‘One Battle After Another’ Is a Film You Really Should Go See in a Theater
One battle after another made theaters on Friday. The 10th film by Paul Thomas Anderson, and the first that has been taking place nowadays since Punch Drunk Love (which was released in 2002), is a film of a film. It is an unpredictable roller coaster stroll that addresses a difficult subject, but it is not a pill that is difficult to swallow. If you ask me (and you read this, so you are), it’s probably my favorite film of the year.
If it was me, you would see a battle after another on the largest possible screen. There are no superheroes who are fighting to save the world here, and this film is not filled with action sequences infused by CGI. Thanks to the film formats in which he was released, including Vistovision and 70 mm IMAX, it is a beautiful thing to see. The characters, the story, the rhythm and the tone synchronize perfectly to make it a unique cinematographic experience which is well worth the price of admission.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays the role of Bob Ferguson, a revolutionary revolutionary and former member of the gang known under the name of French 75. He abandons explosives for diapers once his girlfriend and his revolutionary compatriot Perfedia (Teyana Taylor) give birth. And when she decides to continue her crime life, Bob and her daughter Charlene take place and live under the radar. And there, they stay until the past returns to haunt them – launching his father and daughter on an irregular and erratic race for survival.
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Bob Ferguson by Leonardo DiCaprio goes to flight with his young daughter.
A decade and a half after leaving the 75 French, Bob let himself go. The weeds and terrible decisions have put her teenage daughter, who now bears the name of Willa (played by Chase Infiniti in her beginnings on the big screen), in the role of caregiver. Bob is strict where he must be and formed it for certain emergency situations – even if she really does not know her past or the truth about her distant mother.
Bob demons kept in the short surface in the form of an agent of the Application and Adventie Application Appointed Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn). When he and his team arrive at Bob’s door, the action really starts and forces Bob in the biggest fight in his life.
One battle after another looks like a living and breathable thing. The gross unpredictability of the film permeates him, which is not a new aesthetic for Anderson. But this version looks like a personal achievement. When you consider that it has been developing it for more than two decades, this is perfectly logical.
Teyana Taylor plays the role of perfidia in one battle after another.
Cinematically speaking, a battle after the others has this timeless atmosphere in that it looks very much like a product of 2025, but thanks to the equipment of the Vistovision camera – a 35 mm width film format which has been out of retirement – there is a Hitchcockie quality in many sequences. All this clicks, given the fact that the classic Hitchcock Vertigo thriller was turned on the format.
The work of the camera of Michael Bauman and the disturbing partition of Jonny Greenwood are vital components for the journey that Anderson makes you here. In fact, just like the cast, cinematography and music appear as important characters in history.
Then there is the cast, which works at the highest level.
DiCaprio is superb like Bob. He is a waste, physically and emotionally, and barrels through each obstacle and challenge that is launched with an incredulous bravado that convinced me, as a dad, that if I was put in a similar situation, I would do everything in the same way. As a Bob, DiCaprio carries all the emotions on his sleeve and teters between sorrow and Slapstick comedy while he strives to do everything he can to protect his daughter.
Chase Infiniti plays the role of Willa in his first role as a film.
I said it above, and it is repeated: it is the first role of film of Chase Infiniti. She nails him. Willa is voluntary, available emotionally and commands the screen. Infiniti chemistry with DiCaprio is ardent and magnetic. If she was not the actor hired to play Willa, I wonder how strong her performance would have been.
Speaking of strong female characters, one battle after another is stacked with great women. Teyana Taylor is a force to count with As Perfedia. She has the film at all times that she is on the screen. And when it is not, its impact on history is always present. Regina Hall, who is the most recognizable for her comedy work, offers part of her best (and completely heartbreaking) work like Deandra.
The actors are Benicio Del Toro and Sean Penn, who both play memorable characters that, if the camera spun and only followed their stories, I would not have protested a little. As Sensei Sergio St. Carlos, Del Toro shines in a performance that feels effortless and super fun. It is a source of comic zen for Bob, and a light that guides calm for immigrant families that it helps to house and transport.
Penn lockjaw exists on the other side of the spectrum. This character is extreme, sometimes pure and simple laughable, which only makes the danger that he represents more and more real. Everything, from Lockjaw’s promenade in the exasperated way in which Penn gives life to the awkward officer is both hysterical and scary.
Sean Penn embodies Lockjaw in one battle after another.
Looking at the film, there were several times that I have compared a part of the ridicule of this distant story to real life and I realized that this kind of thing is not so far. One battle after the other holds a mirror to society, and the reflection feels folded and distorted, as something you would see in a carnival funhouse.
This is what makes the film terrifying; This is what makes him great.
Things go in bad places in this film; We cannot deny this. But none of the things that takes place here, from domestic terrorism to immigrant families separated, is represented in a heavy way.
Anderson does not tell you to think or feel a certain way about everything that is happening. It simply shows it as it happens, in the middle of a wave of chaotic car pursuit scenes and comic madness.
Fueled by family, love, resistance and community themes and immersed in a damaged world that has the impression that it has plummeting its axis, a battle after another is a film for the moment – this moment – And I have no doubt that it will stay with me for a while.
