Broncho Movie Breakdown: “One Battle After Another”

“One Battle After Another” is Paul Thomas Anderson’s return to feature-length films since his coming-of-age drama “Licorice Pizza” in 2021. 

This movie touches on a lot of hot-button issues that have been on the lips of every conscious person, especially in the last year. Immigration, white supremacist cults, and abuse of power by militia, just to name a few. All while keeping a family core at its heart. 

Anderson’s loose adaptation of the novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon opens during one of many attacks orchestrated by the far-left revolutionary group the French 75 at an immigration detention center.

We meet Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio), an explosive specialist trying to keep up with the high-stress environment and pull his weight. The salacious spearhead of the group is Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor). Pulling for the other side of the spectrum is Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), a commanding officer with a contradicting sexual preference unacceptable to those in his social sphere. 

A run-in with Lockjaw in the middle of planning an attack results in Perfidia resorting to giving in to his desires, which will later leave Perfidia pregnant.  My feelings were very mixed when it came to the portrayal of Lockjaw with Perfidia. In a way, I respect PTA for including something like this, as he is someone in a long-term interracial relationship and has mixed-race children with comedian Maya Rudolph. 

The way white men can view women outside of their race as “exotic,” like foreign foods they can try and brag to their friends about, is a very real and disturbing act, and I can commend him for that acknowledgment.

What I do have issues with is the actual portrayal of Perfidia falling into a kind of Jezebel trope. This is when Black women are portrayed as incredibly sexually promiscuous, seductive, and immoral to an extreme extent. Many of her actions and phrasings can come off in that way and are just jarringly unrealistic at times. The sentiment is there, sure, but the entire execution just missed the mark a little for me. 

While continuing with the French 75’s plans and training, Pat and Perfidia welcome a baby girl, Charlene. New motherhood does not put the brakes on Perfidia’s call to action, and she continues to revolt despite Pat’s pleas to settle down. During a bank robbery misstep, Perfidia is finally captured. Lockjaw pitches that she can avoid incarceration if she rats out her organization’s members. She agrees and is sent into witness protection. The lack of loyalty and integrity to her group was really disappointing to witness. 

After her confession, several of her members are seen killed off, one by one. Few escape and are forced into hiding. Perfidia leaves her new residence in Mexico under witness protection and is never seen again. Pat and baby Charlene are sent into hiding with guidance from a remaining member and are given new identities as Bob and Willa Ferguson. 

Jump forward sixteen years, Willa (Chase Infiniti) is a social, outspoken teenager who practices karate. She plays the rebellious teenager in a non-aggravating and stereotypical way, but truly as a girl with a revolutionary spirit in her veins.

Meanwhile, in these sixteen years, Lockjaw has moved in the ranks to a colonel and is invited to join the far-right, white supremacist secret society, the Christmas Adventurers Club. From this invitation, Lockjaw goes on a hunt for Willa to get a DNA test and, if need be, kill her. Knowing that having a mixed-race child would not allow him to remain in the group.

Under the guise of immigration and drug enforcement, he sends his troops to raid the town where Willa has been residing while she is at a school dance. Willa is taken by Deandra (Regina Hall), a trusted French 75 member, at the dance to escape from Lockjaw, and they go on the run. 

In the height of all of this, it’s almost unbelievable that this movie is almost three hours long. The pacing was perfect, and the intensity was well-balanced with following each character’s quests. There is really no opportunity to doze off at any point because you know one person is right on the heels of their prey, each time the encounters get closer and closer until we enter the final chase.

The number one movie, its opening weekend with a big-name director and utilizing his largest movie budget ever, is directly referencing immigrants as something under constant threat by military force, is not lost on me. I thoroughly enjoyed every performance in this movie and could not single anyone out as a weak link. 

From the veterans to the newcomers, everyone stood up to the plate and delivered. Out of the several PTA movies I’ve seen, artistically, this one veered off the most from what I know from him. It was less stylistic in aesthetics and straightforward, with the focus mostly being on story and dialogue. Although different from what I expected, I found it still incredibly captivating and would not hesitate to watch again and recommend it to others as well.