“Viva la Revolucion.”
I don’t say this lightly, but One Battle After Another is without question the best movie that I’ve seen this year. With a star-studded cast that includes at least three Oscar-award winning actors (Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Benicio Del Toro), several other Hollywood veterans (Regina Hall and Wood Haris), and up-and-coming talent (Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti’s film debut), the film establishes itself from its opening credit and held my attention till the very end. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, this epic dark comedy follows DiCaprio as Pat Calhoun and Taylor as Perfidia Beverly Hills are lovers and members of the far-left revolutionary group known as the French 75. While breaking out detained immigrants from a detention center, Perfidia humiliates the commanding officer, Steven Lockjaw (Penn), who develops a sexual fascination with her. With the French 75, Pat and Perfidia carry out attacks on politicians’ offices, banks, and even the power grid. Still obsessed with Perfidia, Lockjaw leverages his position to pursue the group, more specifically Perfidia.
The group is forced underground after a fatal mistake resulting in the group breaking apart as well as Pat and Perfidia, who have now become parents to a daughter, becoming separated from another as their role as parents impacts them both differently. Sixteen years later, Pat (now living under an assumed identity as Bob) has become a paranoid drug addict. He is overprotective of his daughter, Willa (Infiniti), who has grown into a self-reliant and spirited teenager. Lockjaw continues to hunt the group and has climbed the ranks to become a colonel. Learning of Bob and Willa’s location, and under the guise of a legitimated operation, Lockjaw dispatches his troops to apprehend Bob and Willa; however, a trusted member of the French 75 rescues Willa before the raid. Lockjaw’s men attack Bob’s home while he is high. Meanwhile, Bob haphazardly escapes, but unable to remember the group’s rendezvous protocols due to drug use, chaotically pursues his daughter.
This may very well be my favorite role that DiCaprio has ever undertaken. Usually DiCaprio plays roles where he has some semblance of control or a plan. However, as Bob, it is hilarious to watch this character who is self-deprecating and without any real direction. DiCaprio’s antics include a phone confrontation with the underground movement’s operators, which garnered side-splitting laughter and balanced the story with levity. Even better than DiCaprio’s performance was Del Toro’s. Del Toro played Sergio St. Carlos, Willa’s sensei and a kindred spirit for Bob as the leader of the undocumented community in the sanctuary city. Where Bob is chaotic in his efforts, Sergio is the man with a plan, cool as a cucumber with an intricate network at his disposal to aid in his underground activities. The two worked well off one another, as Del Toro calmly led through the city, remaining calm and collected, usually handling multiple things at once, while DiCaprio followed behind him, usually in a panicked frenzy.
As this is a character-driven story, each character served an important role in the film. Such as Teyana Taylor, who despite having a limited role compared to much of the cast, arguably had the most impact. She was the catalyst for everything that transpired, the root cause. Taylor embraced this role and carried that responsibility admirably, especially in her latter arc. Her character was deeply flawed, but relatable especially when faced with her own personal crossroads. Then there is Sean Penn, who made it very easy for you to hate his character. He represented humanity’s hypocrisy, though his lack of accountability and determination hide his prior transgressions. It’s a role that is not easy to do, but the did it and yet somehow also managed to make it entertaining to watch.
Interestingly enough, despite their establishment as the film’s protagonist and antagonist, DiCaprio and Penn have virtually no scenes together, which for me made things all the more impressive, as their impact is undeniable without there ever being a real confrontation between them.
While One Battle After Another is inspired by Vineland, it is not a direct adaptation, as Anderson believed his love for the novel would get in the way of his ability to fairly rework it. Instead, he set aside the idea of an adaptation, and wrote a series of separate stories, with this adaptation emerging as a combination of these independent stories with some elements of Vineland, particularly the father-daughter dynamic. The film marks the sixth feature film collaboration between Anderson and composer Jonny Greenwood, and most importantly, marks the sixth and final collaboration between Anderson and first assistant director and producer Adam Somner, who died in November 2024; the film is dedicated to Somner with an after-credits title card.
I didn’t expect to enjoy the movie as much as I did. I figured with the top-shelf cast that it had that I would be entertained, but I didn’t expect more than that. However, I do not say lightly that this film had me leaning in from beginning to end. And not just me, my wife, who usually does not go in for movies of this subject matter, as also remarked this film as best she’s seen all year, labeling it as the most original film that she’s ever seen. And I have to concur with her assessment.
