"delivers on multiple levels, the tension, the story and the pace, combined with the action and the black comedy make it a very enjoyable movie"

Writer/ Director Paul Thomas Anderson is back with his latest film One Battle After Another, filmed in Vistavision (a high-resolution, widescreen film format used primarily in the 1950s).

The film features Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro and Chase Infiniti. All giving great performances, although Benicio del Toro feels underutilized, while Sean Penn stands out in his performance.

The film takes place over two time periods initially beginning with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Bob and Teyana Taylor’s Perfidia as a couple in a highly charged relationship pursuing a life as freedom-fighting revolutionaries.

Belonging to a revolutionary organization called the French 75, they and members of the organization take actions against the state in multiple ways including freeing immigrant detainees near the Mexican border and robbing banks to finance themselves. Generally fighting for what they see as freedom and government oppression.

During one of their excursions, femme fatale Perfidia encounters Sean Penn’s hardened, bigoted military veteran; Colonel Steven Lockjaw, the sexually charged encounter lays the foundation for future repercussions and consequences. Following further acts as well as an unfortunatly botched mission by the French 75 that leads the organization and its members to go into hiding and curtail their activities.

The story picks up 16 years later with Bob (DiCaprio) as a washed-up revolutionary who exists in a state of perpetual stoned paranoia. Living off grid with his teenage daughter Willa played by Chase Infiniti.

She is a strong and self-reliant individual who has a difficult relationship with her stoner dad, although it’s still loving a relationship, it’s been damaged through Bob’s drink and drug abuses.

Having survived under the radar for all these years, members of the French 75 face a renewed threat as they are targeted by the government for arrest and detention. During this action DiCaprio’s Bob and daughter are separately pursued and she is captured. This leads her father to try to connect with previous revolutionaries to try and rescue his daughter. Also reaching out to Benicio del Toro as Willa’s martial arts sensei for help.

Heading the crack down on the French 75 is Sean Penn’s Lockjaw (acting as a law unto himself), but also under instruction from a group of wealthy white nationalists calling themselves the Christmas Adventurers Club. With the battles of Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Lockjaw (Sean Penn) with the consequences of their pasts being set on a collision course that determines Willa’s future.

Acting as a social commentary on present day America. The film delivers on multiple levels, the tension, the story and the pace, combined with the action and the black comedy make One Battle After Another a very enjoyable movie, certainly making it worthy of 4.5 out 5 stars.