One Battle After Another
Paul Thomas Anderson has never been one to stick to convention, from taught psychological dramas like There Will Be Blood and The Master to looser films like Boogie Nights or Licorice Pizza, he’s shown a real range in his filmmaking that deftly shifts across several genres. His latest movie, One Battle After Another, a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s seminal novel Vineland, showcases his dexterity perfectly, blending hilarity and heartbreak within moments.
The film sees Anderson team up with Leonardo DiCaprio in what is an incredibly natural pairing. DiCaprio is Bob Ferguson, a former member of the underground revolutionary movement French 75. He has left his revolutionary days behind him to raise his daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), but is forced to put his training to the test when old adversaries come looking for the pair.
They are joined by Sean Penn’s Steven J Lockjaw, a villain for the ages and one of Penn’s best roles in recent memory. Benicio Del Toro is a scene stealer as karate instructor Sergio St Carlos, roped into events and proving his worth. Teyana Taylor, Regina Hall and Alana Haim round out the central cast, with Taylor one of the standouts as Perfidia Beverly Hills, Bob’s former partner and one of the fiercest members of the French 75.
Bob has lost a step in the years since French 75 disbanded, his brain addled by drugs and alcohol, and in his dressing gown, he resembles Jeff Bridges’s The Dude from The Big Lebowski. DiCaprio has always been an actor with underused comedic timing, best exemplified in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood or Catch Me If You Can. This is one of his most out-and-out comedic performances and one he completely owns.
The marketing has sold the feature as equal parts stoner comedy and action epic, and the final result is an interesting mashup that, on paper, should have no right working, but Anderson manages to interweave several disparate narratives and tonal shifts to perfection. Anderson’s previous films haven’t been known for shootouts and kinetic action; however, he stages the sequences here incredibly naturally, with the climactic chase providing some of the most breathless moments of the year and with plenty of edge-of-your-seat suspense across the two-hour 40 runtime.
While it may have dialled back the politics of its source material, this is a scathing takedown of contemporary America and the importance of resisting oppression. It feels tailor-made for the current climate and will strike a chord with many.
One Battle After Another is another winner for Anderson, further cementing him as one of the directors of his generation. It’s a thrilling, rip-roaring epic that will have audiences laughing one minute and in utter suspense the next. The tonal mashup is something truly audacious and perhaps one of the best tricks Anderson has ever pulled off.
Christopher Connor
One Battle After Another is released nationwide on 26th September 2025.
Watch the trailer for One Battle After Another here:
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