One Battle After Another (2025)

Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

PTA’s One Battle After Another is a wild mix of action, satire, and family drama, but at the center of it all is Willa. She’s not just a daughter caught in the middle; She is the future. Everyone wants a piece of her, everyone wants to shape her, and that makes her more than a character.

For her father Bob, she’s a second chance, a reason to live beyond ideology. For Colonel Lockjaw and his militia, she’s something to be captured and molded. Willa herself doesn’t even know who she is yet, and that uncertainty about her past makes her story hit even harder.

She represents the way every generation inherits confusion, trauma, and hope from the one before it. Everyone pulling her in different directions is a perfect metaphor for how society tries to claim ownership over the future. But what keeps the movie from feeling completely bleak is its sense of hope. Willa’s journey suggests that the cycle of endless battles can be broken and that change is still possible.

On the filmmaking side, it’s just gorgeous. The cinematography is breathtaking, the score is pitch-perfect, and the acting is next level. DiCaprio is fantastic, Chase Infiniti as Willa is unforgettable, and Sean Penn… well, you just have to see it. 

And really, this is a movie you need to see on the biggest screen you can find. Shot on film, every frame has a depth and texture you can feel. One Battle After Another isn’t just a movie—it’s an experience you sink into.