'One Battle' Builds Momentum to Beat the Waves

When Thomas Pynchon wrote ‘Vineland’ - published in 1990 and set in ‘84 - the erstwhile teenage generation that produced the sought after protagonist Zoyd Wheeler’s daughter Prairie was the same generation that, in our world, off the page, produced Leonardo DiCaprio. Now, 35 years later, in Paul Thomas Anderson’s loosely lifted adaptation, DiCaprio steps into the father role to a teen born of the new millennium. Life comes at us in waves that hit harder than water ever could. In ‘One Battle After Another,’ those waves fill the screen and are made of rock and asphalt as hard as time.

Caught up in it all are Bob and Willa Ferguson (DiCaprio and newcomer Chase Infiniti). Sixteen years ago, Bob lived under a different name as a member of an anti-fascist revolutionary group called the French 75, alongside his partner, Perfidia Beverly Hills (a powerhouse Teyana Taylor). The militant lovebirds welcome a daughter, but no sooner than she arrives in their world does it fall apart - courtesy of deranged military commander Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn). 16 years later, Perfidia has disappeared, the French 75 is shattered, and the teenage Willa is beginning to find her own way in life within the paranoid confines of Bob’s solo parentage. 

The first act of ‘One Battle,’ taking place before the time jump, is a whirlwind of kinetic furor, following the eclectic heroes of the French 75 on their mission of liberation and the central couple’s hapless attempt to build a family in the midst of that chaos, all before Lockjaw brings it crashing down. Paul Thomas Anderson (popularly abbreviated as PTA to avoid confusion with his many fellow Hollywood Andersons) quickly sets the tone that this will be something unlike anything audiences have seen from him before, proving that he can craft thrilling action setpieces just as well as the more methodical drama of films like ‘Phantom Thread.’ 

He’s been blessed in this endeavor by the vehicle’s engine - Taylor’s Perfidia, a dynamite performance that captures every breath on and off the screen for each minute she’s on it. Leo’s Bob (then known as the pyrotechnic Pat Calhoun) is pulled along in her riptide and the rest of us with him, propelled forward at such a fierce pace that when Perfidia is abruptly plucked from the narrative it is no wonder at all that we wake up with Bob after the jump dazed and directionless, with no rhythm of our own. 

The exhilarating prologue sets high expectations for what’s to come once the principal story gets rolling - seeking to join an elite secret society of white supremacists, Lockjaw returns to hunt down Willa and eliminate Bob once and for all. But while Bob may have lost his momentum without Perfidia to guide him, the movie hasn’t missed a beat. This is thanks in no small part to Chase Infiniti as Willa. 

Few would have guessed that there would be a more stunning feature film debut performance this year than Miles Caton in ‘Sinners,’ but Infiniti may take the top spot here. As Willa, she is a revelation, holding her own against two of the most acclaimed actors of the last 20 years in Penn and DiCaprio. Channelling pent-up teen angst into a relentless drive for survival, she slams her foot on the gas to drive the narrative forward into the climax and beyond. Once again, Bob is moving after her, and the result is cinematic gold.

Walking out as the credits roll, it's hard to believe ‘One Battle’ has lasted nearly three hours. Impeccable editing from Andy Jurgensen keeps PTA’s script rocketing forward; each gun shot, mad dash, comic beat, and quiet moment feels equally a part of the chase from start to finish. (And it is, for all its intensity of action, emotion, and commentary, a deeply funny movie, with DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro releasing too-rarely tapped comic skills.) There’s never a question of getting off the ride, any more than it is ever an option for its characters. Such artistic mastery of time is fitting for a movie that centers on its passage. And just like that, we’ve arrived at the waves.

In the climatic moments, without giving too much away, this chase of a movie finally enters its final stage - a literal car chase, set against the stunning landscape of California’s Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Here, Willa races down a road of relentless hills, rolling like an untamed ocean across the desolate landscape. In the hands of PTA and cinematographer Michael Bauman, they come rushing toward the audience one by one, filling the entire screen until it seems we are about to collide with them ourselves, then pulling back at the last moment to surge over the next crest; up and down, again and again, a delightfully nauseating feat of movie-making. When it’s finally done, the road lingers in the body as if a roller coaster has careened to a halt, though the sturdy theater seats have never moved.

‘One Battle After Another’ hinges on this moment, a stunning sequence that captures all of the visual movement that has built up to it and the rhythm of the narrative as well. Like all revolutionaries across history, Bob, Perfidia, and Willa cannot escape time. No one can. It rolls on, pulling humanity along, leaving the fight for change a constant battle against unending waves. We can ride them or smash into them.

At the heart of this story is a community of hope that neither the shattering of family or the strong arm of the government or the draining spirit of fear can destroy forever. PTA believes that by riding together, we can hold on to the next crest, keep the pace, and survive the next valley. In a movie that he has said took decades to write, it could not have been released at a more prescient moment. Racing through scenes ripped from today’s headlines, it can’t possibly stop as the theater lights come up. Like Bob and Willa, Sensei Sergio, Perfidia, Deandra, and every small, rawly human fighter the movie offers up, it believes that we too can hang together and keep our eyes on a horizon where a fairer, freer world waits. And together, we all just might ride to that tomorrow.