‘One Battle After Another’ Review: A Fun but Shallow Crusade
As someone who has watched films ranging from action blockbusters to emotional dramas, I find the most satisfaction from films that explore themes with depth. The films that remain etched in my mind do not simply acknowledge that a theme exists, but show the layers behind this theme that make the message not so absolute. For instance, rather than just showing how power sets people apart, a film could explore how power enables a character to chase their dreams while making them more lonely in their pursuit.
One Battle After Another, however, rushes through many themes with erratic conflicts, and fails to explore each theme with depth. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film won a whopping six Oscars from thirteen nominations at the Oscars 2026, and yet popular opinion has been divided between either thinking this was a generational masterpiece or a flop. I’m tilting the meter towards the latter.
The film focuses on the unending culture war in America between authorities and revolutionaries, and revolves around two characters, Bob (Leonardo Dicaprio) and Perfidia (Teyana Taylor). The young couple partakes in the French 75, an armed revolutionary group attacking migrant prisons in the country. Bob and his daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), escape after a mission goes wrong, and the father-daughter duo lives a secluded life for sixteen years until an old enemy, Captain Lockjaw (Sean Penn), tries to kill them. Willa must thereby grapple with the consequences of her parents' revolutionary past.
The reason why this film fails in depth can, in fact, be found in its very name: it is only one thematic battle after another, and each battle fails to reach its deserved depth. The beginning of the film puts Lockjaw and Perfidia at the center of attention, where the former forms a sexual obsession over the latter. Perfidia uses this to her own advantage by convincing Lockjaw to let her go when caught planting a bomb, and the film begins to explore the sexualization and stereotypes of Black women. Except Perfidia suddenly disappears from the movie entirely. Yes, the film acknowledges that racial discrimination exists. But did Perifidia’s character change because of this, or did she choose to challenge this… or did she interact with this force at all? Nope. Just like Perfidia, the theme of racial stereotypes is not explored again in the film.
Racism isn’t the only theme that One Battle After Another touches yet fails to dive into. One hour in, the film focuses on Willa, Perfidia’s daughter, who is forced to escape when Lockjaw invades her school. Willa soon becomes mistrustful of those around her, but still trusts her father in continuing the resistance. Then, just like how Perfidia disappears, the father-daughter duo does not meet again until the very end of the film. Racial discrimination and intergenerational trust are only a few examples of the themes this film touches on, but never actually develops. As the film moves from one battle to the next, character interactions simply disappear, creating a narrative vacuum and neglecting character development almost completely. One Battle After Another thereby becomes more of a thematic tasting platter than the feast Paul Thomas Anderson sought to create.
Compare this to Top Gun: Maverick, which is classified as much more of an action film than One Battle After Another, and yet, tackles its own themes with much more depth. Facing the past serves as a powerful theme in this aviator action film: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller) initially resents his leader, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise), because Rooster’s father, Maverick’s former wingman, sacrificed his life on a mission, a debt Maverick never absolved himself for. As a result, Maverick’s past initially torments him, but he consequently gains the resolve to protect Rooster by sacrificing himself. Rooster returns to rescue him, leading to the two characters reconciling. See the difference? In Top Gun: Maverick, facing the past tormented Maverick but helped him transform from a solitary aviator to a selfless leader. In One Battle After Another, the themes of racism and intergenerational trust are identified, and yet Bob, Perfidia, Willa, or even Lockjaw did not undergo any character development.
Nevertheless, Paul Thomas Anderson does not falter in his choreographic precision, bringing a stream of awe-inspiring action set pieces into Lockjaw’s hunt for Willa. The quick succession between rooftop foot chases and car chases over undulating desert hills helped the film maintain a brisk pacing, in spite of its near three-hour duration. But because the film fails in executing its themes, it feels more like a disconnected series of Youtube action shorts: you find it fun to watch it, but you don’t get anything meaningful out of it.
While there was no depth to this, perhaps there’s a point behind why One Battle After Another tries to touch upon so many themes: political conflict is not simply a one-time stand-off but rather a series of more personal challenges, whether that’s living with discrimination or passing down one’s conviction to the next generation. Bob and Perfidia’s revolution may be over for now, but as Willa continues their conviction, she must take on the obstacles of racism and trust that they left behind. The movie is pretty fun, but it serves as an example of the costs of neglecting a movie’s themes, nevertheless.