I’m still not
entirely sure how one consciously achieves good pacing in a film, but I think
it might be witchcraft. How else do you explain three hours feeling like two?
Edits, superb directing, and engaging writing? Nah, people like Paul Thomas
Anderson are clearly masters of the dark arts. Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn,
Benicio del Toro, and the rest of the cast of One Battle After Another might
be witches too, come to think of it. You know what? Better burn everyone
involved just to be safe.
Despite Leo's disgustingly greasy hair
trying its best to gross me out, One Battle looks amazing.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s distinctive style is a balm for the eyeballs, and I’m
guessing that the movie being filmed in VistaVision (a rarity in the
twenty-first century) has something to do with it as well, although I would be
lying if I said I 100% knew what that meant. The story can be disturbing in its
real-life parallels, but these moments occasionally edge into calculated
absurdity before transitioning gracefully to silliness, making One
Battle an eclectic and potent combination of political thriller,
action film, and screwball comedy.
Anderson brings out the best of his actors
in One Battle, wisely letting the comedy and drama arise from the
situations instead of having people do bits and soliloquies. Leonardo DiCaprio
is great as the aging revolutionary/father who’s name escapes me at the moment,
but I gotta give the MVP award to Sean Penn, who gives a truly unsettling
performance as the icky Colonel Lockjaw, white supremacist and first-class
douche bag (forgive the redundancy).
One Battle After Another flies
by thanks to the aforementioned witchcraft, and not a moment of it is boring.
That being said I think things could have been even tighter, particularly near
the end, which includes some moments that seem to exist only to extend things
rather than enhance things. But ultimately One Battle is an
undeniable triumph in filmmaking. And witchcraft. But mostly filmmaking.
One Battle After Another is now
playing in theaters.
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