All of Paul Thomas Anderson’s motion pictures share in widespread a selected cinematic aptitude, and there’s no denying his affection for the Seventies and/or Los Angeles as a backdrop, however he’s a filmmaker who’s nonetheless unattainable to suit right into a single field as a storyteller. His eclecticism has seen him bounce from tales of aspiring porn stars, to Adam Sandler-led romance, to grease prospector drama, to hippie-driven thriller. Every of his movies appears like the author/director taking up a giant and new problem to his craft. In that sense, One Battle After One other is each one in all his grandest swings and one in all his most spectacular successes.
One Battle After One other
Launch Date: September 26, 2025
Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Written By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn, Chase Infiniti, Regina Corridor, and Benicio Del Toro
Score: R for pervasive language, violence, sexual content material, and drug use
Runtime: 161 minutes
The film has the novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon as its base (Anderson’s second time working from the creator’s supply materials after 2014’s Inherent Vice), however with that guide being unadaptable as a giant display story, the filmmaker carves out sure particulars and components, alters main protagonists, antagonists and occasions, and forges an epic that’s equally humorous, dramatic and thrilling – an all-around blissful huge display expertise. And on high of all the things else, it delivers a revolutionary spirit that couldn’t probably be extra apt for our present political second in the USA.
We meet our protagonist “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he joins in with a far-left group known as the French 75 – which carries out missions liberating detained immigrants, attacking political places of work, and sabotaging the ability grid. Pat falls in love with the acute and unpredictable Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), and the group has a profitable run, but it surely all comes aside as a result of Perfidia’s relationship with the fascistic Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), whom she meets as a commanding officer at a detention heart.
An affair between Perfidia and Lockjaw ends in her turning into pregnant, however issues go from unhealthy to worse when she is captured after a botched financial institution job. She agrees to flip on all of the members of the French 75, and whereas she opts for escape to Mexico over witness safety, she forces all of her colleagues to enter hiding – together with Pat and her younger daughter, Charlene.
Sixteen years later, Pat and Charlene have remodeled into Bob and Willa Ferguson (Chase Infiniti), the previous having grow to be a stoner burnout who mother and father by paranoia however has raised a wise and succesful daughter. They stay a traditional life locally of Baktan Cross, however all the things goes to hell with the return of Steven Lockjaw – who’s in consideration to hitch the unique white supremacist group generally known as the Christmas Adventurers Membership and must silence any dialogue that he has a biracial love little one.
One Battle After One other has a strong assertion to make amid some great goofiness.
If you happen to picked up on the contrasting tones of “liberating detained immigrants” and the existence of a corporation that calls itself the Christmas Adventures Membership, congratulations, as a result of you will have picked up on a pattern of what makes One Battle After One other such a beautiful and distinctive work. In much less succesful arms, a film juggling these sorts of components would endure an id disaster, undercutting its personal messaging and leaving the viewers unclear what they’re watching, however Paul Thomas Anderson has made a movie that is ready to be each tremendous goofy and insightful.
When Steven Lockjaw units his sights on Baktan Cross, a twin narrative is born, made to diverge earlier than ultimately colliding. Willa, who’s at a faculty dance when shit begins to hit the fan, is whisked away to security by Deandra (Regina Corridor), a French 75 member who has gotten wind of latest strikes in opposition to the group, and thru their journey of escape, the younger lady grows to know the that means of the combat and a few devastating truths about her parentage.
In the meantime, Bob, who has spent years efficiently waging struggle on his personal mind cells, has to assemble collectively what shreds of competency he retains to try to discover Willa and defend her – although he luckily has an ally within the mysterious Sensei Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio del Toro), who helps help the native immigrant neighborhood and shepherds the revolutionary on his mission. You possibly can most likely guess which facet of the story has extra of the laughs, however they’re equally partaking and propulsive.
All the things is motivated by the character’s feelings and keenness, from the combat in opposition to tyranny to the love between a father and daughter (offering the entire stakes that the movie wants), and it’s executed with a satirical bent that enables it to be as humorous as it’s fascinating in its examination of contemporary America. It’s too enjoyable to ever be heavy-handed or border on something close to preachy, and nonetheless highly effective and sensible.
Leonardo DiCaprio is the shining star of One Battle After One other, however Teyana Taylor is a strong scene-stealer.
The movie is a second crack at 21st century satire for Leonardo DiCaprio following the swing-and-miss that’s Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up, however One Battle After One other is his alternative to seek out his model of The Dude, and it’s a wild success. Pat is a key cog within the machine because the explosives knowledgeable of the French 75, however pot does some spectacular harm to his focus and colleges and it’s a visit seeing DiCaprio stomach crawl on mats beneath the big home windows of a dojo, bicker on the telephone with a comrade as a result of he can’t recall all of his code phrases, and (unsuccessfully) leap throughout rooftops.
There aren’t any weak hyperlinks within the chain throughout the ensemble forged, but it surely has its standouts. Benicio del Toro affords an ideal contrasting power to what DiCaprio is doing, with Sensei St. Carlos ever-offering an air of calm functionality, and Sean Penn successfully turns Lockjaw right into a horrible-yet-unstoppable power. But when there’s any grievance to be provided, it’s that the story finally offers us so little of Teyana Taylor’s Perfidia Beverly Hills, because the actress is completely electrical on display and the character is a power from which you’ll be able to’t flip away.
With out query, Paul Thomas Anderson has made among the finest motion pictures of 2025.
To associate with the combo of drama and comedy is a healthy dose of motion in contrast to something we’ve seen earlier than from Paul Thomas Anderson, and the filmmaker’s Seventies sensibilities mesh spectacularly with the thrills – from the opening sequence with the French 75 in motion, to the raid that sees Bob shortly pressured to evacuate his house, to a heart-racing automotive chase that climaxes with explosive cleverness. Anderson’s propensity to steer the viewers with an unblinking eye envelopes you within the film’s dense and genuine world, and sequences (like Bob’s hectic journey behind the scenes of Sensei Sergio St. Carlos’ operation) are merely jaw-dropping.
This can be a ardour undertaking that Paul Thomas Anderson has been desirous to make for some time, and it’s unimaginable ardour well-applied. The scope and tone is to be marveled at, and it’s each enjoyable and emotionally fulfilling. One might be arduous pressed to discover a richer time on the motion pictures than One Battle After One other in 2025, and it’s unquestionably among the finest movies of the 12 months.