ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (2025)

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, Alana Haim, Wood Harris, Shayna McHayle, Starletta DuPois, D.W. Moffett, Paul Grimstad, John Hoogenakker, April Grace, Anthony Snow, James Raterman, Quint Gabriel, Jim Anderson, Brenda Lorena Garcia, Tracy Todd and Jack Trout.

Screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Distributed by Warner Bros. 162 minutes. Rated R.

I’ve always had a bit of an issue with Paul Thomas Anderson. He has a gorgeous visual eye, but his story-telling skills are more suspect. In the last few years he has tried to change things up, after such overwhelmingly dire films as There Will Be Blood, The Master, Phantom Thread and Inherent Vice, he dropped the comparatively modest nostalgia piece Licorice Pizza. It was not exactly a success, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.

One Battle After Another is again not a complete success, but I will say that it is my favorite PTA film since Boogie Nights nearly 30 years ago, so that’s something, right?

Although in many ways One Battle After Another is very funny, in other ways it is horribly prescient and terrifyingly realistic to the current state of the nation. Considering the time it must have taken to make the film, they are scary accurate with their predictions about the state of ICE and military attacks on cities and citizens. In fact, taken just from a political lens, One Battle After Another may well get some people – on both sides – very angry, or at least defensive.

Which is kind of funny for a film which is essentially an action-comedy about a middle-aged, constantly-stoned guy and his adopted daughter on the run.

One Battle After Another is a mixture of goofy comedy and some very serious issues. It is loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland (Anderson also made a version of Pynchon’s Inherent Vice.)

It revolves around Bob Ferguson (a wonderfully stanky Leonardo DiCaprio), a former member of a revolutionary group that became infamous for infiltrating an ICE detention center and holding hostage the head of the facility – the tough, violent, racist Marine Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn at his absolute most diabolical, which is really saying something). When he is released, Lockjaw makes it his personal mission to find and kill all of the revolutionaries.

(The film is oddly timeless – the early scenes would seem to be taking place in the 1960s or 1970s, but the detention center is very current looking, and the revolutionaries have cell phones.)

Years later, Bob is a paranoid stoner who is bringing up Willa (Chase Infiniti), the teen daughter of Bob’s former revolutionary girlfriend Perfidia (Teyana Taylor), who years ago had disappeared after betraying the cause. He has become rather complacent, assuming they were safe after all that time. However, when one of the other revolutionaries is caught, suddenly the revolutionaries spring into action and stealth mode. Bob wants to get himself and his daughter to safety, but he can’t remember any of the passwords to get back in the fold.

This leads to a wacky and sometimes surprisingly violent comedy of errors as the government – under the watchful eye of Lockjaw – tries to avenge himself and also hide the Marine’s darkest secret. As more people get involved the story keeps spinning off into wild directions, leading to a thrilling extended car chase sequence in the southwestern desert.

At nearly three hours long, One Battle After Another may go on a little bit too long – there are a few too many fake-ending twists – but it still feels much shorter than it is, which is a good thing.

It is a strange story, but like I said earlier it is particularly prescient and hard-hitting in the current political climate. And it’s also a lot funnier than you might expect. All in all, One Battle After Another is a really pleasant surprise.

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2025 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: September 24, 2025.