Leonardo DiCaprio is the pistoning heart of this crazy story, giving a performance that’s half-hilarious and half-electrifying. His timing and boundless energy render him the ultimate scene-stealer, pulling the film through its shakier bits. The film’s subject matter—political polarization, societal farce, and the pointlessness of ideological struggles—resonates in our polarized America today. It’s a funhouse mirror held up against the craziness of our era, and when it hits, it cuts with laser-sharp precision.
At 162 minutes, One Battle After Another drags itself like it’s struggling to remain coherent. The script, weighed down by Pynchon’s thick source material, too often wanders through scenes that lead nowhere quickly. The second act, specifically, is a slog—characters walk pointlessly through the city, and the narrative idles like a gas-less car.
Tighter cuts could have trimmed at least 30 minutes without sacrificing the soul of the film. The character development also remains sparse, leaving most actors to feel like caricatures instead of fully fleshed-out individuals.
If your bladder is crying out for mercy, the second act’s where you are. There’s a big chunk of time where characters ping-pong across the city with little narrative movement. Sneak out, get some popcorn, and you won’t be missing much.
Adapting Thomas Pynchon is akin to grappling a literary octopus—complicated, slippery, and full of tentacles. Anderson’s effort approximates the novel’s absurdist energy but can’t quite stitch together a coherent story. The film divides into two halves: an frantic first act establishing the political circus and a meandering second half that is reminiscent of a two-hour chase scene with no end in sight. The dialogue isn’t memorable, but the cast brings it to life. The script is politically left-leaning and parodies the ineptitude of social warriors while subtly hinting at puppet masters controlling strings. It’s clever but on the surface, never cutting deep enough to really challenge its audience.
One Battle After Another is a patchwork—an ambitious, haphazard satire that’s enriched by its top-notch cast and topical concerns but sapped by a meandering focus and a bloated running time. It’s not the best from Paul Thomas Anderson, but DiCaprio’s frissons of energy and a wicked conclusion are worth a look for the star’s fan or anyone in the mood for an offbeat interpretation of America’s political spectacle. If you’re not a DiCaprio fan or a Pynchon aficionado, you may wait for streaming.