One Battle After Another: A New Direction?

Paul Evangelista discusses One Battle After Another (2025), a new “direction“ for the director.

Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson isn’t a name synonymous with the terms ‘big budget’ and ‘blockbuster’. His highest-grossing film, There Will Be Blood (2007), took in a solid $76.2 million on a budget of $25 million. Fast forward 18 years, now armed with an estimated budget between $130-170 million, a wide IMAX release, and a Fortnite tie-in collab; Anderson’s latest film is a tense and dazzling spectacle, bursting with sprawling set pieces and thrilling performances.

The Cinematography

One Battle After Another follows Bob Ferguson, a former revolutionary long past his glory days, as he sets off to save his daughter from the clutches of the despicable Colonel Lockjaw. Taking a darker tone than his last feature: a breezy nostalgia piece by the likes of Licorice Pizza (2021). Anderson now paints a broad picture of a fractured America, rife with injustice and inequality. His first contemporary-set work since Punch Drunk Love (2002) depicts hell on a modern landscape, if only to show how love and community can change our path towards a doomed future.

The film wastes no time establishing urgency. Director of photography, Michael Bauman, establishes a scope simultaneously sprawling and intimate, equally concerned with the characters and the world they inhabit. We are immediately introduced to the determined Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), captured in an intimate close-up, before cutting to an over-the-shoulder shot of a packed immigration detention camp just under a highway. The film highlights real-world conflicts particularly clearly. It feels almost miraculous seeing a $130 million+ blockbuster present these issues in such a blunt manner, particularly in today’s political climate. Thankfully for Paul Thomas Anderson enthusiasts, his familiar voice was not lost in translation during the shift to bigger-budget filmmaking.

Characters are constantly on the move. Marching towards an extravagant political statement on behalf of the revolutionary group the French 75, or away from the forces who aim to stifle their voices. Always moving towards an uncertain future. Shot in Vistavision, a high-resolution film format slowly making a resurgence following The Brutalist (2024), the film is gorgeous to the eye. The camera glides along with the action, always immersive and dynamic across the 2-hour 40-minute runtime. Large set pieces employ a healthy mix of stunning landscape shots and close-ups.  

The Actors and Their Characters

In a film as good as One Battle After Another, it often feels like the film’s strongest actor is the one currently on screen at any given time. Leonardo DiCaprio shines as Bob Ferguson. His first role in an Anderson film, DiCaprio plays the washed-up, stumbling drug addict with equal parts sincerity and absurdism. DiCaprio displays an infectious knack for comedy, which provides a sense of relief in the fractured world. Being unable to remember a password during a crucial moment or lacking the self-confidence to embark on his journey by himself, Anderson creates an effective character that is truly earnest. 

Sean Penn is despicable as Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw, a military officer tracking down Bob’s daughter. Lockjaw fires up the screen with such intense snivelling and discontent that it feels delightful to hate him. With much of the second half set in the desert, certain moments felt reminiscent of the psychopathic Anton Chigurh of No Country For Old Men (2007). Just add a dash of the law enforcement-cosplaying murder-machine T-1000 from Terminator 2 (1991), a sprinkle of sexual perversion, and a truckful of xenophobia.

Elsewhere, Teyana Taylor brings an infectious jolt of energy as firecracker Perfidia Beverly Hills. Fierce and unrelenting, Taylor oozes confidence and screen presence. Perfidia perfectly sets the tone of urgency and desperation in a dire world, balancing anger and vulnerability in the same scenes and essentially carrying the first act of the film. 

All other praise given, it feels only fair to highlight Chase Infiniti as the standout performance in the film as Charlene, Bob’s daughter. Infiniti acts as the beating heart of the film, holding her own in a cast full of seasoned actors. Born in a world already dishevelled by people before her, it’s up to Charlene to make sense of her environment and take action when need be. Infiti’s performance is nuanced and natural, contrasting well with DiCaprio’s more comedic approach. Witnessing the character’s journey makes it clear that Chase Infiniti is destined for a bright future in the industry. 

A New Direction

Anderson directs the action with such a clear vision that it’s surprising this is his first action-oriented movie. During the battle of Baktan sequence, the film seamlessly juggles several perspectives, all held together by tight editing and Jonny Greenwood’s loose, percussive score. Invoking striking imagery of real-life riots and recent ICE round-ups occurring across Trump’s America, the film feels less exploitative and more interested in commemorating individuals who thanklessly support their own communities. Skaters sprawl across the screen like choreographed dancers between chaos and violence. Later in the film, a three-way car chase over a hilly road where cars vanish and reappear over valleys feels unnerving and hypnotic. Somehow, Anderson takes the conventional elements of thriller and action and manages to find a way to make them bold and unique.

One Battle After Another explores the effects of community and the need for interpersonal connection. In the film’s first act, Bob and Perfidia are lovers, finding moments of genuine affection and beauty within destruction and chaos. Perfidia declares war on a phone call towards a governor regarding abortion rights before a building is blown up during a ‘glory days’ montage. Barbecues and campfires are held, and there is a real sense of camaraderie between the French 75.  However, once everything is turned upside down with the introduction of Colonel Lockjaw, Bob descends into the drug-abused wash-up plastered all over the posters and trailers. The colonel also craves connection, whether it be through his perverted lens of fetishisation or with the prospect of joining a secret society with a ridiculous and unsuspecting name. 

One Battle After Another is a film that feels rich, every element ripe for analysis and exploration.  The perfect segue between Summer and awards season, and a must-see in IMAX, Paul Thomas Anderson excels at bringing spectacle and humanity to the screen with sharp writing and incredible performances. Between this and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners (2025), hopefully, a new precedent is set for more auteur-driven, big-budget, full-of-heart, inventive, possibly Fortnite-collabing blockbusters to come. 

As the film demonstrates, the future is uncertain – but we know what can be done in the present.

Words By Paul Evangelista