One Battle After Another
It is deserving of the praise. It is a propulsive rollercoaster ride of a movie that doesn't feel as long as it is (162 minutes). I only looked at my watch one time, which is pretty good for me in a long film.
I'm not sure if I should bother with a plot synopsis since that is easily available elsewhere, but basically, Leonardo diCaprio stars as a grizzled, burned out, pot-smoking, ex-radical revolutionary who is suddenly forced into his old life to find his kidnapped daughter. In the process, he and she are pursued by various nefarious forces, including Sean Penn as a heavily muscled, severely uptight white supremacist military weirdo named Col. Steven J. Lockjaw. It's a hilariously ridiculous but wholly appropriate name.
I've generally been fairly agnostic towards Leo diCaprio in the past, but between Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood and this, I've come around. It's a demanding role with equal parts action and humor and he pulls it off wonderfully. There are a few frantic telephone conversations between Leo's character Bob Ferguson and his old revolutionary group, the French 75. Sixteen years of drinking and weed-smoking have rendered him unable to remember his secret password, and his increasing frustration with the unbending French 75 guy on the other end is comedy gold.
The movie is full of excellent performances. Chase Infiniti, whom I'd only seen in last year's Apple TV mini-series Presumed Innocent, has what could be a star-making turn as Bob's daughter Willa. Teyana Taylor is Bob's tough-as-nails revolutioary lover/partner Perfidia Beverly Hills, and of course there's Sean Penn as Lockjaw, one of the most, er, unique performances I've seen in some time.
So, I'm happy to have finally seen this movie, and strongly recommend it for anyone interested in one hell of a wild and exhilirating cinematic experience.
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