Paul Thomas Anderson has delivered his most insane and topical provocation in years, and it should scrub away any doubt whether the celebrated filmmaker behind “Magnolia,” “The Master” and “There Will Be Blood” is up go to delivering a hyper-relevant film drawn from an absurdist 1990 Thomas Pynchon novel.

Anderson attempted that and failed with the so-so “Inherent Vice,” starring Joaquin Phoenix.

But “Battle” pairs well with Anderson’s style, and turns Pynchon’s “Vineland” into a jacked-up and unruly ride through a rugged, gone-bonkers America of the here and now — and of the not-so free and home to anarchists and fascists who roam and collide.

It’s not a perfect film, but set aside some of its problems and just surrender to cluster after cluster of technically inspired, seamles

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