FILM REVIEW: Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another

The Film Bros Have Awakened. Take That As You Will.

“They do not make good movies anymore.” If you ever hear these words in the Year 2025, please shove every 70mm frame of this film down their throat.

(JOKE! RELAX!)

No other movie has come even close to the heat Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another enters with. From the first frame to the last, every single department fires on all cylinders. World-building at its best. Characters that snap, crackle, and pop. A story with dense themes told through a plot that keeps you guessing, all combined under top-tier filmmaking technique. So what to do with this information? Do not overreact and go enjoy a good, ORIGINAL, large film!

(NOT A JOKE! BE EXCITED!)

Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic) plays Bob Ferguson, a revolutionary-turned-mediocre-dad. A man who, at the start of the film, is so gung-ho about the thrill of being said revolutionary. He is in a relationship with Teyana Hills’ Perfidia Beverly Hills, both punch-drunk in love as they help organize a raid to free immigrants in a California detention center. Regina Hall plays Deandra, another revolutionary in this group. As the tense escape plan goes underway, Perfidia goes face-to-face with Sean Penn’s Steven J. Lockjaw. Perfidia gets pregnant with daughter Willa before situations become more complicated and the French 75 must disband in order to save their own lives. Flash forward 16 years and Lockjaw is still on the hunt for revenge.

Part of the fun of the film is discovering each beat as they happen one after another. Scenes that could have been miniscule get stretched out so well because of the performances of each actor. Every actor is objectively brilliant in their roles. DiCaprio brings a paranoia and particular mediocrity to Bob that is acutely funny because he has the loudest mouth of anyone. He highlights that white men, even “revolutionary” (liberal) men, fumble along in their mediocrity. On the flip side, other characters like Perfidia, Willa, Deandra, and Benicio del Toro’s Sensei Sergio all have to fight tooth and nail every livable moment and yet they are still the ones in danger. Then you have Sean Penn, who reminds us what made his acting so popular decades ago. A tragic character so intensely bogged down by his own self-hatred it eventually leads him down a path of pure anger. He could so easily chew up these scenes, but he does not, and the movie is better for it.

Again, every department is doing excellent work here. Noting Michael Bauman’s cinematography, Colleen Atwood’s costume design, and Florencia Martin’s production design. These are key elements that give the world-building sense that Anderson is going for, and they all hit home runs that deserve special recognition. Three instant classic elements come to mind:

Costume design – Bob’s robe and sunglasses
Cinematography – The road chase scene and the feeling of being on a roller coaster.
Production design – The entire Sensei sequence before Bob starts jumping from roof to roof.

The heart of the film is between the relationship between Bob and Willa. Chance Infiniti literally has to go toe-to-toe with iconic American actors and delivers her performance even better than them at times. If this relationship does not work, the film falls flat. The film ends with a reminder that as much as we want to change things, we have to be our own best selves. How can we change the world if we ourselves are not changed? In the wrong hands, too heavy-handed. Luckily this film is in the good hands of every single person that was a part of making this, dare I say, masterpiece, come to life. Thank you, Senseis!