Lisa Johnson Mandell’s One Battle After Another review says director Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest is one of his greatest, with non-stop action and invention. Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn are sublime.

I’m reluctant to admit this, but when I hear that a film is over 2.5 hours long, I (like many of you) groan and anticipate at least a half hour of gratuitous footage that easily could have easily done without—even if it is made by one of my favorite directors, the visionary Paul Thomas Anderson. I give you Martine Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which clocked in at almost 3.5 hours, as proof that even the greats occasionally wear out their welcome.

But I’m thrilled to inform you that almost every second of PTA’s One Battle After Another is absolutely riveting and essential. The movie races at head-spinning speed from start to finish, and is packed with action, drama, comedy, outrageously good performances, plot twists, irony and shocking surprises along the way. It’s yet another creative, cinematic coup for Anderson, who has directed  some of the top films on my own personal list, including Magnolia, There Will Be Blood and The Master—each one of them unique in its own way.

One Battle After Another review — What makes it tick?

One Battle After Another, which Anderson wrote on his own and produced along with Adam Somner and Sara Murphy, starts out following a militant, revolutionary group like those of the 70’s, known as the French 75.  This gang, however, is fighting to liberate detained immigrants and punish the officials who detained them. Perfidia Beverly Hills (a mesmerizing Teyana Taylor) is a group leader, and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Pat, aka Bob, aka Rocket Man, is their stoner explosives expert, in addition to being Perfidia’s domestic partner. Sean Penn is Colonel Stephen J. Lockjaw (the film is full of great names), an extreme conservative who pursues Bob and Perfidia over the years, with both kinky and cruel intentions. This is a career defining role for Penn, who will doubtless be nominated for another Oscar.

Fast forward about 15 years, and Bob and his teenager daughter Willa (Chase Infinity), whom Perfidia abandoned shortly after her birth, are hiding out in a cabin in the woods. Bob spends his time doing drugs and cowering with extreme paranoia, while Willa, clearly the adult in the family, attempts to be a normal high school student. She is unaware of her mother’s true legacy, or the fact that her martial arts sensei (Benicio del Toro) is running an underground railroad for Latino immigrants. Throw in a wealthy white supremacist society, weed growing nuns and a wealth of other offbeat characters and subplots, and Anderson has plenty of material to keep us eagerly engaged for days.

Radio Head’s Jonny Greenwood who has copacetically worked with Anderson before on the award winning There Will be Blood, The Master, Phantom Thread, Inherent Vice and Licorice Pizza, has come up with an original, eclectic score that punctuates the drama, chaos, discord, suspense, humor and emotion. These two are obviously collaborators extraordinaire.

It’s so very refreshing and rare to see a film that is absolutely original, from the ground up. This is not a sequel, prequel, adaptation, reboot, or a film based on a brand or video game. It may be a little frenetic for some, but those who are yearning to see something alive and kicking on the big screen will be well rewarded.

Rated R

2 Hours 41 Minutes

If this One Battle After Another review encourages you to race over to the cineplex, get times and tickets for the best seats you can find at Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s One Battle After Another review says director Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest is one of his greatest, with non-stop action and invention. Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn are sublime.