One Battle After Another

Once you dig beneath the rampant institutional corruption and pervasive sociopolitical strife, One Battle After Another is about survival.

This audacious and exhilarating dark satire from director Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia) — bolstered by a superb cast and striking visuals — is both hilarious and harrowing as it probes a bleak working-class future through an absurdist lens.

Juggling disparate tones and balancing weighty themes, this loose adaptation of a postmodern Thomas Pynchon novel finds its rhythm as a relevant examination of immigration, capitalism, affluence, power, racial disparities, extremist ideologies, and fractured family legacies.

The story opens with fiery Perfidia (Teyana Taylor) leading her violent team of revolutionaries on a raid, with Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) as her explosives expert and romantic partner.

Flash forward 15 years, and Perfidia is out of the picture. Bob, who’s both intensely paranoid and perpetually high, is sequestered from authorities while acting as a fiercely protective single dad to teenager Willa (Chase Infiniti).

Past meets present, however, when Willa goes missing from a school function. Bob immediately suspects a covert military conspiracy led by Col. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), a slimy officer who’s been his adversary for decades.

As Bob tries to activate some of his old connections in a vigilante effort to find her, he crosses paths with a karate instructor (Benicio del Toro) who works behind the scenes to rescue detained migrants, and an operative (Regina Hall) who tries to intercept Willa and shepherd her to safety. However, a showdown inevitably looms.

DiCaprio’s multilayered performance resonates with conviction and inner conflict without passing judgment for an outlaw who spends much of the film wearing a bathrobe over his clothes. His ongoing defiance conceals lingering guilt and regret.

Almost every character is morally compromised to some extent, which challenges our ability to invest emotionally in their respective plights. Some are more grounded than others — Penn’s villain is too cartoonish but newcomer Infiniti exudes charisma while providing calm amid the chaos.

As it toggles between parallel subplots, Anderson’s propulsive if intricately plotted screenplay always seems to be on the verge of incoherence or insensitivity before another clever twist keeps us hooked. Even the more conventional cat-and-mouse elements are infused with chaotic energy and desperation.

Quirky yet hard-hitting, and playful yet provocative, One Battle After Another doesn’t dwell on the topical subtext that nevertheless lingers in the background of its gut-wrenching wild ride.

Rated R, 161 minutes.