One Battle After Another Review

One Battle After Another is Paul Thomas Anderson’s second adaptation of a Thomas Pynchon novel. This time, Anderson makes a revolutionary story in contemporary America.

The French 75 is a revolutionary group in California. They lead breaks at immigration centres, rob banks, and bomb political offices. They are also the target of Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), a ruthless military officer. When one member of the French 75 betrays the group, they are forced to go on the run, including “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his young daughter and assume new identities as the Fergusons.

Paul Thomas Anderson hardly needs an introduction. His filmography includes revered classics such as Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and There Will Be Blood, and his films are often regarded as award contenders. One Battle After Another is no exception since it has earned a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics like Linda Marric, Peter Bradshaw, and Robbie Collin gave the film a perfect score. The audience reaction has been equally positive, as evident by the scores and user reviews on IMDB and Letterboxd.

Anderson had a similar approach to Boon Jong-ho when making One Battle After Another, which was to make a politically driven film that’s highly entertaining. One Battle After Another entered production in 2023, but it ended up being a fitting film for Trump’s second presidency. The villain was essentially an ICE agent who went into towns to arrest immigrants. Lockjaw led a paramilitary police force into a Sanctuary City to arrest immigrants and disrupt protests. It was an accidental reflection of recent policies enacted by the Trump administration. The heroes were left-wing radicals aiming to take the fight against authoritarians. Benicio del Toro’s character, Sergio, described himself as a “Latino Harriet Truman” since he helped immigrants hide during Lockjaw’s raids. Willa’s (Chase Infiniti) character arc was accepting her radical heritage and turning her sense of justice into action.

Whilst One Battle After Another was a political film, the story had a personal element. Bob Ferguson wanted to find and protect his daughter, Willa was rebelling against her father’s strict rules, and Lockjaw was looking for his illegitimate daughter. There was a fusion of the personal and the political, as Lockjaw was obsessed with Perfidia (Teyana Taylor), Pat’s partner, and Willa could have been his daughter. Lockjaw wanted to join a secretive White Nationalist society, and having an illegitimate mixed-race child might affect his application.

Anderson went for a larger-than-life approach when making One Battle Another. One of the earliest images in the film was a heavily pregnant woman shooting a large machine gun. This over-the-top world was wide. There was a convent of nuns who made money growing weed, a secret network of immigrants who acted as a resistance, and the White Nationalists group were called the Christmas Adventurers Club, which reminded me of the Super Adventurers Club in South Park. There were crazy characters, and it was a genuinely funny film. Bob Ferguson was a burnout because of his drug use, and he got into hilarious arguments with a French 75 phone operator, and Sergio St. Carlos enjoyed the chaos and resisting the authorities. Trump era politics and policies were the primary target of the film, but overly progressive views didn’t leave the film unscathed, as shown with a member of the French 75 being overly sensitive and Bob making comments about Willa’s friends.

One Battle After Another was also a thrilling film. Anderson had a canvas for some big sequences, and it moved at a frantic pace. There were protests and riots, police raids, shootouts, and car chases. This gave One Battle After Another mainstream appeal compared to some of Anderson’s previous films.

The ensemble cast also had a major appeal for audiences, and Anderson has a reputation for getting great performances from his actors. It was hard to go wrong with a cast featuring DiCaprio, del Toro, and Penn, who played their roles excellently. Like his previous film, Anderson found a promising young actor in a major role in the form of Chase Infiniti. One Battle After Another was Infiniti’s first feature film role and her second major role overall. Infiniti was able to hold her own with her acclaimed cast members, and she’s someone to watch out for.

One Another After Another was an ambitious and entertaining film that was an outlandish satire and genuinely thrilling. It’s an early awards contender.