One Battle After Another
As of 10/1/25, One Battle After Another sits with a 95 Metacritic rating, and knowing it had such a high score going into the watch last Thursday, had my expectations at a maximum, and that is usually a recipe for some level of disappointment, but in this case, Paul Thomas Anderson absolutely delivers. I debated really hard between a 9.25 and a 9.5 rating on this, as I found it difficult to rank it above Sinners and Anora, last year’s Best Picture winner, but I gave it the bump at the last minute because One Battle After Another is the first movie in a long time I’ve immediately wanted to rewatch. A big reason for that is despite this being a nearly 3 hour movie, true to its title, this movie just flat out flies. It’s truly a roller coaster without brakes. I had to pee for the last half of this, as did our friend Austin, and yet neither of us dared to leave the theater, because there just wasn’t an opportunity to. Jord didn’t love the soundtrack, whereas E and Austin did, but I didn’t even register it most of the time as I was just so locked in on what was happening on the screen, yet another reason to rewatch it. Obviously with the A-list cast, you’d expect incredible performances, and they all deliver, but Sean Penn steals every single scene he’s in, and somehow is standout in a sea of standouts. He puts his entire body into the performance, literally down to his walk and it’s an absolute delight. There’s some beautiful, apt social and political commentary in this to boot, and I could really go on and on with its praises, but to keep this from being a novel I’ll just say that on a technical level this movie is a masterpiece. The cinematography, the directing, the acting, 10/10. Whereas I may have personally been a little bit higher on Sinners in terms of enjoyment, I didn’t immediately want to rewatch Sinners, and I wouldn’t call that a technical masterpiece. As far as Best Picture goes, this is the current movie to beat.
-Z
I was not sure this was going to live up to the critical hype it was receiving, but wow, it did. Excellent, very timely storyline. I personally loved the chaotic pacing and intense score - every scene was purposeful and sailed right along. I might have liked a little more development in the ending, but that’s just nitpicking.
-E
This potentially is the movie of the year. Strong story, great acting, very engaging, and topical. It hit basically every point and was what I needed after seeing Him and The Long Walk. This is the ‘new Leo movie,’ but realistically it should be the new Sean Penn movie. If you are a movie fan, this needs to be seen and in theaters. Who knows how this will end, as it came out a little early for awards season, but it will most definitely be there. My only issue is a bit with the ending and the score was way too much in my opinion. It towed a thin line because in some scenes it made it and in other scenes it was fully unnecessary and distracting. A very technical complaint, but the difference from a 10 and a 9.5.
-J
