Ticketworthy! - One Battle After Another

When a movie says that its total runtime is nearly three hours, there’s good reason for concern. That is a lot of movie, and most of them don’t have enough decent material to fill the time. It can easily drag. As such, if you have some nervousness about seeing Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, it’s completely understandable. It’s also completely misplaced. The film earns every second of its time and has such a relentless pace that you may not even notice how long you’ve been watching.

It tells the story of Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio), a far-left revolutionary who must go into hiding with his infant daughter after her mother is caught and their organization is dismantled. Sixteen years later, Pat now lives as Bob Ferguson and has lost touch with his revolutionary roots. However, when an old enemy finds him and kidnaps his daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), Bob is forced back into the life in order to rescue the only family he has left.

Both parts of the story are excellently written and directed, and the cast does a great job selling both versions of their characters. DiCaprio is the perfect lead for a movie like this, he’s able to shift between comedic bumbling and serious emotion seamlessly. It’s a demanding role, and he nails it. Sean Penn also thrives as the awkward, villainous Steven Lockjaw who is hunting Bob and his daughter. He’s genuinely off-putting, and I wonder how much of his performance was dictated by Anderson and how much was just Penn trying to be as unsettling as possible. Either way, it works.

The biggest issue with the first half of the plot, though, is that it only features Willa as a baby. In the latter part of the film, Infiniti is such a dominant force that it makes the early going seem worse simply for lack of her. There’s no question she is the breakout star of this movie, and her ability to keep pace and steal scenes from Hollywood legends is beyond remarkable.

The stellar acting by everyone is even more impressive when one takes into account the pace of the movie, which can be conservatively described as breakneck. Scenes do not linger long if they don’t have to, and the action practically grabs the characters and drags them across the story. Nobody gets a second to breathe. Yet, it never feels like the audience is missing anything. The movie gives you exactly as much as you need.

For all of this, Anderson deserves plenty of credit and praise. The whole production is shot beautifully and edited near perfectly. Since the story moves so quickly, shot selection, music selection, blocking, and all the other technical aspects of filmmaking have to do a lot of heavy lifting to keep the audience from getting lost. Anderson manages it all with an expert hand.

If there’s a complaint to be had, it might be the sheer number of characters the movie throws at you that don’t really amount to much. We learn a lot of names of a lot of people who never matter. Since the plot doesn’t stay with them long, it’s not a huge issue, but it can be tough to figure out who matters and who you can just forget about.

The film also takes a pretty firm stand on its political leanings and isn’t afraid to put some hot-button topics front and center. If you happen to already agree with the politics on display, or you’re the kind of person who can overlook your disagreements if the movie is good enough, you’ll probably enjoy this one. If not, well...it’s going to be a long three hours for you.

Not enjoying it would be a shame though, as there’s so much talent and craftmanship on display. This is a director completely in his element, making the kind of film he excels at. Its cast is incredible, from the old guard to the shocking newcomer, and the story can make you laugh while it grips you and refuses to let go. One Battle After Another, appropriately, is filled with battles. Liking this movie should not be one of them.