One Battle After Another (2025) – PTA’s Wild, Messy, Revolutionary Ride Through America’s Ghosts

Hello, movie lovers! In this review, I'm diving headfirst into Paul Thomas Anderson's (PTA) chaotic canvas with One Battle After Another (2025), a 170-minute action-thriller-comedy co-produced, written, and directed by PTA, loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as ex-radical Bob Ferguson, Sean Penn as the monstrous Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw, Benicio del Toro as the slippery Sergio St. Carlos, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and breakout Chase Infiniti as Bob’s daughter Willa, this is PTA gone full fever-dream. I laughed, gasped, and got haunted by America’s ugly underbelly—messy, ambitious, and oddly hopeful—earning a blazing 9/10. Rewatch? Hell yes.

One Battle After Another (2025) - Revolution, Betrayal, and Dark Laughs in a Fractured America

From the first frame—DiCaprio dodging bullets while cracking wise—I was in. PTA doesn’t just make a movie; he detonates a cultural time bomb. Bob, a burned-out '60s revolutionary hiding in plain sight, gets yanked back into the fight when his teenage daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti, a revelation) becomes collateral in Colonel Lockjaw’s (Sean Penn, terrifying) vendetta. The Christmas Adventurers Club—a secret society of rich, white, Christian supremacists—looms like a KKK in tailored suits, pulling strings from boardrooms to backwoods. PTA stuffs the screen: shootouts, stoner rants, phone-zombie families, a hilarious traffic stop where del Toro owns the cops, and one gut-punch betrayal after another. It’s Boogie Nights energy meets Inherent Vice paranoia with There Will Be Blood stakes. At 9/10, it’s a messy masterpiece—funny, furious, and unflinching about how fragile revolutions, families, and nations truly are.

The Plot: From Hiding to Hellfire in One Endless Fight

Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) thought the revolution was over. Now he’s a handyman in a sleepy town, raising Willa (Chase Infiniti) and dodging ghosts. But when Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn)—a military monster with a vendetta and a secret society backing him—comes hunting, Bob’s past explodes. His old crew resurfaces: some loyal, some sellouts. Sergio (Benicio del Toro) slinks in with schemes and one-liners. As the Christmas Adventurers Club tightens its noose, Bob and Willa go on the run—through motels, militias, and moral minefields—fighting not just for survival, but for what America could be.

PTA’s script is a 170-minute fever of genres: action set-pieces (a diner shootout that had me cheering), dark comedy (del Toro vs. racist cops = gold), and quiet gut-punches (a mother abandoning her daughter for power). The title? Perfect. Just when Bob thinks the battle’s done—bam—another one begins. Like life.

Performances That Burn the Screen

• Leonardo DiCaprio is electric as Bob—funny, frantic, and fierce. His chemistry with Infiniti is pure PTA magic.
• Sean Penn is a monster you love to hate—Lockjaw’s every smirk is a war crime.
• Benicio del Toro steals scenes with sly charm; his traffic stop bit is comedy legend.
• Chase Infiniti holds her own as Willa—tough, smart, and the emotional core.
• Regina Hall and Teyana Taylor bring fire and fragility in pivotal roles.

This cast doesn’t act—they become.

PTA’s Most Ambitious Swing Yet

Anderson (Licorice Pizza, Phantom Thread) goes full Pynchon: paranoid, playful, and politically savage. It’s The Big Lebowski meets The Parallax View with Magnolia’s heart. The Christmas Adventurers Club isn’t just a villain—it’s a mirror to America’s institutional rot. One scene—everyone in a house glued to phones while the world burns—hit like a gut punch. The film asks: Who still believes in revolution? And answers: Maybe no one. But we should.

Ratings and Critical Reception

• IMDb: 8.2/10 (138,000 users)
• RT: 94% critics (408 reviews) / 85% audience (5,000+ verified)
• Budget: $130–175M | Box Office: $196M (modest win, but no blockbuster)

Critics call it “a chaotic triumph,” “PTA’s wildest ride,” “a Molotov cocktail of laughs and truth.” Some say it’s “too much”—and that’s the point.

A Minor Critique: The Runtime Runs Wild

At 2h 50m, it’s a beast. Some threads (a late-game subplot) meander. Trim 15 minutes, and it’d be tighter than a drum. But even the bloat feels alive—like America itself.

A Must-Watch Mess of Hope, Hate, and History

At 9/10, One Battle After Another is PTA at his most fearless—messy, funny, brutal, and necessary. It made me laugh, rage, and rethink revolution. DiCaprio, Penn, del Toro, Infiniti—this cast is a dream. The Christmas Adventurers Club will haunt you. The betrayals will break you. The hope? It’ll keep you fighting.

What did you think? Team Bob or Team Lockjaw? Which betrayal hit hardest? Drop your battles below—and suggest my next PTA-level epic! Like, follow, share so you don’t miss the next revolution. Thanks for fighting with me—see you in the fray.