PTA's One Battle After Another tests boundaries in a politically charged action thriller

Paul Thomas Anderson’s newest film, One Battle After Another, arrives as a provocative blend of action thriller and political satire led by Leonardo DiCaprio, with Sean Penn and Teyana Taylor in key roles. Released by Warner Bros. Pictures, the project is described as a wild, kinetic ride that extends PTA’s range into more overtly adrenalized storytelling. The film draws its gaze from Thomas Pynchon’s Reagan-era novel Vineland and was shot in 2024, with a release set for theaters in 2025. Critics have framed it as a high-wire experiment in tone and genre, built to provoke as much as entertain.

The story centers on The French 75, a Weather Underground–style collective who see themselves as revolutionaries in a moment of perceived authoritarianism. They carry out audacious actions—busting migrants from detention centers and targeting courthouses and lawmakers who backed abortion bans—an arc that positions the group as a modern-day insurgent force. At the core of the narrative are Bob Ferguson, an explosives maker played by DiCaprio, and Perfidia, his ally and lover, portrayed with ferocity by Teyana Taylor. Perfidia’s commitment to the cause collides with her role as a mother, a tension that threads through the film’s emotional center.

Sixteen years after a botched bank robbery fractures the group, the former revolutionaries are still pursued by Col. Steven Lockjaw, a racist and volatile figure who leads a detention-center operation tied to the government’s broader hardline stance. Penn’s Lockjaw is written as a villain who also carries a surprisingly disarming humor, a counterpoint that makes him feel more like a flawed, almost down-to-earth antagonist than a one-note evil presence. Bob has retreated into paranoia and isolation, keeping a low profile as a pothead father to his now-teenage daughter, Willa, played by Chase Infiniti in a breakout performance that has drawn early praise from critics for bringing grit and resilience to a demanding role. The young Willa’s arc intersects with the pursuit of her father’s past, forcing Bob to confront a reawakening of the fire that once knit together the group.

The film also features Benicio del Toro in a lighter supporting role as Bob’s ally and Willa’s karate instructor, Sergio St. Carlos, with Regina Hall portraying a protector figure drafted to shield Willa as Lockjaw’s men close in. PTA and cinematographer Michael Bauman steer the camera with a brisk, anxious energy, especially in the climactic car chase that many observers are calling a pinnacle moment for the director’s visual rhythm in this genre mash-up. Jonny Greenwood provides a propulsive score that mirrors the film’s rat-a-tat tempo, helping to sustain momentum through its 161-minute runtime. One Battle After Another marks PTA’s second-longest film to date, a deliberate choice that the filmmaker leans into rather than pulls back from, and it remains unusually poised for a project that flirts with broad genre conventions.

The production is a deliberate tonal shift for PTA, who is best known for serious dramas like There Will Be Blood and The Master. In this outing, DiCaprio leans into a comic register that is atypical for him, presenting Bob as a flawed, bluntly sardonic figure who nonetheless resonates with moments of sensitivity around his daughter. Taylor’s Perfidia embodies a dual impulse: she is a radical voice for the cause and a mother wrestling with the costs of that commitment, a tension that tests loyalties within the group. The cast also includes Regina Hall in a sharp, grounded role and Del Toro delivering a more restrained, supportive presence than his previous high-energy assignments. The ambition on screen is matched by production design and sound work that push the action-forward feel of a blockbuster while maintaining PTA’s investigative eye for motive and consequence.

One Battle After Another is rated R for pervasive language, violence, sexual content and drug use, and its running time sits at 2 hours and 41 minutes. It is slated for a wide theatrical release on September 26, 2025. The project has attracted attention for its audacious blend of political subject matter with an action-crime framework, a combination that raises questions about how audiences might separate art from personal politics when engaging with the film’s provocative material.

The verdict from critics has noted the film’s bold risk-taking and its willingness to stretch a director’s comfort zone into a more riotous form. A Fox News review described the film as a radical, wild ride that is well-crafted and technically assured, even as its tonal shifts can be disorienting for some viewers. The review also highlighted the effectiveness of Greenwood’s score and the film’s ability to sustain energy across its lengthy runtime. While the film’s political subject matter may polarize audiences, its execution—fast-paced action, striking performances, and a willingness to lean into dark humor—has earned it a place in conversations about how genre can be enlisted to explore urgent social questions. ★★★½ – SEE IT.

As entertainment, One Battle After Another asks a straightforward question in a time of division: can audiences appreciate a work of art whose politics diverge from their own? The film presents a world where loyalty, risk and retaliation collide, and where the personal costs of political conviction are laid bare. For some viewers, that tension is the point; for others, it may be a hurdle. Either way, the film is a notable act of cinematic experimentation in a landscape where star power, technical craft and a director’s signature voice collide to produce something that is, in equal measure, entertaining and provocative.

The movie’s ambition is underscored by its willingness to play with genre expectations. The chase sequences, the counter-currents of romance and ideological confrontation, and the novelistic cadence of PTA’s storytelling all contribute to a film that refuses to be easily categorized. Its political edge is tempered by moments of warmth, humor and human vulnerability, particularly in the fragile dynamic between Bob and Willa. In this way, One Battle After Another does not simply traffic in spectacle; it uses spectacle to illuminate questions about courage, culpability and the boundaries of resistance.

As the studio moves forward with the release, audiences will have a chance to see how the pieces fit in the broader cultural conversation. The film’s release in late September positions it as a late-summer/early-fall talking point, inviting comparisons to PTA’s earlier work while standing on its own as a bold experiment that embraces movement, sound, performance and narrative risk. The film’s reception will likely hinge on individual tolerance for its tonal swings and its unapologetic stance toward controversial political material, but it is clear that, for better or worse, One Battle After Another is a movie that demands to be discussed long after the final frame.

With PTA at the helm and a singular cast delivering performances that range from the unexpectedly funny to the quietly devastating, the film occupies a space that only a few directors dare to enter—where the art of cinema intersects with the urgency of political discourse. For fans of the filmmaker and for viewers drawn to high-stakes action with a conscience, this is a title that will be worth watching, revisiting and debating.