"One Battle After Another" Is as Good as Everyone's Saying It Is

"The film - which was also written by Anderson but is loosely based on Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland - is easily the director's best work to date. It's rare for a movie to so expertly toe genre lines, but One Battle After Another (like life itself) is so many different things all at once: funny, moving, thrilling, suspenseful, visually stunning and extremely relevant to the times we find ourselves in."

"But for a movie that's already being called the defining film of its generation, a large chunk of its nearly three-hour runtime takes place 16 years in the past. Act 1 introduces us to the fictional, far-left militant group called the French 75 as they manage to break into an immigration detention center and free the migrants being held there."

The film has received overwhelmingly positive reviews and holds a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. Paul Thomas Anderson wrote and directed the film, which is loosely based on Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland. The movie blends multiple genres and delivers humor, suspense, emotional depth, and striking visuals while engaging with timely political and social themes. Leonardo DiCaprio gives what is described as the best performance of his career, with Sean Penn also singled out. The narrative examines race, power, revolution, and fatherhood, and a significant portion of the story is set in 2009, focusing on militants freeing migrants from a detention center.

Read at InsideHook