One Battle After Another

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (15)

D: Paul Thomas Anderson

Warner Bros / Ghoulardi Film Company (Adam Somner, Sara Murphy & Paul Thomas Anderson)

US 🇺🇸 2025

162 mins

Action/Thriller/Comedy

W: Paul Thomas Anderson [based on the novel ‘Vineland’ by Thomas Pynchon]

DP: Michael Bauman

Ed: Andy Jurgensen

Mus: Jonny Greenwood

Leonardo DiCaprio (Bob Ferguson / Ghetto’ Pat Calhoun), Chase Infiniti (Willa Ferguson / Charlene Calhoun), Sean Penn (Col. Steven J. Lockjaw), Benicio del Toro (Sergio St. Carlos), Teyana Taylor (Perfidia Beverly Hills), Regina Hall (Deandra / Lady Champagne)

*SPOILERS*

One Battle After Another could possibly be the most polarising film of 2025, with many people who saw it considering it an absolute masterpiece of cinema, fully deserving of its Best Picture Oscar, whilst I’ve also seen and heard opinions that call the film little more than a pro-Antifa, politically left wing agitprop.  Personally, I think it’s somewhere between the two, as I really enjoyed the style of the film, even if I wasn’t a huge lover of the story.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Vineland” opens with a group of militant far-left revolutionaries, called the ‘French 75’ targeting an immigration centre, attracting the attention of an army colonel with white supremacist sympathies.

One of the French 75 members, Perfidia Beverly Hills becomes pregnant, but continues the group’s activities after giving birth. During a bank robbery, she murders a security guard and is subsequently arrested, but she is spared jail-time by ratting on the identities and whereabouts of other members, before fleeing to Mexico herself to never be seen again.

Personally, I think the opening 45 minutes of the film is a disservice to what follows, as it sets the protagonist characters up to be quite unlikeable, especially in the case of Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), who is equally as repugnant as the film’s villain, Col. Steven J. Lockjaw who would practically be a cartoon character were it not for the brilliance of Sean Penn’s completely over-the-top performance.  Nevertheless, the opening act does provide some necessary backstory before the cat-and-mouse element of the thriller begins, 16 years after the opening gambit.

Now living off-the-grid with a different identity, Perfidia’s daughter, now named Willa Ferguson lives with her permanently stoned, paranoid father, Bob Ferguson, when she becomes the target of Lockjaw’s obsession, pulling Bob back into the life he  once left, with some comedic, thrilling and adventurous results, culminating in one of cinema’s most gripping car chases.

For me, the story only became interesting from the second half onwards, and due to it being partially a satire, all of the main characters, bar Willa, are portrayed quite over-the-top, although all the performances here are strong.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro & Teyana Taylor all received Oscar nominations, but the performance that really deserved recognition is that of Chase Infitini, who delivers an excellent debut. I’d also say that Regina King, in a much smaller role, is a better performance than Teyana Taylor’s, although that’s perhaps because I found Taylor’s character so repugnant.

The film could have made a sensible point that extremism on both sides of the political divide are equally terrible, but liberal Hollywood doesn’t even try to hide its politics, and goes in a different direction for the finale, which sets up Willa to continue the same path as her mother, although it could be said that her ordeal suffered as the hands of Lockjaw set her on that path.

It is brilliantly put together, with great direction, music, sound design, cinematography, performances and editing that makes it feel much shorter than a 162-minute movie, and while I’m glad Paul Thomas Anderson has won himself some Oscars, I really don’t think it should have been for this film.

8/10