One Battle After Another

I have been trying to keep my expectations in check lately because I have been disappointed by many of my most anticipated movies this year but it was really hard not to be excited for an early screening of One Battle After Another at the Broadway last night.  Luckily the hype for this is real because both my nephew and I loved it!  "Ghetto" Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) are militants in a far-left revolutionary group known as French 75.  When the group rescues migrants from a detention center in California, Perfidia humiliates the commanding officer, Colonel Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn), and he becomes fixated on her.  Pat and Perfidia begin a relationship and eventually have a daughter they name Charlene.  However, when a mission goes wrong, Lockjaw captures Perfidia which forces Pat and his daughter to go on the run and assume the names Bob and Willa Ferguson.  Lockjaw eventually locates them living in a sanctuary city in Texas sixteen years later and, under the guise of a drug enforcement raid, he dispatches soldiers to capture Willa (Chase Infiniti) for reasons.  Deandra (Regina Hall), a French 75 member, arrives to warn them and Bob turns to Willa's karate sensei, Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio del Toro) for help rescuing her from Lockjaw.  This is an incredible spectacle with lots of twists and turns that kept me completely engaged and fantastic action set pieces that kept me on the edge of my seat, especially a suspenseful chase sequence involving three cars on an undulating road in the desert (the way this is filmed is absolutely brilliant because you never really know where the cars are in relation to each other and I was holding my breath the whole time).  This also had me and the rest of the audience laughing out loud, particularly the interactions between DiCaprio and del Toro and a running bit where Bob cannot remember any of the passwords used by French 75.  As funny as this is, the relationship between Bob and his daughter is really touching as is the implied message about fighting for social justice.  DiCaprio is always great and Penn really leans into his character's villainy in one of his best performances but I was especially impressed with Infiniti because she delivers on both the emotion and the physicality (I really liked her character's arc).  This is one of Paul Thomas Anderson's most entertaining movies and it is one of my favorites this year.  I highly recommend it!