the French Underground of WW11, try to wreak havoc on the military industrial complex. They are somewhat successful at robbing banks, blowing up federal buildings, and liberating detained immigrants from federal detention facilities.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Rocketman ( later known as Bob), who’s the explosives guy on the team. His wife, Perfida Beverly Hills, is played by Teyana Taylor, who absolutely dominates the role. Yes, all the group’s names are really out there. The two of them are happily going about inflicting mayhem against the establishment when Perfida gets pregnant. The birth of their daughter completely changes the dynamics of everything. Bob throws himself into parenting, but Perfida doesn’t really take to it and leaves. Bob realizes she’s not coming back and tells the child, when she’s older, that her mother died a hero. The truth is a bit more complicated than that, but that’s one of the strands that come together in the end.
Their destinies are constantly interrupted by their archenemy, Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn). Penn’s character is really a parody of toxic alpha males, exaggerated a bit too much to be realistic in any way. Penn gives it all he’s got, but it’s a thankless role. Actually, none of the characters are all that sympathetic. It’s hard to like most of them.
So, what becomes of former revolutionaries when their network falls apart? Bob becomes a stoner/boozer loser, trying to parent his now teenage daughter, Willa, brilliantly played by newcomer Chase Infiniti. She mainly takes care of her spaced-out father, goes to high school, and studies martial arts. Then, she gets drawn into her parents’ criminal past, and her life is turned upside down, and she’s in very serious danger.
When Bob realizes she’s been kidnapped, he tries to get himself together, contact his former group, and set out to rescue Willa. You can guess that doesn’t go well. DiCaprio seems to be trying to out-dude The Dude as he stumbles around in a bathrobe, his fried brain unable to remember important code-talk used for identification with his former group. This schtick goes on a bit too long and makes him seem more like a caricature than the anti-hero he’s supposed to be.
In desperation, Bob enlists the help of Willa’s sensei Sergio San Carlos (Benicio Del Toro). The Sensei is probably the most effective of all the characters, and definitely the most likable. He Zens his way through the escalating crisis with his crew, who work for him on the down-and–low, running his highly effective Underground Railroad for undocumented immigrants. They provide some of the most entertaining scenes in the film. His group of young, skateboarding facilitators provides skill and humor, and I would have liked to see more of them. Actually, I think they and Del Toro deserve their own film!
The film’s pace really picks up at this point, and Bob’s desperation turns into determination. Willa, who’s been under the protection of some militant nuns, is now found and seized by Col. Lockjaw. Things get deadly serious, and it’s a race against time. Lockjaw desperately wants to impress a white nationalist group, a very extreme one, whose name and patron saint are as wacky as they are. I’ll leave it to you to be entertained by their name and credo, if you can call it that, as their buffoonery turns lethal.
The resolution, albeit slow, does reveal what happens to most of the central characters. As far as it goes, it’s a somewhat satisfying conclusion. That’s my favorite descriptor for most of the film: somewhat.
The preview audience really enjoyed the film, actually more than I did. It’s quite long, 2 hours 41 minutes, and that’s after director Paul Thomas Anderson cut about ten minutes of action. The length doesn’t seem justified and just makes some scenes that should be intense tedious instead. Sometimes it seems the narrative is as wandering as Bob’s drugged-out brain. It’s still entertaining and a must-see for DiCaprio fans. – JoAnne Hyde
