Review: One Battle After Another. A former revolutionary father cannot…

A former revolutionary father cannot live peacefully with his daughter

A highly anticipated film directed by P.T. Anderson and starring L. DiCaprio. It’s a suspense action film depicting the escape of a former revolutionary father and his daughter, but my honest impression is that “everything is half-baked.” I couldn’t get into the intentionally matter-of-fact style of the film. I’ll review (without spoilers) why this ambitious work with a star-studded cast didn’t resonate with me.

■Synopsis

“French 75” is a revolutionary organization fighting for human freedom and dignity. Member Perfidia is in a relationship with bomb expert Pat, and they have a child. However, during a bank heist to steal funds, they kill a security guard.

Arrested, Perfidia is coerced by Inspector Lockjaw, with whom she has a long-standing feud, into selling the organization’s information to the police. French 75 is destroyed, and Pat goes into hiding with their young child. Parfidia later escapes Rockjoe’s surveillance and disappears across the Mexican border…

Sixteen years later, Pat lives under the alias Bob Ferguson as a single father with his beautiful daughter, Willa. Life with his daughter is more important to him than the revolutionary movement. Willa is fed up with Bob (Pat)’s overprotectiveness.

But that peace is shattered by the appearance of Rockjoe. Promoted to superintendent for his strict immigration crackdowns, he has begun a full-scale hunt for the remnants of the French 75.

■Impressions/Review

A major suspense action film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, director of There Will Be Blood (2007) and Licorice Pizza (2021). Starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

I was excited to see it because it was so talked about, but honestly, it didn’t really click with me. Somehow, everything feels half-baked and vague. I think it’s a suspense film in genre, but there aren’t many nail-biting, heart-pounding moments. The action is also lukewarm overall. However, this is something the director did intentionally.

If you want to build suspense, there are plenty of appropriate techniques and methods, such as using cutbacks and close-ups. Even for action, there are countless ways to grab the audience’s heart by using shots close to the protagonist’s perspective. But this film doesn’t do that.

Just look at how matter-of-factly scenes like the protagonist falling from a building during the rooftop chase, or getting hit by a taser gun on the street, are handled. Any B-movie director could easily double the audience’s heart rate in these scenes. But this film doesn’t do that. Car chases, shootouts, interrogation scenes — everything is presented to the audience as a matter-of-fact, lukewarm depiction.

The twists and turns in the story keep you from getting bored, even though it’s a long movie. However, I just can’t get into this vague story development. I don’t mean to say that this director is bad. Paul Thomas Anderson is a wonderful director. So he clearly made this drama with the intention of creating an action-packed story with no real tension.

If the same story had been made by an unknown director specializing in B-grade action films, I think it would have been a more conventional action movie. But that’s not what the director’s personality is about.

It was a film that left me feeling unsatisfied in many ways, but Chase Infinity, who played Willa, was good. She is a young actress to watch in the future.

United Cinemas Toyosu (12 screens)
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
2025 | 2 hours 42 minutes | USA | Color
Official Site: https://wwws.warnerbros.co.jp/onebattlemovie/
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30144839/