One Battle after Another

If social unrest, doomed left wing insurgent groups, military government crackdowns, a psychotic army colonel,  a stoned single father, battling a rebellious teenage daughter, and an elderly cabal of white supremacists.  Is your idea of entertainment and not too close to the world we actually live in this film could be just what the doctor (or psychiatrist) ordered.

The product of gifted director Paul Thomas Anderson this somehow a worthy but exhausting gloomy film.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Pat Calhoun who along with his partner Perfidia Beverly Hills played by Tanaya Taylor play the two leads and lovers in said left wing revolutionary group. From there the plot gets super complicated. There are as suggested in the intro many conflicting groups all jockeying for supremacy. Apart from DiCaprio, the star attraction in a hilariously intense standout portrayal from Sean Penn as the deranged colonel Steven J Lockjaw. Always on the trail of the baddies at the same time trying to erase his own mortal sins. A fun musical this is not, but I did watch until the end to see some version of redemption but you really have to look hard. 236 stars