Michael Carmichael

One Battle After Another presents a startlingly violent psychodrama of American culture - that is timed perfectly to replicate today’s divisive confrontation between democratic ideals and the upsurge of nationalistic authoritarianism. The plot recalls the rush of revolutionary violence of the seventies, that triggered the right wing extremist consolidation of corporate power and dictatorial control of the murderous police state in its most hideous form, the Christmas Adventurers Club. Paul Thomas Anderson wrote and directed the scintillating script that unfolds at hurricane velocity. DiCaprio and Penn perfectly personified the primary combatants, while Benicio Del Toro played the implacable Ninja Sensei. Tayana Taylor commanded the revolutionary team, and Chase Infiniti displayed a broad spectrum of emotions demanded by her role as the conflicted daughter of a revolution that was never televised. The complex action scenes vividly placed the audience in the feverish desperation of the onslaught of wartime crises of the swirling saga of America experiencing a jolting trauma of racial and cultural conflict. This powerful portrait of America’s destructive political bipolarity shocks every individual in the audience with unmistakable social accuracy.