PREMISE
When his evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, an ex-revolutionary goes into action to rescue his kidnapped daughter.
THE GOOD STUFF
PERFORMANCES- When it comes to Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance in this movie, it is entirely overstating things to say that this is a top 10 performance of his. His bag is very deep, and it says a lot about him as an artist that this performance might crack the top 10. That being said, this is also one of the best performances of 2025, and an Oscar nomination for sure. Additionally, Sean Penn is a virtual lock for an Oscar nomination in this film. His character, Steven Lockjaw, is one of the most despicable villains in all of 2025, and Penn really leans into everything. He makes a lot of very bold physical choices with this character, and all of those choices are ingeniously executed.
Benicio del Toro plays the coolest character in the movie by far, and he does not disappoint in his comedic timing at all. Sensei Sergio is a character with so many cool things going on, that if they’re just so happened to be a sequel or a spin-off to this film, I would say it should be focused on him. Not exactly as automatic an Oscar nomination as Penn or DiCaprio’s, but certainly worthy of one. Chase Infiniti is the breakout star of 2025 and completely owns the third act of this film in a completely unexpected way. Her dynamic with DiCaprio is quite lovely, and without it, this film would not work at all. She really holds it down, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.
JOHNNY GREENWOOD- In my review of highest 2 lowest, I couldn’t help but point out how excellent the score of that film was and how it completely drowned out a lot of the dialogue in the movie, becoming a complete distraction. I can say the same thing here. That being said, there was a lot of praise for what Greenwood did with the There Will be blood soundtrack, and he equals the excellence of that with the score for this movie.
THE CAR CHASE- Is this one of the best car chase sequences of all time? Absolutely not. It is unique, well-executed, and perfectly suits the VistaVision format. It’s more like a thinking man’s car chase. A car chase that would come from a director like this, who’s never really done something like this before. The movie builds up to a crescendo of a climax, and this chase delivers on that crescendo.
THE BAD STUFF
PERIFIDA BEVERLY HILLS- After seeing this movie and reminiscing on it for a couple of days, it’s evident that THE central character of this film is that of Perifida Beverly Hills. However, the problem with that is that she is also the character with the LEAST amount of detail. That is not because of Teyana Taylor’s performance. Far, from it. She’s fine in this performance (in more ways than one). It is this character (the central character of the movie) that suffers most from the 16-year time jump that goes on here. This is the character who is the leader of the French 75, the character whose actions directly influence the story arcs of the DiCaprio and Sean Penn characters, we needed this movie to tell us a lot more about this character to justify a lot of her motives instead of leaving it up to the audiences interpretation.
VistaVision 35mm– I’m not going to pretend that I’m super knowledgeable person about cameras, aspect ratios, or anything like that. But I gotta tell ya…this VistaVision thing is quite overblown. I live in Los Angeles, the Vista theater in Los Feliz has this movie in this format, and it sold out damn near all the shows for the week very quickly because this is one of four theaters in the f****** world that has this formatting. The Vista theater has no reserved seating, so you’re standing in a line while 80° of California sun beats upon your face. It’s an old-school theater, so the concession stand and bathrooms are small. I love the Vista Theater for many reasons, but it is not the place to see a highly anticipated movie in a rare format.
As for the presentation itself…. It’s cool, I guess. The more I hear these directors talk about 35mm as if it’s a superior format to 70mm film, the more it’s borderline lunacy. I understand that real camera geeks will want to see this, and they should. But if you’re not one of those people, then you’re not missing much.
THE UGLY STUFF
THE XMAS ADVENTURERS CLUB- I must rant about this. There are no spoilers here. Just a warning tho, I’m speaking entirely in code in reference to this, and you might not understand what I’m saying…
I don’t understand why the Xmas Adventures Club was needed in this movie. I don’t know what political statements this movie is trying to make by featuring them, but I can’t help but feel that their involvement is intended to convey some sort of social statement about the current state of the world. Believe me, I get that. However, this is a very big idea that feels underdeveloped compared to everything else in the movie, and the club itself is so demonic and evil that it should be treated as a final boss, not something we cut to just to transition into another scene. The motives for Sean Penn’s character in reference to this club are also extremely stupid. Their heavy involvement in the 3rd act really makes things sloppy as f***, and keeps this movie from being the classic that the film snobs say it is.
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Paul Thomas Anderson is one of those artists whose recency bias among his fanbase can be somewhat overwhelming on the internet when it comes to referencing his body of work. Every new thing that comes out has to be considered “one of the best movies of the last 15 years,” regardless of the genre. This very much happened with the licorice pizza hype, even though the snobs are going to deny it.
Funny thing is, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is legitimately one of the best three or four movies that HE has ever released. It is just as funny as it is thrilling, and as a director, he seems to be trying new things that he’s never tried before, and he’s excellent at those new things. I have to give credit where it is due… but not no more credit than that, folks.
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is in theaters now.