'One Battle After Another' Review: Leonardo DiCaprio and Paul Thomas Anderson Join Forces in the Most Relevant Dark Comedy of the Year

"¡Viva La Revolución!"

Just this week, a shooting occurred at a Dallas ICE facility, causing a fatality and a national conversation about the politics surrounding immigration policies in the United States. The objectives of the shooter lay bare, sparking a national headline that's meant to create outrage and affiliation as a theme to the year we are living in. Immigration, whether legal or not, remains a hot-button issue that brings families, friends, races, and genders to starkly opposite sides of the political spectrum.

In time for relevancy and a consistent topic of conversation in America, director Paul Thomas Anderson introduces his latest film to hit theaters: "One Battle After Another." After the success of a filmography that includes "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," "There Will Be Blood," and "Phantom Thread," the eleven-time Oscar-nominee seems to be at the height of his writing and directing power. Leaving no issue off the table in an energetically fast-paced 2-hour and 40-minute dark comedy, Anderson explores the present tense with a jolt of electrifying performances from a dream cast.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as "Ghetto" Pat Calhoun, a member and iconic leader of the French 75, a revolutionary group that bombs and shoots up immigration facilities at the U.S./Mexico border. His partner-in-crime often accompanies him, Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), a fellow rebel preoccupied with sex and danger. They fight for justice on behalf of the underdog while attaining legendary status within a circle of extremists.

Using codes, payphones, and living off the grid, the French 75 creates chaos everywhere they go. Along the way, Perfidia comes across Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), a racist military figurehead who becomes infatuated with her and goes against character to become the villain of our story. Pandemonium erupts when Pat and Perfidia (so much running!) discover they are expecting a child, marking the beginning of the end of the French 75 and a new trajectory for the radical protagonists we've come to understand.

Cut to years later, and Pat is living under the pseudonym of the stoned and paranoid Bob Ferguson, still off the grid but enjoying a drug-filled, alcohol-induced life with their teenage daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti in her first film role). A super spy Bob is not. Flanked by a robe and crack pipe in seemingly professional settings, Bob isn't exactly the Father Knows Best type. Willa is obsessed with learning fighting techniques from her sensei, Sergio (Benicio del Toro), as leaders of dwindling immigrant communities surround her. 

Events take a drastic turn for Willa as she goes missing, and Bob goes on an odyssey to find his daughter and keep her safe.

And that, dear friends, is everything I am going to say about the premise of "One Battle After Another" because spoilers aplenty otherwise!

The film is an opus, VERY loosely based on the father-daughter relationship depicted in Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel, "Vineland." Like its source material, "One Battle After Another" is a postmodern look at an America in shambles, spanning a period of heavy transformation and rebellious behaviors as race relations and immigration policies head into downward spirals. Bookended by an opening scene filled to the brim with guns and violence, capped by a climactic end sequence that leaves an impression that can only be elevated when watching the film on the biggest screen imaginable, Paul Thomas Anderson deserves to be lauded with every award this industry can bestow.

But the success of the film's hyper-violent and quirky sense of humor belongs to its cast just as much as it does to its helmer. DiCaprio, always a consistent performer who chooses outstanding projects that his presence merely boosts, Teyana Taylor also takes a character that's flighty on paper and makes Perfidia intoxicating to follow. Their chemistry, confounding dynamic, and messy nature match the erratic behavior through PTA's lens in all the right ways.

Penn manifests into a character unlike anything the actor has attempted before, bringing a villain to the forefront of a story that reveals the very grotesque and racist nature of an America that's slowly unveiling itself in real time. Lockjaw (great name by the way) embodies a sort of hatred and intolerance that's worn like a badge of honor in a world that's increasingly hurdling towards a militarized police state. He's a mockery at best, terrifying at his absolute worst.

Yet, Anderson knows no bounds when crafting a premise that goes off the deep end in its presentation of a relevant story to our current political climate. Frequent collaborator Jonny Greenwood intensifies the action on screen with a quirky, heart-pounding score that advances the film's dark comedy elements while keeping pace with its frantic, kinetic energy. The movie doesn't lose steam for a single second of its 160-minute runtime, making for an impressive start-to-finish experience filled with feverish momentum that can only be described as WILD.

"One Battle After Another" describes itself in the title: It's a ride unlike any other in a film that shows its characters dealing with a constant strain on their mental health. As one problem gets solved, another pops up like whack-a-mole, leading to a fun and hyperactive plot that never wavers in its intent to give panic a new name. Outstanding performances and creative direction give the film an emotionally resonant tone that delivers more than it falters.

The past always finds a way to catch up to the present.