One Battle After Another (2025): All Over The Place, In A Good Way...

One Battle After Another is a Hollywood action thriller that was released to cinemas across the world on September 26^th, 2025. Written, produced and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film is partially adapted from and inspired by the 1990 novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. It has a runtime of 2 hours, 42 minutes and follows the journey of an ex-revolutionary who struggles to protect his daughter after his ex-lover’s actions plunge them into danger with a corrupt military.

Premise

“Ghetto” Pat Calhoun and Perfidia Beverly Hills are notorious operatives within the revolutionary faction known as the French 75; a vigilante group committed to dismantling systems of power through coordinated chaos. During a violent operation to liberate detained immigrants from the Otay Mesa Detention Center, Perfidia taunts and humiliates the facility’s corrupt commanding officer, Steven J. Lockjaw. The encounter, meant to break his authority, instead leaves Lockjaw shaken and disturbingly captivated. Her defiance, her confidence and power, ignites in him a twisted, obsessive desire.

In the following months, Pat and Perfidia become lovers, and together with the French 75, they orchestrate a string of escalating attacks; torching political offices, robbing banks to fund the revolution, and crippling the city’s power grid with a chain of explosions. Their faces become legends on wanted posters, especially Perfidia, who has become a constant thorn in the police’s side.

But Lockjaw cannot forget her. His fascination festers into obsession, fueling an unsanctioned manhunt. When he finally corners Perfidia alone, right as she is about to detonate a bomb, he does not arrest her. Instead, he proposes a bargain: her freedom in exchange for one night with him at a roadside motel. And she follows through, without Pat’s knowledge.

Perfidia eventually gives birth to a daughter, Charlene, and develops post-partum depression that culminates in jealousy of Pat’s attention to their daughter. Pat hopes that motherhood will convince her to leave behind the underground life and build a stable home with him, but Perfidia refuses. She cannot abandon the cause, and before long, she leaves them both to rejoin her revolutionary work.

However, a failed bank robbery ends in her arrest. Rather than face prison, she is approached by Lockjaw, who uses his influence to strike a deal. In exchange for information about the French 75, she is placed into witness protection. With her cooperation, Lockjaw launches a relentless campaign against the group, tracking down former members and killing several outright, forcing the rest to scatter and live under false identities.

Pat and Charlene go into hiding as well, adopting the names Bob and Willa Ferguson and disappearing into a quiet, anonymous life far from their past. Meanwhile, Perfidia does not remain under supervision for long. She manages to slip away from federal custody and disappears across the border into Mexico.

Sixteen years later, Bob (Pat) and Willa (Charlene) are living in the sanctuary city of Baktan Cross. Bob, now isolated and increasingly paranoid, has become dependent on drugs and stays off the grid, trusting almost no one. Despite his decline, he remains fiercely protective of Willa, who has grown into a capable and independent teenager, accustomed to surviving on her own terms and even looking after Bob.

Meanwhile, Lockjaw has risen through the ranks of national security. Known for his aggressive anti-immigration policies, he has become a colonel and a respected figure within U.S. enforcement circles. His notoriety earns him an invitation to the Christmas Adventurers Club, a clandestine organization of far-right white supremacists. However, their strict ideology poses a threat to him; if his past involvement with Perfidia, a black woman, were revealed, alongside the possible proof of the affair, Willa, it could destroy him.

To eliminate any loose ends, Lockjaw begins searching for Willa, hoping to erase any evidence of his connection to Perfidia. He hires Avanti Q, an Indigenous bounty hunter, to track her down. In the process, Avanti captures Howard Sommerville, one of the few remaining members of the French 75. Howard’s detainment triggers a distress signal meant for any surviving comrades, quietly alerting them that the past is resurfacing.

This sets off an insane chain of events that leads to an absolute rollercoaster as Lockjaw utilizes the full power of the U.S. military for his own personal goal of capturing Willa, and Bob goes through several obstacles (one of them being his own intoxication), to reunite with her.

