When his evil nemesis resurfaces after 16 years and his teenage daughter goes missing, the former revolutionary scrambles to find her, battling the consequences of his past. A film by Paul Thomas Anderson, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Wood Harris, Alana Haim, Shayna McHayle, Paul Grimstad, Dijon, Brooklyn Trueheart Demme, Sachi Diserafino, Melissa Dueñas, and Chase Infiniti.

Written and directed by American filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is a black comedy thriller about a former revolutionary living off-grid as he tries to protect his daughter from a corrupt military officer hunting her down. The story is inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland.

Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland is a sprawling, satirical tale set in California’s Vineland region during 1984, amid Ronald Reagan’s reelection and the lingering shadows of 1960s counterculture. It centers on an aging hippie who dives through windows annually to keep his disability benefits while dodging a ruthless federal prosecutor, and his teenage daughter, who embarks on a quest to find her estranged mother, a former radical activist turned informant under the prosecutor’s seductive influence. Through flashbacks and chaotic present-day escapades involving ninjas, DEA agents, mob weddings, and marijuana growers, the story explores family secrets tied to drugs, betrayal, and government paranoia. Pynchon blends humor, conspiracy, and pathos to contrast faded hippie idealism with 1980s conservatism, critiquing co-opted rebellions, federal overreach, and personal reckonings.

The film starts off strong, introducing a revolutionary group called French 75 and three main characters whose lives become emotionally and physically entangled.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, and Sean Penn deliver powerful performances as Pat Calhoun, Perfidia Beverly Hills, and Steven J. Lockjaw, respectively. The first half is quite entertaining, packed with meticulous planning, dangerous missions, sexual blackmail, brutal explosions, and unexpected betrayal.

However, the film loses momentum in the second half. Everything becomes predictable with hardly any twists. Several characters feel one-dimensional, giving viewers little depth to invest in. There are some hilarious lines that brighten things up momentarily, but they can’t rescue the increasingly thin narrative.

I understand why Lockjaw desperately wants to join the Christmas Adventurers Club, a white supremacist secret society that promises power and acceptance. To get in, he has to cut ties with everything they consider inferior. But I don’t understand why he’d go back to them after they clearly tried to have him killed. Is this supposed to be comedy or satire?

I honestly expected Lockjaw to seek revenge and take them all out, or for French 75 to blow up their entire building. For a 154-minute Paul Thomas Anderson film, I was hoping for something spectacular or a major twist I didn’t see coming. It feels underwhelming when the script avoids delivering a truly satisfying conclusion.

Does the film deserve Oscar nominations? Absolutely. Does it deserve to actually win? I’m not so sure.

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on 8 September 2025. The film was theatrically released in the United States 26 September.