Reel Review Roundup

One Battle After Another (MA)

Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Chase Infiniti

Review by: Julian Wright

When hardened military man Col. Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn) apprehends spicy revolutionary Perfidia (Teyana Taylor), who has caught his eye, she rats out her fellow French 45 mates and goes on the run, leaving behind her husband Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) and infant daughter Willa.

The father and daughter duo go into hiding.

Sixteen years later, Bob is a paranoid alcoholic and pot head, whose brain is fried from his substance abuse and teenage Willa (Chase Infiniti) is often forced to be the parent in the relationship.

But Lockjaw starts tracking them down, forcing them to go on the run with the help of surviving French 45 members.

What a ride.

One Battle After Another tells a full and timely story about ideals, and wonderfully realised characters taking politically charged action, with precision and confidence.

While the entire film is consistently highly entertaining, balancing a range of tones, it builds to an eye-popping climactic sequence that is a cinematic stand-out on its own.

Paul Thomas Anderson has assembled a stunning cast – Taylor is a force, DiCaprio is hilarious, Penn is solid and Infiniti is a standout.

There is a passion coming from One Battle After Another that has been missing from Anderson films recently – he seems to really relish telling this particular story.

This is sure to be featured on many “best of” lists at the end of the year.

This entry was posted on September 24, 2025 at 9:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.