Cast and Performances

Leonardo DiCaprio as “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun / “Rocketman” / Bob Ferguson

Teyana Taylor as Perfidia Beverly Hills

Chase Infiniti as Willa Ferguson / Charlene Calhoun

Sean Penn as Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw

Regina Hall as Deandra

Benicio del Toro as Sergio St. Carlos

Phew, where do I even begin with these characters? First of all, I’d like to formally establish that DiCaprio and Taylor put on a 5-star performance. Seriously, acting and character-wise, they were easily the best part of the film. And Penn deserves his flowers too. I haven’t seen such a pathetic character in a while…which is good, by the way. The character Lockjaw is supposed to be a pathetic, obsessive racist with a contradicting fetish.

We need to talk about this dialogue though…

I understand that the movie is meant to have parodic elements, and I can recognize the use of vulgar dialogue for comedic effect. But it gets to a point, when one third of the entire dialogue is just curse words. I even played a little game with myself during a scene where I tried to track how far the characters would go without an expletive.

Literally one in every three words was “f*ck” or some other variant of it.

It was funny in the beginning, uncomfortable in the middle, and just downright draining towards the end.

But surprisingly, that is part of my only beef with the dialogue and characters. The on-screen chemistry amongst the cast is phenomenal, and I think they did a fantastic job of fleshing out the characters and telling their stories (however twisted they may be).

What I Liked

The cinematography. This movie is apparently one of the first to be principally shot using VistaVision, and I’ll do my research on that later but let me just say right now that it makes all the right kind of difference. The graphics, the detail. I highly recommend viewing the movie on the largest screen you can find. If this is the future of filming, I’m sold.

Regarding the movie itself, it has an element of chaos that I absolutely love. Incorporating chaotic energy into a film is a rather delicate and difficult balance. When done wrong, it festers into incoherency and disorganized mess. But when done right, it adds a quality of humor and thrill that leaves viewers on the edge of their seats, and I definitely think that this film does an amazing job with it (even though I got lost a bit, multiple times), and it all ties together really well in the end.

I also really enjoyed the dynamic between Bob and Willa. With her almost aggressive conviction and capability and his descent into a shell of what he once was, the role of caretaker often pendulums between the two. But at the end of the day, Bob is just doing the best with the cards he was dealt, and Willa still loves him for it. And despite the limited amount of scenes we got with the both of them, it was a really wholesome dynamic to watch.

What I Didn’t Like

This was a long watch. A really, really long watch. And I can’t exactly say that the plot was worth all that screentime. I understand that the film essentially tells two stories: Perfidia, and then Willa. But I can’t recall a single plot point in that movie that justifies taking up almost 3 hours of anyone’s time, and there were many times I wished I could just fast forward.

The point is, the film drags on, a lot. Despite the well-done chaos.

Another thing I had a certain ick with, was the hypersexualization of black women. I understand that half of the comedy in this is the satirical expression of racism, and that a core part of Perfidia’s power is inherently her sexuality and how she uses it. But my problem is how that sexuality (and ultimately the invitation to be sexualized) is tied to her specific identity as a black woman. And maybe I’m reading too deep into this, but the dialogue of black women also raises a lot of red flags. It all just seems a bit too stereotypical in an almost caricaturist way. And there’s only so much you can hide under the term “satire”.

Final Thoughts

This was actually a decent project. Between the amazing visuals and the absolute rollercoaster of events, and despite the multiples flaws in there, this film was long, wild, crazy…and a whole lot of fun.

I rate One Battle After Another (2025): 3.5 out of 5

Our Rating of This Movie

Have you seen the movie? What were your favorite scenes? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Author

Winifred Eze

Winnie is a business student by day and a writer by night, with a passion for movies and the art of storytelling. Whether it’s dissecting a film’s themes, exploring character arcs, or celebrating cinematic masterpieces, she loves diving deep into the magic of the big screen. She also strives to bring fresh perspectives and engaging discussions to fellow writers and readers.