Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is not only a particularly timely movie, but it also reminds us of the amount of creativity an author holds within themselves and the scale of spectacle they can reach when said creativity is given free rein to be expressed.
Written by Kenza Bouhnass Parra
Paul Thomas Anderson’s newest, One Battle After Another, is opening this weekend, and the wait for one of the most anticipated films of the year and the event of this season has been more than worth it. Rioting and riotous, it is a spectacle of a film, a hell of an incredible ride—pun absolutely intended.
The French 75 is a revolutionary group operating in a fictional authoritarian United States advocating for no governance over bodies, implying, amongst others, open borders and pro-choice policies. The group dismantles after a member is caught, members disappearing into false identities and coded messages, but is forced to assemble again after a past enemy comes back to chase the daughter of one of those members.
One Battle After Another opens on a masterful sequence, a tightly paced introduction to The French 75’s operations scored to the Gods. Teyana Taylor, as the fiery Perfidia Beverly Hills, owns every second of her presence on screen, perfectly blending charisma and elusiveness. Paul Thomas Anderson crafts a perfect entry into his vision, rocked by high tension, humour, and tenderness. The tone shifts, but the film never loses its core. Whether it is focusing on a father-daughter relation, humouring the absurdity of the system they find themselves in, or studying the political unrest and black women’s condition in society, a harmony keeps it rooted in its essence, and the public on the edge of its seat.
The visuals perfectly translate the insanity of the situation the characters find themselves in, going from close-up to aerial shots, stable camera to feeling like we are being chased alongside them, minimal lighting and raw grain to polished imageries with the sunset hitting in just the right place. One particular sequence where the camera rides along a wave, creating an ocean of a road and sharks out of cars, transcended anything we’ve previously seen. But it is the score that retains the attention, setting the tempo of One Battle After Another. Johny Greenwood composes epic melodies, at times pulsing, at times explosive, accompanying them with some all-timer needle drops.
While Sean Penn, whose Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw feels at times a bit contrived, gives a phenomenal performance balancing out pity and comedy, Leonardo DiCaprio shines in the role of a desperate, loving weed dad, grounded by a simply perfect Benicio Del Toro. But it is the women of One Battler After Another who forge the soul of the film. With what could be considered too little screen time, Teyana Taylor manages to center the film’s universe on her Perfidia, haunting the characters and public’s every thought, whether she is on screen or not. Regina Hall holds depths of worlds behind her eyes, a much-needed serene energy obliterating any kind of storm. Chase Infiniti, finally, captivates from the moment she first graces the screen and turns in a star-making performance, measuring herself against legends, and sometimes even outshining them, in what is an absolute tour de force
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is not only a particularly timely movie, but it is a film, like Sinners (2025), released earlier this year, that reminds us of the amount of creativity an author holds within themselves and the scale of spectacle they can reach when said creativity is given free rein to be expressed. It is major in every way, with some sequences displaying a master of his craft at his unparalleled best.
Now showing in theatres. ¡Viva la revolución!
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