Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson – 4.2/5 Stubs

This week’s Tuesday movie date with the wife was booked for One Battle After Another. Honestly, I walked away “pleasantly surprised”. After watching the trailers and seeing Leo on screen, I went into this expecting it to be dead on arrival, a disappointment. Paul Thomas Anderson sure made me look like a fool with that thought.

The acting in this movie is a masterpiece from top to bottom. Even Sean Penn, whose character I didn’t like for 75% of the movie, knocked it out of the park. There are at least 4 Oscar-worthy performances in this movie and I don’t say that lightly. Benicio Del Toro offered such a brilliant yin to DiCaprio’s yang. Both female leads carried their weight sharing the screen with the superstars that are Penn and DiCaprio. They were punchy, unapologetic, and demanded respect in their scenes. Sean Penn captured his character’s inner struggle better than most could, he may have been a perfect casting.

The only thing holding this movie back from being one of the best of the decade is the story. And not that it was bad, but the acting, the score, and the cinematography was just so impressive. The story has the perfect amount of humor, satire, and depth. My issues with the plot/story are my own, especially since they are kind of the point of it in the first place. For instance: the hyperbole of Sean Penn’s Col. Lockjaw took me out of a few of the scenes, but that was the entire point of the character. The secret society we come to learn about was hilarious but didn’t carry the same depth and seriousness as some of the acting performances. Again, I think this was the point and I can see the value in it.

I would be remiss to no talk about Paul Thomas Anderson’s direction and composition. He executes his vision to perfection. I want to specifically highlight the juxtaposition of Benicio Del Toro’s ‘Sergio’ to DiCaprio’s ‘Bob Ferguson’. DiCaprio embodies Bob’s chaos and turmoil while Benicio Del Toro plays the calm sensei. There are literal laugh-out-loud moments between these two while they also pull you through the intensity of the story with them. There are incredible filming choices that put us in the shoes of the characters and give us a window into the story we wouldn’t have otherwise felt.

Speaking of Anderson’s direction, this movie has the greatest car chase scene of all time. I cannot remember a scene, especially a car chase, that captivated an audience like that. No dialogue, no explosions, nothing but the score, actors, and exquisite camera work. A single-lane sprint through rolling desert hills has never been so exhilarating. It has to be 3-4 minutes without dialogue where we bounce from car-to-car and each cut builds the intensity. AND THERE IS A PAYOFF! It doesn’t end in some cheesy explosion or 16-flip car roll – it ends in a way we would expect the characters to act in the situation.

All-in-all this movie is one of the best of the year, and a must watch. This will go down as one of DiCaprio’s best films, he is the shining star. But Paul Thomas Anderson wrote and cast such a phenomenal group that knocked this story out of the park. If this film was made with any more satire or any more seriousness, it would have fallen flat. Anderson really hit the nail on the head and I’m already excited to watch this again.