One Battle After Another

Okay full honesty here; I was not looking forward to watching this movie. I HATED Killers of the Flower Moon and that was the last time I saw Leo DiCaprio’s face. I think the writing better be damn good to warrant a nearly 3 hour film, and that is almost never the case. And almost every time a film gets touted “film of the year” it's actually nowhere near the best film that came out that year. So this film had an uphill battle with me before I ever pressed play. But I am nothing if not incredible at objective analysis. So I fought through it anyway.

Trying to figure out what the depiction is here. We are seeing a leftist terrorist group essentially. Not sure what else to call it with them capturing people and setting off bombs. But the judgement on that is going to entirely depend on whether the movie frames them as heroes or villains, or if the film bothers to have nuance.

So much sex for what reason? Are directors that do this not getting laid? Look if your whole movie is sex and violence I am going to assume that you can’t get laid. Paul Thomas Anderson I’m sorry you can’t get it up, maybe go see a doctor and get some meds instead of making a movie.

Oh this bitch is crazy. Her team talks a big game but never actually killed anyone before. Until this bitch went rogue in a bank.

The weird relationship between this old white dude and this girl is super creepy. And it just screams written by a man.

Absolutely nothing about this movie is even remotely compelling. I am having a horrible time trying to force myself to pay attention. I really wish I could care since it’s nominated for so much stuff but I fear it is another Killers of the Flower Moon situation. Overhyped, overawarded with no actual substance.

Oh my lord that was just act 1???? Kill me please. Perhaps the time jump will make it better, can’t possibly make it worse.

And honestly I've never really understood the hype around Leonardo DiCaprio and this proves why. This isn’t an award worthy performance. He’s not digging below surface level in any scene. I’m not seeing anything different or new from him. The man has very little range and does seem to play the same kinds of characters over and over again.

Okay we are finally digging into the narrative 42 minutes in. The themes of race aren’t made clear until 42 minutes in. That is truly, next level horrendous writing.

Being on a first name basis with your child is never a good sign. That means they hate you by the way.

This poor girl gets pulled out of this school dance as the government is after her. I would care more if Leo was playing a redeemable character but Bob is just a dumbass who smokes and is a terrible dad.

This isn’t even the best commentary on race released this year. This was more spoonfed and in your face but Sinners topped this subject matter and this can’t even compare.

God this movie just DRAGS. The pacing is terrible. Do you know why Lord of the Rings is allowed to be 4 hours long? Because every single second is necessary. Every second is filled with something important to the story or someone’s individual character arc. There is so much that could be cut from this movie. In fact most of the first act could have been cut. This did not need to be a nearly 3 hour movie. In fact I’m positive that this film would be 1000X better if I cut at least 40 minutes from this film.

And this old fuck is her father. So the main problem lies in the fact that this had no idea what it wanted to be. Is this a father-daughter story? OR is it a racial commentary? You actually can’t have both. You can have one with the other as support which is what I think they attempted but they executed it poorly.

Honestly 4/10 at best. I’m not trying to be different, I’m trying to contrarian. The reality is that the movie was paced poorly and the narrative was confused and sloppy. I could keep most of this film and just cut and rearrange some things to make this watchable. But the movie as is is a waste of time.