One Battle After Another

The 2024 Best Picture winner Anora was an unlikely choice for me but I can't deny it was a very good film and so onto the next BP winner for 2025 which was One Battle After Another. This was Paul Thomas Anderson's third film in ten years and would be the big award winner that year as he brought together a talented cast and crew to tell a very topical but also controversial story.

Split into two parts, One Battle sees a revolutionary couple in America forced into going their separate ways when Teyana Taylor's character is arrested. Leonardo DiCaprio is left with their baby and has to go on the run when his former lover sells everyone out, but the past catches up with him many years later.

I've only seen a couple of Anderson's films and this is certainly his most action-packed experience to date with plenty of twists and turns over the course of a rather long (I watched in two parts) 162 minutes. But the performances, Johnny Greenwood's score and visuals never disappointed and kept me entertained as we see DiCaprio frantically go on the run. 

However, this is one film I feel that works best viewed once and relies on the viewer not knowing where the story will go next. Particularly as we do get extendedly long sequences which are amusing but even on my sole viewing did start to wear a little. Once the suspense is gone, I feel that running time will feel rather too long. And I just didn't care all that much for the main characters, which would be fine if we weren't suppose to feel an emotional conclusion by the end as an observer, but the story relies on there being an emotional beat which never landed and I felt nothing. 

One Battle After Another has plenty of style but the substance just isn't there for me and so I found this to be a mildly enjoyable yet forgettable experience. Its topical subject matter will give it some longevity but I can't see myself coming back and would recommend this more for cinephiles / fans of Anderson's work. Suffice to say; this is one of those big Oscar winners which has me wondering what all the fuss was about.