Wednesday, October 01, 2025
One Battle After Another
Are you a right-winger or a left-winger? Or maybe somewhere in between?
“Ghetto” Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) & Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) are lovers & members of a far left political revolutionary group. On a mission to free detained immigrants held at a detention camp, they encounter camp commander Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn) who will come back later to haunt them. When Perfidia turns up pregnant & delivers a baby girl, this changes Pat’s priorities & he wants to settle down to raise their family, but Perfidia wants to carry on as a radical & leaves. Jump ahead 16 years & Pat has been hiding under the name of Bob, single, stoned on alcohol & drugs, behaving very paranoid, & raising his daughter now named Willa. Facing that actions of his past, Lockjaw resurfaces to threaten Bob & Willa. These characters take audiences on an intense thrill ride. DiCaprio & Penn give outstanding performances. Benito Del Toro & Regina King are terrific in the supporting cast. Filmed in Northern California, see if you can recognize any familiar landmarks. I️, for one, learned another way to navigate downtown Sacramento during rush hour gridlock traffic. See who wins & loses in this one battle after another with the French 75, a sanctuary city, the Sisters of the Brave Beavers, & the Christmas Adventures Club. Viva La Revolution!
Alien gives it 3½ “counter-sequences” stars out of 4.
