One Battle After Another (2025) | Film Review

Without giving too much away, One Battle After Another follows a group of revolutionaries who are forced to go underground after one of them turns. 16 years later, a military zealot named Colonel Lockjaw (Sean Penn) identifies where Leonardo DiCaprio and his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti, a true star-on-the-rise) have been hiding and sets in motion a series of events to try to retrieve them for reasons that would be too spoilery to wade into for the purposes of this review.

In terms of story, this is Paul Thomas Anderson’s most mainstream film probably to date. This is very linear and straightforward in many respects while also emulating a bit of Tarantino’s storytelling style, without the slick dialogue. In essence, One Battle After Another is a politically charged Taken but with a washed-up has-been version of Liam Neeson (DiCaprio’s Bob) in pursuit, a bumbling wannabe desperate to do anything to save his daughter.

The film is 2 hours and 42 minutes and it is a bit long in the tooth, though the pace does move at a good clip. As you do with most Paul Thomas Anderson movies, we have a great cast that compliments the stars, which are really DiCaprio and Infiniti.

Benicio Del Toro is, as always, the coolest cucumber around, gliding in-and-out of scenes with effortless charisma despite the world crashing down around him. Sean Penn as Colonel Lockjaw, our villain, is way over-the-top and often too cartoonish, but you never doubt Penn’s dedication to the part.

Lastly, while Chase Infiniti deserves as much praise as possible for holding her own with all of these titans, this movie belongs to Leonardo DiCaprio. Easily a top five actor of his generation, DiCaprio is constantly underestimated in the acting field yet never fails to deliver. He simply understands every character he plays and this is no exception.

Bob as a character used to be very informed and slick, but now after years of drinking and drugs his brain is fried. He can’t even remember standard protocols for his revolutionary group or even the basic tenets of how to avoid capture. Honestly, he’s turned into a bit of a moron. But throughout the film he remains dedicated, and we remain understanding of his plight and more importantly, sold on it. Dicaprio’s performance here is absolutely worth the price of a mission on its own.

Overall, One Battle After Another is a little long and does not really stick the landing – the ending falls off the rails in several different ways, especially in regard to convoluted happenstance – but it’s still best experienced in a movie theater. This might be the largest and most accessible film Paul Thomas Anderson ever does, and it is worth seeing on the largest screen possible.