One Battle After Another

(dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

By: Adam Freed

What must it mean to love a country so much that the pursuit of its ideal form becomes worth the alienation of broad swaths of its inhabitants? The issue that contemporary America, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s incendiary One Battle After Another faces, is whose version of the American ideal is right?  Anderson, arguably the nation’s greatest living director, explores the ongoing culture war, pitting a renegade antifascist organization against the steel fist of the military industrial complex in an epic and propulsive film that instantly leads the conversation as the year’s frontrunner for Best Picture. Given its massive scope and legendary performers, One Battle After Another, isn’t just another great film from the legendary auteur, but is the most resonant and accomplished Anderson film since There Will Be Blood (2007). The laudability of his latest work takes nothing away from Anderson‘s divinely crafted and emotionally layered Phantom Thread (2017).  As if to actively cement his unimpeachable directorial status, P.T.A strays from his contemplative stories of complex men and instead helms a propulsive revolutionary anthem that is both thematically rich and philosophically poignant.   

As rewarding as the methodically revealed character studies of Daniel Plainview and Lancaster Dodd have been, One Battle After Another dispenses with patience in favor of a character study far more apt to the current anxiety laden time, and a performer perfectly suited to encapsulate its portrayal.  Leonardo DiCaprio instills in leftist explosives expert Bob Ferguson the drumbeat of a warrior, slowed by time as if the evolution of his life and family have dulled the keen edges of his spirit.  Make no mistake, there is far more to Ferguson than his nondescript shell may betray, and DiCaprio masterfully imbues his portrayal with a humor and underlying remorse befitting the actor’s genius.  One Battle After Another sinks its teeth into audiences early as Ferguson falls in league with a radicalized leftist organization who call themselves “The French 75” a team fronted by Perdifa, an aggressive and impactful leader, hellbent on crippling governmental attempts at dehumanization by way of immigration control.  It becomes clear early that Perdifa, played with a mesmerizing ferociousness by Teyana Taylor (A Thousand and One, Straw), and Bob are kindred spirits, sharing one revolutionary heartbeat.  Their relationship, fueled by a shared sexual appetite and revolutionary rage, sizzles unlike anything captured by Paul Thomas Anderson to date.  The powerful couple and The French 75 are forced to evolve as immigration policy ratchets up, tightening its gloved grip on the throat of America’s Southern border.  

Spearheading the governmental mission to eradicate migrant influence is Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw, an aptly named career officer whose cruelty towards those he seeks to control is only outweighed by intensity of his secret predilections.  Performed with career-defining intensity and savagery by Sean Penn (Milk, Mystic River),  Lockjaw becomes the outsized face of military oppression, due to Penn’s Oscar-worthy portrayal of the memorable antagonist.  If One Battle After Another is to be thrown into the modern whirlwind of contemporary politics, it is surely Lockjaw that will spark the most feverish discontent from conservative voices. Although Paul Thomas Anderson is certainly above owing explanation to his audience, the director is likely to stand behind the messaging of his film, regardless of any predictable pushback it may receive.  

With a runtime north of 160 minutes, One Battle After Another never attempts to deny Anderson’s intention of creating an epic story that spans a little more than 16 years.  P.T.A. enthusiasts can rest assured that despite the many evolutionary demarcations present in his latest film, One Battle After Another is rich with evidence that it belongs to the mind and heart of its creator.  The film is ripe with an impactfully off-kilter score by Jonny Greenwood (There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread) and a plethora of well-timed needle drops.  Add to this, Anderson’s divine knack for visual storytelling and what results is a level of difficulty unattempted by the filmmaker in nearly two decades.  Few visual storytellers are blessed with P.T.A’s unique ability to create a complex, evolving and detailed physical world on screen that never once leaves the audience to question where they sit in relation to any of the action taking place.  This is a hidden genius that not many directors possess, as if it were blessed upon Anderson at birth.

Like much of Anderson’s work, One Battle After Another is an ensemble piece boasting a murder’s row of magnificent performances. Building upon the aptitude of DiCaprio, Taylor and the evergreen Sean Penn, are Regina Hall (Girls Trip), and Benicio Del Toro (Sicario, The Usual Suspects).  Although his latest is likely to be viewed as a departure for Paul Thomas Anderson because the director hasn’t made a film as action heavy as this, there is so much of his style and sensibility behind the story that is distinctly recognizable.  One Battle After Another finds the precise intersection of propulsion and craft. Through his bullet, bomb and bone-crunching epic, Anderson solidifies his status as America’s greatest living director as he challenges the nation to stare deep into the mirror and witness the price of its evolution.

Target Score 10/10 Paul Thomas Anderson has set an incredibly high bar for the remainder of the 2025 film slate as his propulsive epic, One Battle After Another offers a timely story that calls into question the very nature of American existence.