One Battle After Another - Movie Review

The Movie: One Battle After Another

The Director: Pau Thomas Anderson

The Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti

The Story: When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue one of their own's daughter.

The Rating: 7 / 10

The Review:

When a director has a resume that includes movies like Magnolia, There will Be Blood, and Boogie Nights, there comes with it an expectation that anything they touch will reach that same level of quality. Of course, that's a very tall order although with Lenorado DiCaprio, Benicio Del Toro, and Regina King leading the cast, the film is given a more than legitimate shot at that presumed greatness.

I think some might find the story, loosely adapted from Vineland, a novel by Thomas Pynchon, a bit controversial since there are some major political themes in the movie that strike right at the heart of how polarized the population is when it comes to social issues like immigration and authoritarianism. That being said, I feel like anyone should be able to find a lot to like, from the wild action set pieces to the more comedic moments where DiCaprio had a lot of opportunities to shine.

That performance was one of the things I was most looking forward to since what I saw in the trailer made me think it could be on the same level as the insanely brilliant work DiCaprio displayed in Wolf of Wall Street. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed as his character in this movie ends up being sort of a one trick pony as he wanders in and out of wild scenarios while being really high. Sure, there's a lot of laughs that come from this, but I've grown to expect more from his performances and this just didn't reach that level for me.

I don't think that was his fault as an actor though as the whole third act became very predictable and really lost a lot of steam as it finally found it's way to the finish line. This is one of those movies that has a ton of great moments, but as a cohesive piece of storytelling, I felt like there was something much bigger and more profound at the end. This is that spot we always come to where I really want to elaborate but that would fall into major spoiler territory so I'm not going to go there. I'll leave it up to you to see the movie and decide for yourself what you think of how the story plays out.

There are also some interesting third act character introductions that I don't think I can talk about because, when they enter the story, it takes one aspect of the storytelling to a completely different level and the shock value and absurdity involved is worth keeping it under wraps. One of these characters for me turned out to be a major disappointment because he had a very strong build up and then his arc just sort of ended before it really got started. Anyway, this is all too vague so I'll stop talking about stuff I can't talk about.

One of the absolute highlights of the movie, and I think everyone across the board will agree with me on this, is the performance from relative newcomer Chase Infiniti who you may know from the TV series Presumed Innocent. I haven't watched that show although word on the street is that she's pretty fantastic in it and I feel like she just continues that right into this movie which is impressive because these are the first and only two acting jobs she has on her resume. My only gripe here is that I wish she was in the movie even more than she is and I even wouldn't mind seeing her character continue  of sequel or spinoff.

Other highlight performances come from Teyana Taylor and Benicio Del Toro and again I want to see more of their characters. The more I think about this, the more I think that the characters all deserve a sequel because so many of them are just really great within this story. I think the big picture backdrop of rebellion versus an oppresive government could also be fleshed out even more and even expanded upon. I mean, that's what Star Wars is all about and we have tons of content from that franchise so why not.

Ultimately, this is a fun movie with a lot of great characters and is definitely worth watching even if it does lose steam and stumble across the finish line. I will also say that it's being hyped up as a "must see" movie in IMAX but I think it's just fine on any size theater screen. There really isn't much in the way of epic scale action that would warrant the upgrade so keep that in mind. This is one of those movies that has a lot of buzz heading into awards season so definitely check it out to at least see what all the fuss is about.