One Battle After Another Is One of 2025's Best Films
Even before One Battle After Another saw it, there were whispers that this was not only the best movie of the year, but easily the best movie of the decade thus far. Critics have put the film at the very top of their all-time favorite Paul Thomas Anderson films, eclipsing gems like Magnolia and There Will Be Blood. Now that I’ve seen the movie twice, I’m ready to declare that One Battle After Another is stunning, poignant, timely, and momentous. Whoever determined that Paul Thomas Anderson should be given whatever resources he needed to make a movie he’s been developing for the past twenty years— that was a great idea.
One Battle After Another begins with a lengthy prologue introducing audiences to revolutionary Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) and her group of revolutionaries, the French 75. They’re an activist group that uses violence to get their point across, freeing detained refugees and bombing political leaders due to their policies. Their demolitions expert Pat (Leonardo DiCaprio) has entered an intense relationship with Perfidia, but he’s not the only man she’s involved with. Perfidia believes that anything is worth doing as long as it continues her mission, so when Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn) coerces her into a relationship built on power games, she obliges. Even when Perfidia becomes pregnant, her mission is what fulfills her, nothing else.
Fast forward sixteen years, after having received new names to cover their identities, her child Willa (Chase Infiniti) and Bob (DiCaprio) are laying low in the sanctuary city of Baktan Cross. Willa has made a group of friends, is a well-rounded student, and takes martial arts from sensei Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio Del Toro). Bob has become a paranoid drug addict, not sure if the police or Perfidia are going to come through his door at any time.
They might’ve been able to continue their make-believe life if not for the ambitions of Lockjaw. Having been awarded medals of honor for detaining and killing members of the French ‘75, Lockjaw has been invited to join the Christmas Adventurers Club, a secret society of white supremacists. These guys actually shout “Hail, St. Nick” when they greet each other. One of the conditions for joining the club is that members must not have had previous interracial relationships, so Lockjaw is eager to find the child who might be his.
More than anything, One Battle After Another is a movie about resistance. During those earlier moments when Perfidia and Pat are putting plans in motion, Pat’s voice-over explains that their mission is never over; even if one domino falls, there will always be another one to take its place. They will never feel safe, and that’s the pledge they’ve taken to stand up for one they believe in. It’s also a movie about fatherhood and what it means to be a father. In 2013’s Like Father, Like Son, the argument is made for nature vs nurture in parenthood. I thought about that movie quite a bit during One Battle After Another as DiCaprio’s character desperately searches for his daughter to save her, while Penn looks for her to erase her from history.
Other movies came to my mind during this as well, like Altman’s Nashville, Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, Ford’s The Searchers, and many more. Nashville, due to the large sprawling cast, North by Northwest, as DiCaprio plays this unlikely hero thrust into a situation outside of his capacity, and The Searchers, as DiCaprio desperately seeks his daughter. But even with those influences, One Battle After Another is definitely its own masterpiece.
That sprawling cast I just mentioned? Terrific. Even during his brief appearance in the movie, Del Toro is fantastic in every scene he’s in. PTA, being the filmmaker that he is, doesn’t explain too much about St. Carlos, but there’s a novel's worth of inferences to make about the character. DiCaprio and Taylor are great, Sean Penn has the showiest performance, and it would surprise me if he wasn’t high on critics’ list for Best Supporting performance. But the heart of the film comes from Chase Infiniti. It’s her journey from a teenager who believes her dad is full of shit to being thrust into a situation beyond her comprehension that drives One Battle After Another. Speaking about driving, there’s an epic car chase sequence in the finale that takes place in Borrego Springs. It’s absolutely going to go in the pantheon of great car chases.
I could’ve waxed about One Battle After Another for a lot longer. There’s so much to unpack in this film. Certainly, the themes of resistance and fatherhood ring loudest, but there’s a lot more to discuss as well. I’d encourage readers of It’s the Pictures to see the movie and then engage with the many, MANY, conversations about the movie online. I didn’t even get to talk about the excellent score from PTA’s frequent collaborator Jonny Greenwood that keeps the tensions rolling throughout the 2 and half hour epic. In the end, PTA reminds us that resistance will always be important, and as credits roll with Tom Petty’s American Girl blaring through the speakers, it reminds us who we are. [A]
One Battle After Another is currently playing in theaters.
Film Formats
One Battle After Another is available in a lot of different film formats, similar to the release of Sinners earlier this year. I’ve now seen the movie in Vistavision and Dolby, but there are plenty of unique ways to see Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest. Below this nifty graphic, where you can mark what formats you’ve seen the movie in, there’s a featurette about Vistavision. Below that, I’ve reshared the Aspect Ratios video Director Ryan Coogler did during Sinners’ release. It’s fun to see how they all differenciate.
Here are the movies I caught up with in September:
As always, if you’d like to follow along on Letterboxd, my account can be found here.
Podcast
🎙️Episode 204 on the filmography of Paul Thomas Anderson is live. Evan Crean and I discuss his work from his directorial debut, Hard Eight, all the way up to One Battle After Another.