Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is a savage, sweeping black comedy that balances absurd humour with searing social critique. Adapted from Vineland, a 1990 bestselling novel by Thomas Pynchon, the film functions as both satire and elegy, by dissecting America’s unravelling while staring unflinchingly at what comes next.
The story follows Bob Ferguson – played with unhinged brilliance by Leonardo DiCaprio – a washed-up former revolutionary who is pulled back into conflict when his daughter, Willa (newcomer Chase Infiniti, simply electrifying), is kidnapped by his old enemy and love rival, Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn). To rescue her, Bob must gather all the help he can from his scattered former comrades, including the devoted Deandra (Regina Hall), one of a few revolutionaries from the old days still fighting the good fight. Meanwhile, he also finds help in the form of resourceful martial arts teacher Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio del Toro).
The result is a film that moves fearlessly between tones, allowing its narrative to reach ludicrous comedic heights without ever losing its revolutionary soul. It is a satire, a tragedy and a fever dream of absurdity. At its core lies the clash between those driven by arrogance, power, and racism—and those who refuse to bow to inequality and servitude. Anderson lets the story breathe, expanding to near-apocalyptic scales before snapping back into intimacy.
The performances are uniformly electric. DiCaprio proves once again that comedy is as natural to him as drama, staggering through a cloud of weed in his dressing gown like an absurdist echo of Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Penn is equally sublime, embodying a villain so casually cruel that he becomes chillingly believable. Chase Infiniti as Willa gives the story its beating heart with a truly breath-taking performance. Elsewhere, Teyana Taylor shines as Perfidia Beverly Hills, Willa’s mother.
Anderson laces the film with references that deepen its political edge. Just as Ali La Pointe slipped through the Kasbah in Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers, Bob finds himself navigating a dense, winding network of passageways in a desperate bid for escape. The imagery is unmistakably revolutionary, tying Anderson’s vision to a cinematic lineage of resistance and revolt. There are more references to Pontecorvo’s film in Jonny Greenwood’s beautifully crafted soundtrack.
Visually, the film is stunning. It feels both epic and tactile, monumental and raw. The texture of the imagery, combined with bold staging and immersive sound design, creates a sense of epicness without ever falling into the predictable. Anderson has made his most ambitious film yet, one that feels like the culmination of decades of craft, patience, and restless imagination.
One Battle After Another is cinema at its purest—uncompromising, exhilarating, and alive. Here Paul Thomas Anderson has given us a masterpiece that doesn’t just entertain but rattles the bones.
