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One Battle After Another Review: Confident, Kinetic, and Surprisingly Funny

PTA's Best Picture winner is a wild, ensemble-driven action epic. (Now Streaming on HBO Max)

I’ve long been a Paul Thomas Anderson fan, and There Will Be Blood remains one of my all-time favorite films. This is another solid outing from him: confident, kinetic, and surprisingly funny.

The performances are excellent across the board. Leonardo DiCaprio fits perfectly into this age-appropriate father role — I like seeing a 50-year-old DiCaprio actually acting his age; I feel seen. It feels like a preview of the next decade of his career. Sean Penn is absolutely despicable in the best way, and it’s worth noting he took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for this one. Teyana Taylor is magnetic, though I admit I might be biased by the sense that she’s just a badass in real life. Chase Infiniti makes for a striking introduction (what a Hollywood name!) in her first film project. And of course, Benicio del Toro was being Benicio del Toro.

Chase Infiniti To Campaign For Best Lead Actress Oscar For One Battle After Another

The ensemble works great. Supporting characters hold their gravitas and come and go with the plot.

The chase scene at the end was unusual and great — one of those sequences that earns the runtime. Jonny Greenwood’s score is also a standout, doing what Greenwood always does for PTA: building dread and momentum out of what sounds like almost nothing.

Given that this is a late posting, the awards conversation is more or less settled. One Battle After Another won six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor for Penn. It also took four Golden Globes, three Critics’ Choice Awards, and six BAFTAs including Best Film. Critics’ year-end polls were nearly unanimous: IndieWire ranked it #1, as did Film Comment, a New York Times readers poll, and a Sight and Sound survey of over 100 international critics. It’s the kind of sweep you don’t see very often.

Is it There Will Be Blood? Not for me. But it’s a big, alive, funny, and humane film from a director who clearly still has a lot to say.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

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