One Battle After Another is a new film set to release in theaters this weekend. Written & directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti. When their evil nemesis resurfaces after 16 years, a band of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.

I have been excited for this film for quite some time ever since it was first called The Battle of Baktan Cross. It just felt like it had everything I wanted in a film. I have been a huge PTA fan for most of my life ever since I watched There Will Be Blood & Magnolia. Leonardo DiCaprio is also one of my favorite working actors. Admittedly, the marketing for the film to feel strange at first, but I remained confident that the film would work. Never in my wildest years did I expect the universal acclaim before going to see it. Seeing it surpass There Will Be Blood was a shock on several of the critics scores. After watching the film, believe the hype. This film is not only going to be huge during awards season, but may be one of the defining movies of the decade so far.

I don’t know what it was, but I got terrible sleep last night. I still went to go see this movie. Nothing was going to stop me. Afterwards, I told my friend that I was going to go straight to sleep and that I would eventually get to this review. The film is simply exhilarating. I am still on this adrenaline rush after watching it. Why not review it if I can’t go to sleep in the meantime? When I think of PTA, I tend to think of something a bit slower that’s also effective. This film feels unlike anything PTA has ever done before, but also his stamp all over it. If it really took him twenty years to write the script, you can see where his vision has come to life through every single frame.

Leonardo DiCaprio somehow knows how to pick the right scripts. The guy has made many iconic performances, and somehow, he still makes me believe that this may be his best performance yet. His ability to evoke emotion & humor at the right given time is insanely impressive. The film boasts quite the cast from Sean Penn & Benicio del Toro to Teyana Taylor & Chase Infiniti. If anyone got any sort of award recognition for their respective roles here, I would fully support it.

It’s impossible to get into the major specifics here without spoiling much. I knew when I first saw the marketing that it wasn’t really revealing much. The film even does a great job at subverting my expectations at times that also worked. It showed the complexity of this world and its characters and how not everything is black-and-white. There is a lot of political themes at play here, which makes me even more surprised how much people like it. Someone like PTA knows how to make a film that’s both thematic & entertaining. That’s what makes a film like this work.

I have seen all of PTA’s work. This is certainly his most action-packed. Seeing it in theaters fully immerses you into the film from the cinematography to the sound design. There are specific car chase sequences that had me hooked. What the camera does with these car chases are extraordinary. The sound design brings jump scares that make you feel the terror at play here. John Greenwood brings a haunting & engaging score to the film, delivering one of the best of the year. I do want to bring up how PTA places a particular film into the movie in a creative way that certainly acts as inspiration to the movie. Everything PTA places here is completely deliberate and full of meaning.

When the film first starts out, there are some shocking moments that didn’t bother me, but did surprise me with how much people were enjoying the film. The events that occur often have a greater purpose down the line that actually deepens what we thought we knew about the film both for the story and for the themes. I already can’t wait to watch the film again to catch new details. I knew the long runtime of close to three hours wouldn’t bother me, and it didn’t. The annoying guys sitting next to me were bothering me the most, but I’d say I did pretty good job at ignoring them. This is a film that makes it quite easy to not look at the time or at your phone. The runtime just breezes by.

The film intentionally chooses to leave certain things open. While that may frustrate some, I think it brings a sense of reality and hope for these characters and how it may mirror the real world. Some people just don’t get the opportunity to have a happy ending. There are also some slower moments that are really effective with the dialogue that showcases PTA’s talents as a writer. I could see some feeling like it’s too slow if they aren’t familiar with the filmmaker, but I’d recommend to stay patient. PTA’s writing is intentional and effective between the dialogue and the actions. I can’t think of a single thing I didn’t like nor is there anything I would change.

Overall, One Battle After Another will go down as one of the defining movies by the time we reach the end of this decade. PTA’s vision is brought completely to life between the performances, action, and dialogue. It doesn’t get much better than this. This was my most anticipated movie of the year and it didn’t disappoint at all.

VERDICT: 5/5 (Perfect)