Direction: Paul Thomas Anderson
Country: USA
It’s always a thrill when the virtuosic American helmer Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, 1999; There Will Be Blood, 2007; The Master, 2012) steps behind the camera. His latest work, One Battle After Another, is a provocative, incendiary epic action thriller that grips the viewer from the first frame to the last. Loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 postmodern novel Vineland, the film follows the turbulent path of Ghetto Pat (Leonardo DiCaprio), an ex-revolutionary, radical activist, and explosive device expert who is forced out of hiding after 16 years to protect his teenage daughter (newcomer Chase Infiniti) from a vile enemy, Colonel Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn).
Delivered with heart, precision, and unrelenting momentum, the film never loses its grip, keeping us on the edge of our seats. By portraying a relentless battle against fascism and white supremacists, the film comes as an unexpected breath of life, resonating intensely in a tense, fractured America.
Depicting chaos with both rigor and dark humor, the film channels a particular strain of madness that feels all too familiar in our times. It also marks a landmark first collaboration between Anderson and DiCaprio, who inhabits his role with startling freedom, intensity, and conviction. Penn, meanwhile, delivers one of his most venomous turns in years—an embodiment of egotism, malice, and hatred.
With the cast in peak form, a notable score by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, and Anderson’s masterful writing and direction, the two hours and forty minutes of One Battle After Another fly by. It’s a breathtaking achievement—visceral, intelligent, and electrifying cinema at its finest.
