Movie: One Battle After Another
Release Date: Sept. 26, 2025
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Runtime: 2 hours, 41 minutes
Genre: Action, comedy, thriller
Rating: A
Veteran auteur director Paul Thomas Anderson's newest film, "One Battle After Another", reveals its political relevance as it opens with a raid on an immigrant detention center, an issue that is constantly making national headlines.
The film, a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel "Vineland", follows former activist and pyrotechnic Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) in the search for his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) after being forced into hiding and on the run. After a sequence of Bob and his partner, Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), participating in the exploits of the leftist revolutionary group "The French 75," the film jumps ahead 16 years.
After the time jump, Bob and Willa are living in the fictional town of Baktan Cross, hiding out in the woods in a constant state of paranoia. Despite this, they continue trying to live relatively normal lives, as Willa trains in karate and Bob attends parent-teacher conferences perpetually under the influence as a coping mechanism for his constant fear. As he proclaims later in justification of his poor memory, “I am a drug and alcohol lover.”
Eventually, this existence is disrupted when Bob’s past catches up with them, and they are forced on the run and into deeper hiding from the military forces led by Col. Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn), on the pretense of hunting down the former revolutionaries but with his own nefarious motivations truly driving his hunt.
Despite his flaws, Bob cares about and loves his daughter deeply. The film creates an exaggerated scenario of the worries of a single father wishing primarily to guide and protect his daughter, and the sense of futility that can come with that scenario.
There is no shortage of memorable performances in "One Battle After Another". It has become expected of DiCaprio to give great performances, and he delivers as the constantly-stoned protagonist. Infiniti’s debut performance as his daughter is just as impressive. She balances her character’s complex situation as a teenager beginning to learn the truth of her mother’s past and constantly living in the shadow of the admittedly justified paranoia of her father.
Penn’s performance as Lockjaw is over-the-top in the best way possible. Penn nails his character’s unique blend of being pathetic and insecure yet intimidating, as he won’t let anything stand in his way of becoming a member of the racist secret society, inexplicably named the Christmas Adventurers Club.
Benicio del Toro’s performance as community leader Sensei Sergio St. Carlos highlights many of the comedic moments of the film with his deadpan delivery and untroubled persona in the face of chaos. He is a joy to watch on-screen, especially when he acts as a guiding force for Bob, with both in a race against forces much larger than themselves. As he describes his community role beyond being a karate sensei, he explains that he has a “bit of a Latino Harriet Tubman situation going on.”
Despite having so many major characters present and subplots occurring simultaneously, the film is able to juggle all of these moving parts with ease. These various aspects, along with Radiohead guitarist and composer Jonny Greenwood’s tense, piano-heavy score, culminate in a literal roller coaster simulator of a climax that doesn’t let the viewer breathe until the very end with a uniquely tense take on a car chase.
As chaotic as a synopsis of the film may make it sound, its scenes are woven together so masterfully that it ends up being a remarkably-quick-feeling 161 minutes. Each scene is so intricately constructed and executed that it’s impossible not to get absorbed into this world and be in a state of constant waiting to see what insane thing will happen next.
Anderson’s most recent film paints a damning yet hopeful picture of modern America, with supremely entertaining and re-watchable results. Memorable performances, both from blockbuster mainstays and film newcomers, combined with the film’s exceptional cinematography, score and timeliness make "One Battle After Another" a must-watch, preferably on the big screen.