10/10
If you’ve ever talked to me about movies, you should know one thing: I don’t give 10s. I hate even the idea of giving a movie a 10/10, of admitting there’s absolutely nothing I’d change. In fact, there are only five movies since 2015 that I’ve given the perfect score to. One Battle After Another makes that six.
One Battle After Another, the 10th feature film from auteur director Paul Thomas Anderson, isn’t just perfect. It’s era-defining. It’s the classic film cultural historians will use to contextualize this tumultuous half-decade of American politics. It is to the 2020’s what Casablanca was to World War II. What Dr. Strangelove was to the Cold War. It is a moment in film history.
One Battle After Another follows washed-up revolutionary Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he tries to recover his daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), from the grasps of Colonel Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn) and the oppressive U.S. Military. Underlining the interpersonal conflict are mass incarcerations of undocumented immigrants by militarized police, a government who uses military force to scare citizens into submission, and white supremacist groups who throw around racial slurs like rice at weddings—real fictional stuff, huh?
But that brings up a bigger point. One Battle After Another is a cultural marker—it proves Hollywood has caught up to the current administration’s political rhetoric, and that the film industry is pushing back. One Battle After Another will always be there to prove that America knew better.
This is a film that cannot be taken out of its historical context. Its rebel group, The French 75 (a direct reference to a moment in Casablanca), channels hippie terrorists of past decades. But when Sensei Sergio (Benicio Del Toro) leads an “underground railroad” protecting undocumented workers from immigration raids, or when Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) declares her organization at war with the United States government due to its descent into fascism, there’s no question of what the film’s talking about.
The film asks: When military fascism masquerades as lawfulness, what do people do in response? Do they engage in violence as defense? Do they live in fear or paranoia? And, what even should they be doing to resist, to remain free?
But, besides all the thematic, righteous jargon, One Battle After Another is just a really [insert expletive here] great movie.
PT Anderson has already established himself as America’s premier auteur filmmaker (and probably, at this point, one of the greatest American filmmakers ever), but One Battle After Another is the best he’s ever been. I mean, this is GOAT-level stuff.
It’s clear that this is the result of almost three decades of evolution. This is what it looks like when a director is completely sure of himself.
There isn’t a single bad shot in the entire film. And for a super stylistic filmmaker like Anderson, that shouldn’t be surprising at all. But this is a 2 hour 41 minute movie. That’s thousands and thousands of perfectly composed shots. The dialogue is riveting, natural, and rhythmic. Each character gets a distinct voice, both thematically and literally, and no conversation (or look for that matter) feels unnecessary. Anderson uses the flashy camera tricks he spent his early years abusing, but now, they feel perfectly subtle. They’re called for.
Even at an almost three hour runtime, One Battle After Another doesn’t ever drag. It doesn’t ever feel boring. It feels like an epic.
This is the PT Anderson movie. It’s the one that will (almost certainly) get him his first Academy Award (he has 0 wins in 11 nominations), the one he’ll be remembered for, the one that puts him into the Hall of Fame of directors.
And don’t you dare forget the performances.
DiCaprio is fantastic. He’s mostly a comedic lead so he doesn’t bear the weight of the film’s serious themes, but he’s genuinely funny, and when he needs to conjure up a tear or two, he does so more than believably. And he’s surrounded by one of cinema’s most dynamic supporting casts.
Teyana Taylor is punchy as fiery revolutionary Perfidia Beverly Hills. Regina Hall is subtle and soothing as Deandra, another ex-leader of the French 75. And Chase Infiniti is a breakout star. Her determination, drive, and internal struggle is displayed with such poise. She is burdened with most of the emotional weight surrounding the film’s themes about authoritarianism and racial conflicts, but she handles the role with such grace.
And then there’s Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro. Del Toro’s Sensei is your typical movie mentor times 100. He’s calm and grounded. A meditational revolutionary. Del Toro is impeccable as the “latino Harriet Tubman” (his words, not mine). His performance is so smooth, so suave, it just radiates monk-like serenity. Del Toro is the one to drop the film’s thematic statement: “You know what freedom is?” he says “No fear.”
But what about Sean Penn? Well, Sean Penn has created one of the most despicable villains in film history. This is Darth Vader or Joker or Hannibal Lector level stuff. Penn’s leathery Lockjaw makes you writhe in your seat. He’s all the worst kinds of people: a grifter, a bigot, an egotist, a manipulator, an abuser, and on and on. And did I mention he has one of the weirdest walks ever filmed?
For an actor who already has two Academy Award’s for Best Actor (which he won in 2009 for Milk and 2004 for Mystic River) and several iconic performances (I’m talking about you Spicoli), it’s almost unbelievable that he’s able to muster a career best. But doesn’t that seem to be a theme for One Battle After Another? Lockjaw will be synonymous with Penn for the rest of his career and probably grant him a third golden statue come March.
Now, this is the point in the article where you say something like: I know, I know, it’s supposed to be a good movie, but a three hour slug from an artsy director and a dramatic cast—it just sounds pretentious and inaccessible.
Which makes now the time I get to tell you that this is an action movie. It’s got car chases through rolling hills, parkour, skateboards, riots, and lots and lots of guns.
Like lots and lots of guns. Like soldiers with guns, and revolutionaries with guns, and kids with guns, and bounty hunters with guns, and karate teachers with guns, and weed-growing nuns with guns. And it’s genuinely unpredictable. Absolutely everyone’s got a gun, so you never know who’ll kill who.
So now, you’re probably saying something like: okay, okay, it’s not super inaccessible, but a three hour action movie feels too tense, too anxious, too serious.
Which makes now the time I get to tell you that this is a comedy. And that it’s fun.
Sure, it can be dry or satirical at times, but the vast majority of the film is built on laugh-out-loud comedic gags. There’s a running bit about Bob not remembering a revolutionary passcode and a secret society of white supremacists who hail to Santa Claus. It all flies. The only real anxiety inducer is Johnny Greenwood’s (of Radiohead fame) incredibly nervewracking—and completely singular—score.
So hopefully, now I’ve got you trapped. Now you have to get in your car, mark three hours off your calendar, round up a couple of friends, buy your $16 ticket and your $8 packet of Red Vines, and get on over to your theater of choice. (And please, do see it in the theater. This isn’t the movie to see on your iPhone 16 in seat 21-E on your way to Orlando.)
It’ll all be worth your while, though. One Battle After Another will be talked about next week, at the Oscars in March, and by your grandchildren in 2075. It’s just that good.
