NFL
By: Matt Overton
Paul Thomas Anderson’s newest film, One Battle After Another, has met the moment in history better than any piece of art in my lifetime. Totally subversive and provocative, yet a certified crowd-pleasing blockbuster, PTA has managed to plate the most delicious new meal for film canon this side of the century. With a cast of revolutionaries, sex-crazed authoritarians, and an exclusive Christmas supremacy group, One Battle After Another is a rousing, hilarious, poignant, and triumphant achievement of the year.
Anderson is one of our greatest contemporary directors, but he hardly ever sets his stories in the present day. The master of authentic period dramas, he has now turned his sights on the vitriolic landscape of modern America. As the 1st Amendment continues to come under attack in this country, the auteur’s auteur proves that it’s not dead yet, with his left-leaning revolutionaries pitted against an authoritarian military force. One Battle After Another depicts the lengths individuals will go to abide by their own values and morals, but also how constricting they can be, and how sometimes the bigger picture is more important than someone’s personal code.
Bob Ferguson is a former member of the revolutionary group named the French 75. He left his incendiary lifestyle behind once his daughter Charlene was born, but his firebrand politics and paranoia are permanent fixtures. He made a name for himself by being the explosives expert, making a show of raiding an immigration detention center, bombing some corrupt politicians’ offices, and robbing a bank for safe measure. The film makes a deliberate effort to label these citizens as revolutionaries and not terrorists; their actions may be destructive, but they are not particularly violent or interested in extra-judicial murder. When Colonel Lockjaw resurfaces after sixteen years looking for revenge, these politically mindful individuals must band together for one last rodeo.
As bad as the marketing for this film is, I can accept that Warner Bros. simply didn’t know how to put together a proper trailer. This film is chock full of radical ideas and characters, caught up in a complex ideological battle over the soul of America. The executive’s confusion over how to market this was probably the same kind of confusion that led them to write the most expensive check of PTA’s career, with a sum almost double that of his most successful box office run. One Battle After Another is a movie made for the people; it just so happens to involve a ton of politically charged messaging. In the script, hot-button issues are dealt with head-on and with enough maturity that it doesn’t necessitate addressing the asinine culture war that is plaguing our nation.
One of the greatest assets in PTA’s filmmaking is the incredible pacing of his stories. At 162 minutes, this is his second-longest film, but it moves with such an energized pace that it doesn’t even feel close to three hours. There are so many big ideas stuffed into this revolutionary family drama, ideas about racism and capitalism, the role of a revolutionary, how having a child changes your life and perspectives, and how government overreach will flood all avenues of power until someone stands up to stop it. Plus, most importantly, we’re warned about the pernicious effects of the Christmas Adventurer Club.
With One Battle After Another, PTA proves that he’s not only the stuffy auteur that most people see him as. He is capable of making a little something for everyone and being damn good at it all. He gives us a thoughtful, character-driven drama that deals in explosive contemporary politics, packaged in the most crowd-pleasing, blockbuster comedy package. The complicated song and dance that this film achieved will be studied for generations. It manages to be so proactive and emotionally charged while maintaining its identity as an innocuous character drama. One Battle After Another is THE film of 2025, and will define this year, and possibly the decade, for a very long time.
