One Battle After Another (2025) – Review and Summary
One Battle After Another may not bore you despite being nearly 3 hours, but it may not have you engage with its characters as you’d expect.
Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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“One Battle After Another” Film Details
- Runtime: 2 Hour(s) and 41 Minutes
- Released On: In Theaters
- Public Release Date: September 25, 2025
- Director(s): Paul Thomas Anderson
- Writer(s): Paul Thomas Anderson
- Based On Work By: Thomas Pynchon
- Genre(s): Action, Crime, Drama
- Rating: Rated R
- Distributor: Warner Bros.
- Official Site Link
Movie Summary
At one time, Perfidia (Teyana Taylor) was an active terrorist part of The French 1975, an organization that advocated for causes like the right to choose, no borders between countries, and other policies that tend to lean liberal. By her side for a lot of it was a man whose name was originally Pat but later became Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio).
But, while the two had a child, originally named Charlene, later Willa (Chase Infiniti), Perfidia didn’t take well to motherhood. Whether it was post-partum depression or the fear of losing that fire or a sense of self, because of Bob or society’s expectations, Perfidia slipped up.
This allowed a man, Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), to get his revenge on Perfidia for embarrassing him and to begin his journey in hunting down every member of The French 1975.
Review and Commentary
Highlight(s)
The Pacing Is Better Than Movies Far Shorter Than This [83/100]
Generally speaking, movies that push beyond 2 hours, whether they are superhero films or not, feel like a huge ask. It’s not just due to our attention span dwindling as we get older, but also it often feeling that it is more about the director not having anyone reining them in and balancing their artistic vision with what is commercially viable. Plus, in our entire movie-going experience, it has been rare to find a movie that was 2+ hours that needed all that time to tell its story properly.
But, this has Teyana Taylor, Regina Hall, and though his part is notably small, Wood Harris is listed, so we wanted to give this a chance, and we’re thankful we did. Now, this isn’t to say 90 minutes in, we weren’t checking our phone as the film started to shift from Colonel Lockjaw hunting Bob and Willa to refocusing on the treatment of immigrants in the Southwest US.
However, there was almost always action going on; nearly every character either had a strong personality, screen presence, was a catalyst for drama, or made you want to learn more about them. So, while you may end up checking how much time is left, you rarely will feel like this has gone on too long.
On The Fence
You Don’t Learn Much About The Organizations In The Movie, And Barely About Their Members [74/100]
The French 1975, from what it seems, was run by Laredo (Wood Harris), a Black man, who may have been dating Mae West (Alana Haim), and he somehow got all these people together to do major terrorist activities. I’m talking about blowing up buildings, electric grid infrastructure, and other activities. How he recruited, why each individual joined, what was the planning behind some of the events, and how this organization came up with a friggin hotline? No answers.
Sadly, the same goes for Colonel Lockjaw’s side of things, as you see him pursue not only Perfidia, Bob, Willa, and The French 1975, but also try to join some very strange and racist organization, which highly identifies with Christmas. The people involved with that, including Virgil (Tony Goldwyn), don’t stand out beyond who plays them and the expectation you may have because you know their past work.
This becomes a bit of an annoyance since it has these actors bring their star power, but they are only allowed to give glimpses of why they are stars. Regina Hall as Deandra had so much potential, both before Willa is born and after, yet it feels like, even in a nearly 3-hour movie, they didn’t really want anyone to get to shine consistently but Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn – maybe Chase Infiniti as a supporting actress.
And don’t get me wrong, the leading men hold it down. However, I do believe him and Sean Penn get more screen time than necessary, especially considering their characters are the least interesting in the film. Never mind, beyond Infiniti, I wouldn’t say they give any shine to any of their fellow established actors hardly at all.
It Can Come Off Shallow Sometimes [73/100]
I wouldn’t say One Battle After Another wishes to have an opinion or advocate any political agenda. The French 1975 are clearly terrorists with liberal policies, and the organization Virgil is clearly anti-immigrant, when immigrants aren’t playing the role of cheap labor. In addition to that, their racism is apparently, if just in the idea of mixing of different races, or ethnicities, with White people being something his organization is against.
Then, you can throw in Sensei Segio St. Carlos (Benicio Del Toro) operating away from the extremes, as someone who clearly is a leader in the Spanish-speaking community. The combination gives you different perspectives, but honestly, they all feel rather shallow.
There is no reasoning or explanation for why these organizations hone in on any cause. There isn’t even a strong opinion presented to lead you to understand their motive or justification. They simply exist to set up the explosives, the drama, the action. Though I should note, it isn’t like the characters have this huge amount of depth to them either.
Perfidia seemingly comes from this very politically active family, but whether they were the type of revolutionary she is, who were they associated with in the past, and why are they not in prison? That isn’t touched upon. The same thing can be said about Colonel Lockjaw regarding his sexuality and his interests. You could surmise he is a repressed man from having a career in the military, but if you aren’t familiar with the stereotypes and assumptions of powerful men liking to be dominated, how would you even come to that conclusion?
This is why we found the focus on Penn and DiCaprio particularly frustrating, since you’d think, like with a lot of movies or shows, they would be the Trojan Horse or the medium to ideas and characters bigger than their own, but they are not. Instead, One Battle After Another sometimes feels avoidant of the complexities of the topics and people it showcases.
Overall
Our Rating (77/100): Mixed (Divisive)
At nearly three hours, One Battle After Another could have easily dragged, but its pacing stays sharper than many films half its length. Between the constant stream of action and a cast whose abilities aren’t rightfully showcased, but always seem ready to come off the bench, boredom rarely creeps in.
However, as much as DiCaprio and Penn hold things down, it seems like such a disservice to most of the cast that they don’t get more spotlight and as a whole, One Battle After Another, while it does well in building up and delivering action, it falters in terms of moving beyond recognizable faces, and the star power they bring, and really giving us characters and organizations that you can be interested in, care about, and be invested in their rise or fall.
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