Leonardo DiCaprio’s new action thriller has been labelled an “instant classic” as the first reviews land. One Battle After Another, which is directed and written by Paul Thomas Anderson, has achieved a near-perfect score, with critics praising the film’s mix of action, comedy and political commentary.
One Battle After Another tells the story of Bob Ferguson (DiCaprio), a former revolutionary who reunites with his old group of rebels to rescue his daughter after she goes missing.
The film boasts a stacked cast with Teyana Taylor playing the mother of Bob’s daughter and Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro and Regina Hall also starring, together with musician Alana Haim, who joins Anderson once more after starring in Licorice Pizza. Chase Infiniti appears as Bob’s daughter Willa in her feature film debut.
Currently boasting a Rotten Tomatoes score of 97%, it seems like One Battle After Another could become a hit following its cinema release on 26 September.
"The kind of movie that only Paul Thomas Anderson can make with a ridiculously stacked cast, led by Leonardo DiCaprio, that doesn't contain a single weak link and is sure to be in awards contention," praised Digital Spy's movies editor Ian Sandwell.
Empire wrote: “In years to come, when this appears on TV late at night, it’ll be impossible to switch off. It’s just one of those films. A stone-cold, instant classic.”
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The Guardian added: “One Battle After Another is at once serious and unserious, exciting and baffling, a tonal fusion sending that crazy fizz across the VistaVision screen - an acquired taste, yes, but addictive.”
Other critics praised the film’s blend of political commentary and family drama, with iNews describing it as: “A film about legacy, about fathers and daughters, about the fight against an all-too-real American government hellbent on white supremacy, militarism, and oppression. Yet it also manages to be one of the most touching and absorbing thrillers of the year.”
Other reviews complemented the thriller’s approach to comedy, with Little White Lies writing: “This is another slam-dunk for Anderson, who has made a film that is a very rare beast indeed: one that is incredibly fun without ever once straining to be.”
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Esquire UK summed it up succinctly, saying: “Paul Thomas Anderson’s smart, comic, knotty, emotionally charged chase movie might just be a masterpiece”.
One Battle After Another is said to be loosely based on Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland.
This makes it Anderson's second adaptation of the American author's work after 2014's Inherent Vice, which starred an ensemble cast led by Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson and Katherine Waterston.
One Battle After Another will be released in cinemas on 26 September.
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