New Delhi, Oct. 31 -- One Battle After Another has an almost wall-to-wall score. The sonic environment is so heady that all the action seems to vibrate to some unheard music in the character's heads. Late in the film, two cops chase and pull over Sensei Sergio (Benicio Del Toro), who manages to safely eject wanted dissident Pat (Leonardo DiCaprio) from his car. Now, as the cops question him, Sensei, his back to them, does a little dance, gently bouncing on his feet, lifting up his jacket sleeves with the tips of his fingers. It's a comic beat transformed by Del Toro into a gesture of graceful defiance and triumph.

This is how I like to think of Del Toro himself, a quicksilver presence gliding through films. That's how he became famous, a...