Lamar Reviews - One Battle After Another (Airdate 10/3/2025)

Lamar Reviews - One Battle After Another (Airdate 10/3/2025)

For five weeks of going to the movies I’ve watched
this trailer. For five weeks I’ve been confused
about what this movie is about. People are all the
time complaining about trailers giving up too much
about a movie. That certainly cannot be said about
One Battle After Another. I knew who was in it,
Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro,
Regina Hall, and Teyana Taylor. All reasons
enough to watch the movie.
DiCaprio plays Bob who is a dope smoking bomb
maker for a domestic terrorist group called
“French 75”. He is in love with Perfidia, an over-
the-top leader of the group who is totally
committed to the cause. Sean Penn plays Col.
Steven Lockjaw, who leads the military group
trying to stop the French 75. Col. Lockjaw is also
an extreme racist that is sexually obsessed with
Perfidia. When Perfidia and Bob welcome the birth
of Willa, played by Chase Infiniti, Bob’s priorities
change. He wants them to be a family, but Perfidia
is still married to the cause and motherhood is not
in her plan.

The movie is fast-forwarded to the present with
Bob as a single dad doing his best to raise Willa,
while hiding from his past, and trying to protect
her. Bob does this while staying in a haze of pot
smoking paranoia.
But is it really paranoia if they are actually out to
get you? Col. Lockjaw has not given up the hunt
for Bob or Willa, and that is where the drama and
action really kick in.
The only people Bob can trust are Deandra,
played by Regina Hall, and Willa’s sensei, Sergo
St. Carlos, played by Benicio Del Toro.
The movie is a lengthy 2 hours 41 minutes, but I
can’t think of a thing that could have been left out
without hurting the movie. It’s Rated R for
pervasive language, violence sexual content, and
drug use.
After seeing the movie, I understood why the
trailer was so confusing. There is too much to
going on to put in a trailer and have it make much
sense.

There are funny moments, but this is not a
comedy. It is a thriller with a few very funny
moments. It is somewhat of a satire in as much as
it makes fun of extremism of both sides of the
political landscape.
For all of the baggage that hangs on DiCaprio’s
personal life, the man can act. He gives it all he’s
got as Bob, a loser that refuses to lose.
Benicio del Toro does not know how to not be
great in whatever role he is playing.
But the standout in this movie is Sean Penn as
Col. Steven Lockjaw. This is Sean Penn as I’ve
never seen him. He lives up to the ridiculous name
of Col. Lockjaw in every possible way, and then
some!
The movie is long, and if you get the $12 soda you
are going to have to go to the restroom. Make
sure you do it before the final 40 minutes, because
you don’t want to miss the climax of this movie.
Just the cinematography is breathtaking, and the
tension, you need a chainsaw to cut it.
One of the best movies of the year for sure.

My Score: 5 Ice Cold Budweisers for sure!