Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another is a masterful satire with heart
One Battle After Another is that rare thing - a movie which just about everyone agrees is really, really good.
If you see the trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film, One Battle After Another,you might be a little puzzled at the tone.
Is it a thriller, or a comedy, or even a political, character drama? The answer, as any Anderson fan has probably guessed already, is yes, it’s all of the above - as well as a warning to the currently divided United States.
Like most Anderson films, it’s best the least you know about it.
Loosely based on an old Thomas Pynchon novel that started in the 1970s before jumping forward to the ‘90s, One Battle After Another is set, essentially, then, followed by now.
Then sees America apparently besieged by left-wing activists, with names like the Symbionese Liberation Army. Or in this case the French 75.
Despite the panicky reports in the tabloids at the time, these groups subscribed more to the dress-up school of revolution.
The French 75 included revolutionaries going by the names Mae West, Junglepussy and – flakiest of them all - Perfidia Beverly Hills.
Perfidia’s techie boyfriend may have called himself Rocketman - but he was always one of life’s Bobs.
Bob is played by Leonardo DiCaprio, he’s the sort of endearing loser who’s most likely to be left holding the baby. Which is what happens.
When the French 75 is betrayed and decimated by their nemesis, Colonel Steve Lockjaw, the appropriately named Perfidia takes off, leaving Bob to look after their baby, Willa, on his own.
Sixteen years later, Bob has lost any edge he once had, while teenage Willa finds herself pretty much the grown-up here. Which is a pity because if ever Bob needs to find his inner Jason Bourne it’s now that an old enemy is on their trail.
Lockjaw may be an award-winning agent, but as played by Sean Penn he’s also thick as a brick and shallow as a puddle.
With his shaven head, punch-drunk face and distinctive hobble, he resembles no-one more than Popeye the Sailor. He has his own reasons for wanting to kidnap Willla.
But before Lockjaw can reach Willa, she’s taken under the wing of another former French 75 member, Deandra, played dead straight by comedienne Regina Hall.
Deandra and Willa take off, assuming that Bob will know where to find them. Just follow the old protocols.
Trouble is it’s been a long time. Unlike Jason Bourne, who found he could remember spy craft data with ease, Bob is floundering.
When his freedom fighter helpline lets him down he turns to an unlikely collaborator, Willa’s karate teacher - sensei Benicio Del Toro.
Colonel Lockjaw may seem a joke, but these days it’s wise not to write off any political figure for that reason. He also leads a squad that makes up in fire-power what they may lack in everything else.
Lockjaw also has the backing of a shady, right-wing secret society.
If the French 75 is a right-wing fantasy of an armed and dangerous group of liberals, the ludicrously-named Christmas Adventurers Club, is the left’s view of a Skull and Bones cabal of billionaires, pulling the strings behind the Deep State.
One Battle After Another is an equal-opportunities satire of both sides, and it benefits enormously from its two stars.
Long-time A-Lister DiCaprio is currently in the middle of a career purple patch. He’s never better than when he plays a loser, and this time he’s a loser with a heart.
Providing that heart, playing daughter Willa, is a first-timer with the year’s best name. Chase Infiniti – a star is born.
One Battle After Another is that rare thing, a movie on which just about everyone seems to be in agreement. It’s really, really good.
Whether it will give Anderson his first Oscar, after 11 fails, it’s too hard to tell. Everyone knows the Oscars are totally political.
Unlike this film, which, against all odds, is truly universal.
