THE MAN has Jungle Fever. Well, I suppose, so does the revolutionary we follow. Come see the weird and thrilling ride that is One Battle After Another, an extra-long film that plays extra-satisfyingly … so satisfyingly, one might forget that the hero is a criminal who almost certainly deserves worse.
Before I launch into this, I should point out that in 2025, there is no current left wing revolutionary movement capable of anything greater than a cherry bomb in these United States. The Far Left, the “¡Viva la Revolución!” crowd isn’t a crowd. It holds no political power. It holds almost no a-political power, either. And as radical as one might imagine, it isn’t nearly as radical as anyone who wears a MAGA hat outside of their house. And, yet, whatever this non-existent “radical left” is, it sure gets blamed for a lot of shit in this country.
So this is a story about some members (or, at least, one) member of the radical left which may-or-may-not have existed nearly two decades ago.
The group is the French 75. It sponsors open-borders-at-gunpoint funded by bank robbery. It is probably just a small step away from eco-terrorism. Two ranking members of this hardly elite government thwarting machine are Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor). During the raid of an illegal immigrant detention camp, Perfidia attracts the attention -and that’s putting it very, very mildly- of French 75 nemesis Captain (soon to be Colonel) Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn). After being embarrassed by the revolutionaries, Captain Lockjaw makes a point of keeping tabs on Perfidia, who seems to have some sort of psycho-sexual hold on Captain Lockjaw’s id.
Before long, Perfidia is pregnant with the father’s identity being one of two white guys. Post birth, the French 75 collapses when a bank heist goes awry. Perfidia ends up shooting a guard which soured me on the movement. It’s one thing if your revolution is pro-immigrant. The immigration policies in this country are disgraceful. Adding bank robbery is another level of intolerable. Adding murder? Sorry, your revolution lost me. Perfidia is captured and forced to rat or spend a life in jail. Pat and baby relocate as Bob and Willa Ferguson (Chase Infiniti). The newly ordained “Bob” seems to have no stomach for the revolutionary stuff and immediately morphs into the role of mediocre single father/paranoid drug addict.
Sixteen years later, the fun begins. Colonel Lockjaw overturns the rock where Bob and Willa have been hiding and chaos ensues. Father and daughter are separated and have little way to communicate other that of the medium of revolutionary HQ, which Bob left in his rearview mirror more than a decade ago.
One of the things I truly love about this film is complicated background, simple plot. Too often, movies
have opted for the opposite (check out Smurfs for the love of Minions). We don’t really have to know what the French 75 is, or what military orders command Colonel Lockjaw, or how immigration raids are treated in sanctuary cities, or what the Hell is the underground white supremacist cabal is all about, or exactly how Bob took parenting to new and exciting levels. What is important is a father trying to get his daughter back. It’s that simple. The rest is all background noise.
And the plot, the chase, makes the film worth it and then some.
I don’t know that this film has anything great to say about revolutionaries or the clowns that police them. It certainly has nothing nice to say about white supremacists, which is always a plus in my book. One Battle After Another understands complicated people. Bob is a French 75 munitions expert legend, yeah, but he’s also an iffy dad, and addict, and the kind of guy who would forget a password with life and death on the line. Colonel Lockjaw is an unrelenting military weapon, capable of destroying enemy combatants as easily as he breathes; he’s also a slave to his libido with a very stilted preference. It takes a while to warm up to One Battle After Another, and you will feel the 161-minute runtime, but the best act is the last one and includes the best chase sequence of the year.
Once, a revolutionary named “Bob”
Settled down with a daughter and job
But when the kid gets snatched
The life he dispatched
Would work better if he wasn’t such a slob
Rated R, 161 Minutes
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson, Thomas Pynchon
Genre: Fightin’ THE MAN
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who go to movies for the ending
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: White supremacists
