POLITICAL THRILLER. “One Battle After Another.” / “Black Bag.”

“One Battle After Another” (2025, HBO Max) black comedy about an ex-revolutionary who is forced back into his former combative lifestyle when he and his daughter are pursued by a corrupt military officer. Stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro; directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. 



       This film is supposedly based on Thomas Pynchon's 1990 postmodern novel, “Vineland.” Set in California in 1984, the year of President Ronald Reagan's reelection, the book portrays the free spirit of rebellion of that decade, and describes the traits of the "fascistic Nixonian repression" and the war on drugs that clashed with it. The book portrays transformations in U.S. society from the 1960s to the 1980s.

       This movie is categorized as “black comedy” but I didn't see anything “black” or “comical” about it. I am not saying though that this project sucks. No. In fact, I enjoyed it so much. Very entertaining. No sequence is boring and the ensemble acting is sarcastically cool. 🎥💻📽


“Black Bag” (2025, Amazon Prime) spy thriller film directed by Steven Soderbergh. A British intelligence officer is assigned to investigate a list of suspected traitors, one of whom is his wife. 



       The last Soderbergh movie that I saw was 2024's “Presence,” which I immensely disliked. The worst horror movie of one of Hollywood's best filmmakers. I didn't see many of Steven's projects but those that I saw, I enjoyed three: His first, 1989's “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” and 2000's “Erin Brockovich” and “Traffic.” 

       But this “Black Bag,” despite an expected hug from a critic (“sleek in design and spiked with dry wit”) I find it morose and too talky. True, Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender provided the dramatic shine but still, the movie as a whole is stuck in grim inertia. 🎥💻📽


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