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Review: ‘One Battle After Another’ is a Timely Tale of Good Versus Evil, Set Against the Divisive Political Backdrop of Modern-Day America
September 25, 2025Ben MK
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With films like Boogie Nights, Punch Drunk Love and Phantom Thread under his belt, Paul Thomas Anderson is one of Hollywood's most acclaimed auteurs. Whether it's a tale of a charismatic cult leader, a 1970s-set crime drama, or a coming-of-age comedy, Anderson's movies have always stood on their own as unique cinematic masterpieces, irrespective of box office trends and audiences' changing tastes. It's a testament to the 55-year-old filmmaker's vision that his films have withstood the test of time, even as the industry itself has struggled. And with One Battle After Another, Anderson is proving that his best work is still ahead of him, in this politically charged thriller about a former resistance fighter, his teenage daughter, and the U.S. Colonel who wants them both dead. The time period is the late 2000's, and "Ghetto" Pat (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the go-to explosives expert for a resistance group calling themselves the French 75. Along with his girlfriend, fellow French 75 member Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), Pat and this small group of freedom fighters have been waging war against the unfair and unconstitutional policies of the American federal government, targeting everything from the headquarters of politicians to immigration detention centers situated along the U.S.-Mexico border. However, when their latest mission to free a group of Mexican detainees from a U.S.-run facility gains them a new enemy in the form of Captain Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), it marks the beginning of the French 75's downfall. Hellbent on tracking down Pat and his cohorts, Lockjaw waits until Perfidia commits a fatal mistake during one of the group's heists, then threatens her with a lengthy prison sentence to get her to squeal on her colleagues. But while Lockjaw's plan mostly works, allowing him to kill or capture most of the French 75's roster of loyal soldiers, two important targets manage to escape — Pat and Charlene, Perfidia and Pat's newborn daughter. Fast forward 16 years to the present day, and Pat and Charlene have been living under new identities in a small town not far from the border. As Bob Ferguson, Pat spends most of his time smoking weed and drinking, while Charlene, now known as Willa (newcomer Chase Infiniti), spends most of her time wondering whether her father managed to get home safe from the local bar. But although the pair have managed to enjoy a decade and a half of peaceful life together, with Willa even taking martial arts lessons from an instructor named Sensei Sergio (Benicio del Toro), their quiet home is about to be descended upon by a small army of heavily armed U.S. law enforcement officials, all of whom answer to the direct orders of the one man Bob hoped never to see again. Now promoted to Colonel, Lockjaw has only recently renewed his interest in Bob and Willa, after squeezing some vital information out of one of the French 75's key members. But will Lockjaw get to this father-daughter duo before Bob's old colleagues can help rescue them from his ruthless clutches? Based on Thomas Pynchon's cult-classic 1990 novel, Vineland, what follows is an edge-of-your-seat journey down the twisty-turny roads of good versus evil, as DiCaprio delivers what should deservedly go down as the best performance of his career, playing a father desperate to save his daughter from a vengeful enemy completely lacking in empathy and remorse. Yet, among all of One Battle After Another's impressive cast of actors, it's actually Infiniti who ought to make the biggest impression with viewers, playing an innocent young woman caught in the middle of a bloody and long-running vendetta, and doing so in such a way that she's able to more than hold her own against both DiCaprio and Penn in every single scene they share together. Throw in a subplot involving a neo-Nazi group called the Christmas Adventurers, and you have the makings of a movie that's both intricately dense and deceptively simple. That said, while One Battle After Another is unquestionably one of Anderson's more serious films, it's also one of his most satirical. Make no mistake, there's much to unpack here, more than can be done in the span of a few paragraphs. But if you're expecting another PTA classic along the lines of Inherent Vice, you won't be disappointed. One Battle After Another releases September 26th, 2025 from Warner Bros. Pictures. The film has an MPAA rating of R for pervasive language, violence, sexual content, and drug use. Its runtime is 2 hrs. 41 min. |
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