Since its release on September 26, 2025, Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, One Battle After Another, has sparked seemingly equal amounts of praise and criticism from audiences. It’s likely that the divisiveness of this movie comes from political views and differences. 

The vast majority of people who did not enjoy the film preface their critiques by stating that the film is well made and visually appealing, however is too political or politically biased. Such critics being conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, or the famous YouTube film reviewer “The Critical Drinker”, both of whom saying that the film was directed and acted well but the script and story are too terrible for those traits alone to redeem it.

In my opinion, as for any great director, it is hard to always live up to your previous great films, especially when Paul Thomas Anderson is in the conversation, having directed masterpieces such as There will be Blood (2007) and Boogie Nights (1997). That being said, One Battle After Another is an amazing film that covers multiple very relevant issues such as immigration and political extremism. While these topics are undoubtedly divisive on their own, the way that the story is told, no one side is entirely painted as the “good guys” or completely innocent. 

Other strengths of the film include its “edge of your seat” style pacing, beautiful cinematography, and the combination of a captivating original score as well as many iconic needle drop moments.

My one issue with the film is its lack of a true character resolution. Throughout the movie, it is hinted that the daughter of the two main characters would see the flaws in her parents’ extremism and decide to avoid life as a political rebel. However, in the end, she just falls into the footsteps of her parents and the violent life, seemingly learning nothing from her conflicts throughout the story and making a disappointing end to what was otherwise a great experience.