One Battle After Another – Movie Review (5/5)

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is the latest movie from filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson. This one is a true genre hybrid, utilizing everything from crime, thriller, action, and mystery to dark comedy. It’s as brilliant as the casting is stellar. Read our full One Battle After Another movie review here!

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is a new crime thriller that isn’t afraid to try its hand at dark comedy and action as the story evolves. This movie shines a spotlight on everything wrong with not only the U.S. but the world as a whole.

The runtime is 2 hours and 41 minutes, which works perfectly for this story. Think the best South Korean genre movies, where characters are nuanced and both the “good” and “bad” guys will have (at least somewhat) relatable moments.

Continue reading our One Battle After Another movie review below. Find it in theaters from September 26, 2025.

So many battles to be fought

With One Battle After Another, the main story is about the washed-up revolutionary Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio), but when the movie opens, he is a very active revolutionary.

The kind that operates with a group, speaks in codes, and does not shy away from using explosives or violence to fight their battles. All this changes when he becomes a father.

Of course, those who have been chasing him do not see it that way.

In the present, he has managed to fry his brain with the use of various drugs and alcohol, and has forgotten most of what used to keep him alive. This will soon become a problem as his past returns with a vengeance.

His tough and smart daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), goes missing, and his hiding spot of more than a decade has been compromised. His evil nemesis, Lockjaw (Sean Penn), is hot on his trail after 16 years of a “normal” life.

Such brilliant casting makes it all work

Despite having grown up with Leonardo DiCaprio as the heartthrob of Titanic and Romeo + Juliet, I love seeing him in roles where he is a complete mess. It just suits him somehow.

In One Battle After Another, he is a huge mess. A classic “good guy” who has lost his way, so while his heart is in the right place, he’s a little confused. Or rather, he’s stoned out of his mind, but trying to get clear again.

Chase Infiniti is brilliant as his daughter, Charlene, and clearly channels the wild nature of her mom, Perfidia, who in turn is portrayed with fierce fire by Teyana Taylor.

Sean Penn as the sadistic soldier, Lockjaw, is perfectly cast. He goes all-in on this portrayal (as he always does), and it makes this very flawed man come across so eerily familiar. He becomes an iconic kind of character. A true villain!

In other key roles, we get the pleasure of watching Benicio Del Toro and Regina Hall. There are many other amazing actors in this cast, but I want to highlight these two.

Both have a fairly short screentime (though all is relative in a movie this long), but leave their clear marks.

Benicio Del Toro is almost underplayed in his portrayal. And Regina Hall, whom I adore in comedy, yet again proves to be a highly gifted dramatic actor as well.

You’ll want to watch this in a movie theater

Seriously, One Battle After Another is the kind of movie you will want to watch on the big screen. Not only due to the amazing use of sound and imagery, but also due to the intense and stress-inducing evolution of this story.

I mean, there’s a car chase scene in this movie that both threatened to give me motion sickness and felt like the most amazing rollercoaster ride. No wonder Steven Spielberg has supposedly already watched the movie three times.

Also, there’s this vibe of a story full of “call to arms” moments that just feels like it should be experienced with other people. For the record, this plays out over nearly two decades and shows how we keep fighting the same battles.

Will the next generation be part of the revolution? And if yes, what kind of revolution are we talking about?! In this movie, we see multiple points of view. We also see people going against their beliefs when it serves an egotistical purpose.

Watch One Battle After Another in theaters!

Paul Thomas Anderson is the writer and director of One Battle After Another, which is his second movie inspired by a novel by Thomas Pynchon. The first was Inherent Vice (2014). This movie was inspired by the novel “Vineland”.

I can’t wait to watch it again either, and trust me, watching One Battle After Another feels like a workout of both your heart and mind. And I do mean “heart” in both the emotional and cardiovascular sense. It’s one wild ride!

Even the jazz score in the background adds to its relentless pressure on the characters as well as us, the audience.

I don’t know that I can claim I had any idea what to expect from this Paul Thomas Anderson movie. However, I can definitely say that it overdelivered, and various scenes have been haunting me ever since.

One Battle After Another will be in theaters on VistaVision, 70mm film, and IMAX®. I watched it in the latter format, which definitely did make me feel that I was “part of” the movie at times. Particularly those car chase scenes.

One Battle After Another is out in theaters on September 26, 2025.

Details

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Script: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti.

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