ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

Fun is not necessarily the first word that comes to mind when I think of Paul Thomas Anderson’s films, although of course he has shown in films such as ‘Boogie Nights’ that he has that weapon in his armoury. 

But right from the outset we know this film is going to have a comedic or satiric edge to it, with a frankly bizarre scene between black and fearsome freedom fighter Perfidia (Teyana Taylor)  and the very white Colonel Stephen J Lockjaw (played wonderfully well by an almost unrecognisable Sean Penn), in which the latter becomes sexually aroused in a ridiculous manner which had me worried about where the film might be going tone-wise.

Perfidia is in a relationship with Pat (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), both of them being members of a resistance group named the French 75.  When she gives birth to a baby girl he naturally assumes he is the father, oblivious to the fact that she has been enjoying sexual high jinks with Lockjaw.   

We then get some quickfire scenes, leading to Perfidia ratting on fellow French 75 members and going into hiding, whilst Pat and baby Charlene go off-the-grid with new identities.    

At this stage the film wasn't coming together for me but then all of a sudden it did, as we get a flash forward of some sixteen years - Pat is now Bob, who has regressed into a paranoid stoner, and Charlene who has now developed into teenage Willa (an impressive performance by Chase Infiniti).

The trigger for the subsequent mayhem about to be released is Lockjaw being invited to join a white supremist group.  This is a bad idea since they aren't going to look kindly upon Lockjaw fathering a mixed race child, so he needs to get hold of Willa and eliminate her if he is indeed her father (spoiler alert: he is). 

Being a senior military guy he naturally goes about this in the most ham-fisted way, by deploying all the force at his disposal under the guise of a drug enforcement and immigration operation, and from this point on the film is as exhilarating an experience as I have enjoyed in the cinema for a very long time.

From this point on the film combines thrilling violence à la 'No Country For Old Men' with great comedic moments. One such highlight is Bob forgetting a code word, in the same way as one might forget a password, and getting understandably frustrated with the guy on the end of the phone who won't give him the info he needs.  

Also adding to the fun along the way is Bernicio del Toro as Willa's karate teacher who just happens to be the leader of the local undocumented community.   

This is all set against a minimalist but highly effective score from Johnny Greenwood.  

The pièce de résistance is a climactic car chase which ends in a way which I can't remember seeing before and which is very satisfying.  

Given the prominence of immigrants throughout it's hard to avoid the thought that this film is saying something about the current political situation in America, even if it is saying it obliquely.  I found the resistance aspect of the film uplifting given all the bad news coming out of the US.

It's astonishing that Anderson doesn't already have an Oscar to his name, and it will be an absolute crime of the first degree if he is snubbed yet again after producing such a timely and terrific movie.  

RATING: ✓✓✓ Absolutely Fabulous