Disclaimer: *contains mild spoilers*
Took me some time to review One Battle After Another. What a film. What an edgy film.
So many well-blended themes.
So many scenes, so many set-pieces, reinvented! Especially that chase scene at the end. Oh my God. That’s something you don’t get to see on a regular day.
Movies like this usually come once in a few years, not grand in publicity but rich in storytelling. It’s not about being “huge.” It’s more like — look, this isn’t a massive thing, but if you do see it, it could change your life. It has that kind of aura.
It’s something different, something lasting.
Steven Spielberg was talking about this movie to Paul Thomas Anderson — saying its tone reminded him of Dr. Strangelove. I thought about it and realised - it makes sense. I could see parallels with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.
And The Shining isn’t grand or huge either. It’s not an “event film” like Avatar or Interstellar. It’s a simple story, but certain things in it are so well done that I tend to rewatch it time and again. It captures something in you. It makes you think about your life — the things you’re ignoring but probably shouldn’t.
This movie has that same novelty. It helps you tap into the ignored parts of yourself — and makes you wonder why you choose to ignore them. That’s what makes One Battle After Another such an excellent watch.
But this movie — this one — you might think “what’s going on?” at first, yet it keeps showing you exactly what’s going on. And the humour balances it out. Like Spielberg said, without that humour, things might feel too real. Because these are things really happening out there — but we choose to ignore them.
We’re too comfortable.
Everything’s accessible. We can pick what to consume and stay numb. But this movie reminds you that maybe you shouldn’t.
And beyond all that, the technical side is brilliant. Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Benicio del Toro — all acted damn well. Benicio del Toro’s appearance especially makes you think he deserves a spinoff. The cast gels so well, and PTA directs them so beautifully. You feel it’s mature stuff — not in-your-face, but layered and confident.
It’s a bunch of seasoned actors and promising newcomers, all in rhythm. Chase Infiniti is promising.
During the interval, I told my wife — DiCaprio’s performance makes you want to go home and rewatch Shutter Island, Inception, or The Wolf of Wall Street. Sean Penn's performance makes you want to watch Milk. Del Toro's performance makes you want to rewatch the excellent Sicario.
And the music — amazing. Jazz-funk-acid-pop energy. None of that AI-ish, homogenised stuff we’ve been hearing for years.
The soundtrack has its own pulse — fresh, distinct, alive. It swings. It sparks. It defines the scenes so well.
This movie, in a weird way, leaves you uncomfortable. You feel something serious is being shown, but the satire and comedy are too sharp to ignore.
You’re left with this feeling of ambivalence.
And maybe that’s the point. You crave balance at the end, but the real balance arrives when you do something about that discomfort. When you go out, research, talk, and start understanding what’s quietly, terribly wrong in the world, and why you keep ignoring it.
Because comfort blinds you. And this film shakes that comfort.
That’s the disturbance it creates and succeeds completely.
One Battle After Another - one of the finest films I’ve seen this year!
