One Battle After Another

This one was my wife’s movie choice, and for once I was mildly excited. A good director, strong cast, and intriguing concept? Don’t mind if I do! Yet, about 10 minutes into the film, I was already over it.

I don’t understand how this happened. This movie feels like a joke on the audience, or like the director is writing for high school kids, or there is some other three-dimensional chess being played that I just do not understand. Everything is too cute – the jokes are so dumb that they’re smart again or something? For example, some of the naming. Sean Penn’s character is Colonel Lockjaw, because he’s a big tough soldier guy. There’s also a group of white supremacists called the Christmas Adventurers who end meetings by saying “Hail Saint Nick”. Then, pretty much everything Sean Penn does seems like it is meant to be amusing. He is forced to get an erection at gunpoint, for no stated reason. He looks funny, walks funny, and yet is never anywhere close to funny. DiCaprio’s character is amusing at points, but the whole premise of him being brain addled from too many drugs and too much drinking is yet another giant trip into how this movie is Zany with a capital Z.

The plot is fine, the acting is mostly good (except for Sean Penn, who as mentioned before is nearly unwatchable), and there are some interesting scenes. It’s a fine movie if you can’t think of anything better to watch. 5/10