One Battle After Another: The movie of the decade 

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson 
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor 
Screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson, based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon 
Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5) 

Paul Thomas Anderson is the world’s greatest living filmmaker. 

That might sound like hyperbole— until you realize it’s not. Over the past 30 years, Anderson has directed eleven films, and every single one is a certified masterpiece. Not “near-miss” masterpieces. Not “flawed but ambitious” masterpieces. Actual, generation-defining works of cinema. Each film in his wildly varied body of work — from Boogie Nights to There Will Be Blood to Phantom Thread — is evidence of an artist deeply in tune with human emotion, moral ambiguity, and cinematic storytelling at its most elevated. 

PTA, as his devoted fan base lovingly calls him, arrived fully formed in 1997 with Boogie Nights, a film that took what could have been cheap tabloid material and transformed it into a sprawling, heartfelt character study. Every single character in that film — from porn stars to drug dealers to washed-up producers — felt utterly, painfully human. You could feel the blood pumping through their stories. Anderson made that film at just 27 years old — a feat that, frankly, puts him in rare company. The only real comparison might be Orson Welles with Citizen Kane. But where Welles’s career was derailed by studio politics, Anderson has only flourished. 

Which makes his latest achievement all the more remarkable. One Battle After Another marks the first time Anderson has had access to a true blockbuster budget — reportedly $100 million, backed by Warner Bros. That news made film lovers both thrilled and nervous. Would the studio money interfere with his creative instincts? Would he compromise for the sake of spectacle? Would this be the one where the streak broke? 

We should have known better. The answer, of course, is no. Not only is One Battle After Another another triumph, but it is also probably Anderson’s most urgent and accessible work yet. 

Loosely adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland — though Anderson takes bold liberties — the film updates the novel’s 1980s setting to the present day, trading Reagan-era decay for modern surveillance states and fascist creeps. Only Anderson could bring to life Pynchon’s cartoonish post-modernism in a way that feels alive. It’s also Anderson’s first film to directly engage with contemporary politics, and the result is electric. 

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Bob, a lost man drawn into an extremist revolutionary collective known as the French 75. Their opening mission — liberating a migrant detention camp — sets the tone for a film that doesn’t shy away from difficult, timely questions: What does real resistance look like? Who gets to lead a revolution? And what are the costs of staying in the fight? 

DiCaprio is astonishing here, giving one of his most restrained and wounded performances in years. But he’s matched — and sometimes outshined — by Teyana Taylor as Perfidia, a fiery revolutionary whose charisma blazes off the screen. Taylor doesn’t just hold the camera; she commands it. Every glance, every line, carries weight. Their chemistry is undeniable, and when Perfidia becomes pregnant — keeping certain truths to herself — the film pivots into a tense, emotional slow burn. 

The narrative jumps forward. Bob is now in hiding, raising his teenage daughter, Willa, under assumed identities, trying to leave the past behind. Willa is played by newcomer Chase Infiniti in her first-ever film role (though she was excellent in Apple TV’s Presumed Innocent) — and she’s nothing short of a revelation. Sharing the screen with legendary actors like DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Regina Hall, she doesn’t just keep up — she owns her scenes with intensity, nuance, and a quiet defiance that sticks with you long after the credits roll. 

Sean Penn, as Col. Steven Lockjaw, the group's former nemesis, delivers one of the best performances of his career. He plays the role with coiled menace and an undercurrent of buried agony, making Lockjaw both terrifying and oddly tragic. There’s already awards buzz surrounding Penn’s performance, and if he ends up in a race for Best Supporting Actor, it will be richly deserved. (Though don’t be surprised if Jesse Plemons becomes a dark-horse contender as well.) 

Visually, the film is breathtaking. Anderson, working with cinematographer Michael Bauman for the first time, paints every frame with precision — from neon-drenched safe houses to the stark rural hideouts where the characters flee. And Jonny Greenwood’s eclectic, driving score keeps the tension simmering beneath even the film’s quietest scenes. It’s Greenwood’s best work since There Will Be Blood, threading moments of dread, warmth, and urgency through each act. 

What’s most surprising is how fun this film is. Yes, it’s political. Yes, it’s heavy. But it’s also thrilling — a tense, high-stakes ride with moments of levity, tenderness, and even genuine comedy. It’s an action movie, a father-daughter story, a revolutionary drama, and a gut punch — all at once. And somehow, everything works. 

Not a single frame is wasted. Every shot, every cut, every line of dialogue feels considered, alive. It’s the kind of filmmaking that reminds you why you fell in love with movies in the first place. 

To call One Battle After Another the “movie of the year” feels inadequate. Many critics are already calling it the movie of the decade — and they might be right. It’s that rare film that is both artistically daring and emotionally immediate. You don’t watch it — you experience it. 

Anderson has been nominated for 11 Oscars and has somehow never won. If there was ever a time for the Academy to finally recognize what the rest of us already know — that Paul Thomas Anderson is a once-in-a-generation talent — it’s now. 

But awards or no awards, what really matters is this: One Battle After Another is a film that demands to be seen in a theater. Not just for the action or the visuals, but for the feeling. For the sense that you’re watching something that matters. Something bold. Something uncompromising. Something alive. 

And if it succeeds at the box office? That tells studios there’s still a place for directors with vision — for ambitious, adult, intelligent cinema made at scale. That’s not just a win for Anderson. That’s a win for all of us. 

So go see this movie. Tell your friends. Drag your family. Shout it from the rooftops. 

We’re lucky to be alive at the same time Paul Thomas Anderson is making films. Let's start the cinema revolution. 

Viva la revolución.