If you like films with an abrasive soundtrack, unrelenting action, characters that are immoral, foul-mouthed and unlikeable – then this is the film for you!
Leonardo DiCaprio leads the cast as Bob Ferguson, a seedy character who by his own admission is a “drug and alcohol lover” and part of a revolutionary group who appear to be liberating detention centres and robbing banks. Bob’s pregnant partner, Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), is equally uncharming. Classic dialogue includes: “My name is Jungle Pussy and this is what black power looks like! M-F****ers” or words to that effect.
Later, Perfidia, with no regard to her unborn child, lets loose with an assault rifle, quote: “The guns are the f**king fun!” What message is that? The screenplay, if you can call it that is as splattered with f-words as it is with bullets.
Enter Sean Penn, arresting US Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw, who is sexually attracted to Perfidia – whom he offers a ‘deal’ but not before she betrays her revolutionary buddies. She runs out on Lockjaw, “this pussy don’t pop for you” as well as Bob and their newborn child. (Later, Lockjaw is invited to join what appears to be an elite, corrupt organisation with the unlikely name, The Christmas Adventurers Club. A failed attempt at irony?)
Cut to 16 years later, drug-addled Bob has managed to single-parent their child, Willa (Chase Infiniti), now a teen tagging the bog-standard WOKE college friends. Lockjaw is back on their trail – really? After 16 years? (Just one of the many plot-point credibility issues.) Willa disappears. Suffice, initially there’s hope that Willa will be the one redeeming character in the narrative, but nope, she takes after her mother as if that’s a good thing.
Has anyone else noticed a certain heavy-lidded similarity between actor Benicio Del Toro  (Sicario, The Phoenician Scheme) and DiCaprio? The former plays a martial arts sensei – assisting Bob when Willa goes missing.
Fans of director Paul Thomas Anderson’s work will no doubt enjoy this offering. Touted as a masterpiece, I beg to differ, rather marking a nadir in American cinema, culture and particularly gun culture. You’ll recall Anderson’s film Dirk Diggler, a mockumentary on a porn star, Boogie Nights, and There Will Be Blood. The whole abrasive shebang is about as pointless and enjoyable as watching louts vandalise a parking lot. Violence being no substitute for drama and profanity no substitute for wit.
They say like attracts like. Penn, DiCaprio and Anderson in this sense have all found each other. Touted as a “darkly amusing political thriller” this film is neither amusing nor thrilling nor parody. It was a bit like being stuck in a room with the worst people you’ve ever met, all of whom are waving guns and screaming obscenities.
Truth be told, I stood it for as long as I could, really not caring who won or lost. Walking out before the end (a meandering 2 hours, 50 minutes),  wishing I’d spent my time elsewhere. I was not alone; several other audience members had already left, something rarely seen at a screening.
With an estimated budget of 130 million dollars, it’s easy to think of a million other better ways this money could have been spent.
My Rating:  Less a battle and more a war on taste, decency and patience.
At least two hours of regret.