One Battle After Another tells the story of a small group of revolutionaries fighting against the man, capitalism, white supremacy, and the military. Leonardo DiCaprio is the nominal star with Sean Penn representing the military, but the real stars are all the Black women fighting for freedom.

One Battle After Another covers about 17 years of story. The battles at the end of that time were just as fierce as the ones at the beginning. The film is 2 hours and 41 minutes long, but the action and the music move you along with so much speed you hardly notice the time.

We begin with Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Perfidia (Teyana Taylor) breaking into immigrant detention camps along the Mexican border and freeing all the people held there. In the process, Perfidia meets Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), the officer in charge of the camp. By the way, Lockjaw is not the only funny character or place name here – it’s a running smile fest of funny names.

Perfidia is aroused by the guns, the bombs, the destruction, and the power. She sexually humiliates Lockjaw before she’s through with him and he develops a lifelong lust for her.

Perfidia and Bob are a couple. When she has a baby we see she is not the motherly type. She takes off, leaving Bob with a little girl to raise. Teyana Taylor was not present on the screen for very long, but wow did she have an impact.

Jump ahead 16 years. Little Willa (Chase Infiniti) and Bob are living in obscurity. He stays drunk and/or high. She’s doing well in school and studies martial arts with Sergio (Benicio Del Toro).

While Willa was growing up, Lockjaw moved up in the military ranks. He wanted to join a white supremacists organization known as the Christmas Adventurers. While vetting his background, they discovered hints that he might actually be Willa’s father, not Bob.

Off Lockjaw went to find Bob and Willa and clean up his past.

All the fierce Black women still fighting in the revolution learned about Lockjaw’s quest. They were there to protect the child of their revolutionary hero, Perfidia. Deandra (Regina Hall) found Willa at her high school and sneaked her off to hide with a bunch of Black nuns.

Bob heard when Lockjaw found where they were. He ran, too. He was on his couch in a bathrobe at the time. He took off wearing a bathrobe and wore it for the rest of the movie. Too busy to take it off. He had to save Willa. He was on dad duty. Yes, DiCaprio can play an action hero in a bathrobe with convincing intensity.

Every major character got involved in this chase. The army, the revolutionaries, the people helping immigrants reach freedom, the white supremacists. The lot of them were after Bob and Willa or were running away like Bob and Willa.

Maybe there’s been a longer car chase in a movie, but this one was looonnng. It was filmed on a hilly road in what looked like west Texas. The road was a roller coaster ride for the fast cars chasing after each other. The camera was shaky. It was a lot visually.

Speaking of visuals, this film had beautifully executed cinematography. Wonderfully framed shots that revealed so much character and danger. The way the camera took in Sean Penn was especially telling. The cast was brilliant. Teyana Taylor was outstanding and Chase Infiniti will definitely be on everyone’s radar after this.

Paul Thomas Anderson directed One Battle After Another. In addition to a car chase, there were explosions and gory bloody messes. All the required action movie bits.

While this is a political thriller, it isn’t exactly pointed toward the current situation in the U.S. It’s relevant, but not uniquely timely for today’s politics.

One Battle After Another is available as part of the subscription on HBO Max and can be rented from several other streamers. It’s one to watch.