ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (2025)

Genre: Drama/Thriller
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infinit
Runtime: 2 hrs 42 mins
Rating: M18 (Coarse Language)
Released By: Warner Bros 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 25 September 2025

Synopsis: From Warner Bros. Pictures comes One Battle After Another, written, directed and produced by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Academy Award and BAFTA winners Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro, and Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti. Washed-up revolutionary Bob (DiCaprio) exists in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited, self-reliant daughter, Willa (Infiniti). When his evil nemesis (Penn) resurfaces after 16 years and she goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her, father and daughter both battling the consequences of his past.

Movie Review:

Paul Thomas Anderson has always been a director of fascinating contradictions. Across his wide body of work, he has given us the sprawl of Magnolia, the precision of There Will Be Blood, and the hazy dreamscape of Inherent Vice. For this writer, though, his most treasured film remains Punch-Drunk Love (2002), precisely for its oddball quirkiness and the way it found tenderness within chaos. That film felt like a reminder that Anderson, despite his reputation for high art, has always had an eye for the human heart. With his latest, he reaffirms this balance—delivering a film that is both grand and surprisingly accessible.

Of course, when Anderson sets his sights on something ambitious, he does not shy away from scale, and here he’s paired with Leonardo DiCaprio, an actor who continues to stretch himself in fascinating directions. DiCaprio has long since transcended the “leading man” mould, and in recent years he has become a master of portraying deeply flawed but compelling figures. In this movie that is also likely to be an Oscar bait, he takes on yet another layered role—an everyman turned reluctant combatant who finds himself swept up in conflicts both literal and personal. Watching him navigate Anderson’s world feels like witnessing a partnership that was overdue; the director’s precision and the actor’s intensity dovetail beautifully.

What makes the movie stand out is its accessibility. Anderson has a history of challenging his audiences with films like The Master (2012) and Inherent Vice (2014), works that divided viewers with their density and deliberate opacity. Those films had their admirers, but they were not easy entry points for the casual moviegoer. This new work, however, feels different. Its central themes—struggle, resilience, and the cost of conflict—are communicated in a way that is direct without being simplistic. The film invites viewers in rather than daring them to keep up, making it one of Anderson’s more approachable efforts in years.

The runtime, at 162 minutes, might raise eyebrows at first. It is no small commitment. Yet One Battle After Another earns every one of its minutes. Anderson structures the film in movements, with each “battle” functioning as both spectacle and metaphor. These sequences are not merely action for action’s sake; they serve to chart the inner terrain of DiCaprio’s character, marking his evolution from a man adrift to someone confronted with meaning, purpose, and sacrifice. The pacing is deliberate but never stagnant—Anderson understands rhythm, and he gives the audience space to breathe between the intensity. By the end, those two hours and forty minutes feel less like a test of endurance and more like the natural scope required to tell this story properly.

In short, the movie represents Anderson at his most generous: narratively clear, emotionally resonant, and anchored by a DiCaprio performance that is as riveting as it is human. It’s not the quirky gem that Punch-Drunk Love was, but it shares that film’s heart, marrying Anderson’s artistry with accessibility. For longtime fans and newcomers alike, it’s proof that even after decades of work, Anderson still finds ways to surprise us—one battle, and one triumph, after another.

Movie Rating:

(Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio join forces for an emotional saga that's surprisingly accessible and entertaining)

Review by John Li