<\/p>\n
How can something this important be this entertaining?<\/p>\n
Whatever the code is, Paul Thomas Anderson has cracked it in \u201cOne Battle After Another,\u201d a great film that feels like a throwback and an assessment of How Things Are and a dark premonition of the future, presented in a rollicking action-adventure story that starts fast and never slows down, with brilliant performances along the way.<\/p>\n
Neat trick. Anderson pulls it off perfectly. It\u2019s that rare film that allows you to laugh at the dumb antics of some of the characters, even as you despair over what they\u2019re doing. (Sean Penn is especially good at that.)<\/p>\n
This is the best movie of the year, at least so far, and one of Anderson\u2019s best, ever.<\/p>\n
The film, loosely based on Thomas Pynchon\u2019s 1990 novel \u201cVineland,\u201d begins with French 75, a revolutionary group, freeing immigrants along the border between the U.S. and Mexico. The strong-willed leader of the group, Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), has something special in store for Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Penn). Thus begins his obsession with her.<\/p>\n
Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio), Perfidia\u2019s partner in revolution and in love, is a demolitions expert. Eventually, she gets pregnant, but after having a daughter, given the choice between the life of a revolutionary or a new mother, she goes the revolutionary route.<\/p>\n
Cut to Bob 16 years later, a single parent to Willa (Chase Infiniti, incredibly confident and magnetic in her first (!) film. He\u2019s not your typical parent, though. His constant marijuana smoking and drinking \u2014 we only ever see him in a ratty bathrobe, it seems like \u2014 has fried his brain and increased his paranoia.<\/p>\n
Though his paranoia is not unwarranted. Lockjaw, obsessed with everything about Perfidia, concocts a reason to send authorities into the town where Bob and Willa are living. Imagine that \u2014 making up reasons to invade an American city. Anderson wrote this movie before the second Trump administration began, but this isn\u2019t the only eerie parallel to what\u2019s going on right now.<\/p>\n
For instance, Lockjaw has a particular reason to find Bob and Willa, details of which I won\u2019t reveal. But it\u2019s all tied in with a white nationalist cult called the Christmas Adventurers Club, a seemingly goofy bunch (\u201cHail St. Nick!\u201d) whose members actually yield incredible power, and for whom racial purity is a must. It goes from silly to terrifying in short order. And hits a little too close to home.<\/p>\n
Bob escapes Lockjaw\u2019s raid, but Willa is captured and the rest of the film chronicles his wayward attempt to find her. This proves difficult because he\u2019s such a burnout. He calls whatever number you call to get French 75 on the phone, but is stymied by one of the group\u2019s security legend. Despite his status as a hero to the revolutionaries, he can\u2019t remember the answer to, \u201cWhat time is it?\u201d So he has to figure out something else.<\/p>\n
This includes getting help from Sensei Sergio St. Carlos, the martial arts instructor running a kind of underground railroad for immigrants. He\u2019s played with the perfect amount of sleepy charm by the always-great Benicio Del Toro. In films like \u201cSicario\u201d Del Toro radiates deadly menace just by standing there; his presence alone is still and terrifying. He\u2019s often still here, too, never panicked, often funny \u2014 and he gets the job done.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s tempting to say that in a film loaded with great performances, his is my favorite. But really, that changed depending on who was on-screen. DiCaprio has a ball playing Bob, who would like to do the right thing if only he could remember how. I had a ball watching him play Bob, because it\u2019s nice to see him not take himself so seriously \u2014 while immersed in a deadly serious situation.<\/p>\n
Infiniti, meanwhile, commands her scenes, many of which include either DiCaprio or Penn, so that\u2019s really saying something. She makes Willa\u2019s transformation from a bemused, sometimes frustrated kid to an in-your-face young woman convincing \u2014 and interesting.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s Penn\u2019s performance people will talk about. It is, without question, over the top, a sir-yes-sir action-movie cartoon come to life. It is also carefully modulated, meticulously executed. You can\u2019t take your eyes off of him. Yes, he makes broad choices \u2014 but contained with those are subtleties that give Lockjaw a sliver of humanity. It\u2019s pretty amazing.<\/p>\n
The whole movie is amazing. (Also: Shoutout to longtime Anderson collaborator Jonny Greenwood\u2019s score, adding to the chaos.)<\/p>\n
Move \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d right up to the top of the can\u2019t-miss list. You will not be disappointed.<\/p>\n
Great \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605 Good \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n
Fair \u2605\u2605\u2605 Bad \u2605\u2605\u00a0Bomb\u00a0\u2605<\/p>\n
Director: <\/strong>Paul Thomas Anderson.<\/p>\n Cast:<\/strong> Leonardo DiCaprio, Chase Infiniti, Sean Penn.<\/p>\n Rating: <\/strong>R for pervasive language, violence, sexual content, and drug use.<\/p>\n How to watch:<\/strong> In theaters Friday, Sept. 26.<\/p>\n A near-perfect film: <\/strong>‘Licorice Pizza’ is a thrilling, esoteric dream world<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Reach Goodykoontz at\u00a0bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com<\/a>. Facebook:facebook.com\/GoodyOnFilm<\/a>. Media commentary with a side of snark? Sign up for\u00a0The Watchlist newsletter\u00a0with Bill Goodykoontz.<\/p>\n