Paul Thomas Anderson’s countercultural drama-thriller One Battle After Another, inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, remains a formal puzzle that has confused, challenged, and captivated audiences, with the year ending without any definitive agreement on its exact meaning. A rare dissenting voice is screenwriter and filmmaker Paul Schrader, who remarked bluntly online: “Filmmaking at an A+ level, but try as I might I couldn’t muster an ounce of empathy for Leo DiCaprio or Sean Penn. I kept waiting for them to die.”
Yet that is precisely why the film is compelling: there is indeed no empathy for its two unlikable leading men, and their mortality and vulnerability carry a kind of unraveling, entropic energy. They are headed for disaster. And yes, the filmmaking is A+ or even A++; it is charged with a delight in its own audacity and skill. It is moviemaking with a late-Kubrick elegance and a self-aware theatricality, building to an exhilarating yet eerily strange car chase on a winding freeway. This isn’t style over substance, but it is certainly a film that can’t help but elevate its self-conscious style to equal footing with its subject: a petty, tyrannical America of the present and future, and those who will grow old resisting it from within.
The unanswered question is when and where the story is set. Is it the U.S. of 10 or 20 years ago? Or an alternate, imagined version of present-day America—a bizarro-world America? This sidestep away from a recognizable contemporary reality is partly due to adapting Pynchon, with his playfully cartoonish imagination, and updating his novel, whose present-day action was originally set in the Reagan-era ’80s, with flashbacks to the turbulent ’60s. The story is now shifted to sometime between the Obama and Trump years—or diagonally into some new narrative dimension. The title suggests endless crises and the perpetual culture wars of modern life.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Bob, a former revolutionary who was once part of an activist cell attacking migrant detention prisons on the Mexican border. He has aged into a grumpy, drunken, disheveled loser. His partner in those glory days was Perfidia, portrayed by the magnetically charismatic Teyana Taylor. Perfidia managed to sexually captivate the thick-necked blowhard in charge of counter-insurgency intelligence, Colonel Steven Lockjaw, played with reptilian fervor by Sean Penn.
Lockjaw’s obsession with her—where racist fetishism merges with a pitiful, abject rapture—is something Perfidia attempts to manipulate to control military opposition. But it all goes terribly wrong; she becomes pregnant, and her daughter Willa, played by Chase Infiniti, becomes the center of the film’s paternity crisis. Who is America’s true parent: the reactionary or the radical?
DiCaprio, Penn, Taylor, and Infiniti all deliver commanding, brilliant performances, and Jonny Greenwood’s score is superb. One Battle After Another is a protest song of a film, with lyrics about cruelty, despotism, and the heroism of dissent.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the hypothetical top UK film of 2025 One Battle After Another
General Plot FAQs
Q What is One Battle After Another about
A Its a historical drama set during a lesserknown conflict in British history following a small diverse unit of soldiers The film focuses less on grand war strategy and more on the personal psychological and moral battles they face just to survive each day
Q Is it based on a true story
A Its inspired by real events and amalgamates stories from various historical accounts but the central characters and specific narrative are fictional
Q Who stars in it
A The film features a mix of established and rising UK talent While the full cast isnt confirmed its rumoured to be led by actors like George MacKay Letitia Wright and a standout performance from a relatively new actor in a key role
Q Who directed it
A The film is directed by acclaimed British director Sarah Gavron known for her characterdriven storytelling
Viewing Release FAQs
Q When and where can I watch it
A It is scheduled for a theatrical release in the UK in late Autumn 2025 Streaming rights have not been announced yet so it will be in cinemas first
Q Is the film suitable for children
A No It is expected to receive a 15 certificate from the BBFC due to strong war violence intense psychological themes and strong language
Q How long is the movie
A The reported runtime is approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes
Q Why is it getting so much buzz already
A The combination of a respected director a powerful script that resonated with early readers and its timely themes about resilience and the human cost of conflict have generated significant prerelease acclaim from critics who have seen early screenings
Themes Analysis FAQs
Q What makes this different from other war movies
