By Charles Kirkland Jr.
When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of their former leader in One Battle After Another.
Washed-up and semi-retired revolutionary Bob lives in a fog of weed smoke and stoned paranoia, scraping by off-grid while trying to raise his daughter, Willa. After her mother, Bob’s fierce comrade-in-arms Profidia Beverly Hills, abandons domestic life to continue the fight, Bob is left to navigate parenthood under the shadow of his past. Sixteen years later, Willa has grown into a sharp, responsible, and self-reliant teenager with her mother’s rebel spark and her father’s stubborn will. But when Bob’s old nemesis, the cartoonishly cruel Colonel Lockjaw, locates their secret hideaway and kidnaps Willa, Bob is forced to emerge from the haze and embark on a ragtag, desperate mission to save her.
Loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, One Battle After Another is a genre-bending dark comedy and action-adventure film that plays like a fever-dream political thriller. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the movie boasts a sprawling ensemble cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Benicio Del Toro, Chase Infiniti, and Regina Hall, with cameos peppered throughout. Notably, this marks the first collaboration between Anderson and DiCaprio.
From its opening scenes, the film places us in an alternate America that feels unsettlingly close to our own. When we meet Bob (DiCaprio) and Profidia (Taylor), they’re in the midst of a high-stakes operation to liberate a group of undocumented immigrants from a makeshift government detention center. Bob, a demolitions expert with more heart than precision, and Profidia, a charismatic, swaggering leader, embody a kind of radical idealism that feels both absurd and eerily prescient. There may not be armed liberation groups on our nightly news, but the film subtly suggests that such a future is not beyond imagination.
As the narrative progresses, the film shifts genres with impressive agility. After a government crackdown dismantles the revolution and scatters the group, the tone pivots sharply from political thriller to surreal domestic satire. In this phase, Bob is now a reclusive, paranoid, sofa-surfing single dad whose only real contact with the outside world comes in the form of school meetings and grocery runs. But just when the film settles into this off-kilter rhythm, Colonel Lockjaw (Penn, clearly enjoying himself) returns to reignite the central conflict. Subsequently, the movie veers once again, this time into full-on, high-stakes rescue mission territory.
Anderson handles these tonal shifts with remarkable finesse, managing to weave absurdist comedy, biting political commentary, and heartfelt family drama into a coherent and emotionally resonant whole. What could easily have become a chaotic mess instead plays like a cinematic high-wire act, with Anderson balancing satire and sincerity in equal measure.
At its core, One Battle After Another is a story about the collision of ideals and responsibilities, about the tension between the world we want to change and the one we have to raise our children in. It’s a film that finds grace in the ridiculous and meaning in the madness.
Oscar buzz seems inevitable. Anderson’s direction is bold, inventive, and deeply assured. DiCaprio delivers one of his most nuanced performances in years, a weed-scented blend of The Dude and The Weather Underground. Teyana Taylor is electric as Profidia, and Sean Penn’s unhinged villainy makes for a twisted delight. Rising star Chase Infiniti, as Willa, more than holds her own among the veterans.
In the end, One Battle After Another is a daring, deeply strange, and strangely moving film, one that demands attention, invites interpretation, and lingers long after the credits roll.
Rated R for pervasive language, violence, sexual content, and drug use, One Battle After Another is an explosively clever satire that fuses sharp dialogue, wild plot twists, and adrenaline-pumping action into a cinematic stick of dynamite. Bold, bizarre, and bitingly relevant, this is a revolution that will be cinematized!
One Battle After Another is in theaters starting September 26, 2025.
Grade: A-
