At The Movies: Guns are ablaze in One Battle After Another’s thrilling chase through a divided US

One Battle After Another (M18)

162 minutes, opens on Sept 25
★★★★☆

The story: Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a former member of a revolutionary organisation, has given up his struggle, turning to drink and drugs while trying to raise his teenage daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) in a small town. Military officer Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn) refuses to give up hunting down Bob and Willa, and the pair soon find themselves on the run, haunted by the father’s violent past.

Three-time Best Director Oscar nominee Paul Thomas Anderson’s first action thriller follows Bob, a drink-and-drug burnout and self-styled revolutionary as he is hunted by his personality opposite – the devoutly patriotic and fiendishly disciplined Lockjaw.

And it is a thrill ride that never lets up. The American writer-director combines suspenseful storytelling, absurdist humour and sharp insights into American society. A stunning action climax caps his most accessible work yet, likely making it a Best Picture contender at the 2026 Oscars.

Bob and Lockjaw race across an America that feels like a slightly more exaggerated version of the one outsiders see today. Dotted throughout are sanctuary cities populated by the poor, with the mostly non-white populace besieged by a militarised police force.

Against this harsh but realistic portrayal of a nation split by class and race, Anderson imagines a shadow government. American cabals, cults and conspiracies have long fascinated the film-maker, who examined Scientology’s origins in The Master (2012) and masculine worship in Magnolia (1999).

In this story, his eugenics-obsessed oligarchy feels more factual than fictional with each news cycle.

By the way, almost everyone other than Bob and Willa have goofy names. There is the steel-spined Lockjaw, the freedom fighter Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) and others. American novelist Thomas Pynchon, whose 1990 book Vineland inspired the screenplay, likely influenced this creative choice.

As the chase continues, the inner lives of Bob and Lockjaw are revealed, showing both men to be flawed.

Lockjaw is the type of American patriot familiar to those active on social media. Deeply ashamed of his kinks, he takes it out on the weak, rebranding the violence as making his country great again.

Bob spouts off about his liberal values, but fails as a father and in making real change, traits he shares with his fellow fighters.

Anderson never mocks both sides of the political divide, as American satirists tend to do. In his timely look at a nation in turmoil, he is squarely on the side of those who reject torture and death squads.

Hot take: Anderson’s latest is his most accessible yet, succeeding as a chase movie and biting satire of American political extremism.