Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the biggest names in cinema and is praised by many as one of the greatest directors ever to do it. Ashamedly, his filmography is one of my massive cinema blind spots, having only watched Punch-Drunk Love (2002), which I love. It has never been out of spite or anything, merely just a case of not getting around to things in my watchlist, as per usual. With many highly acclaimed films like There Will Be Blood (2007), Phantom Thread (2017), and Boogie Nights (1997), it does feel sinful that I have not prioritised ploughing on with what could very well be some of the best films I will ever see. With this being said, I am not here to grovel and apologise for being a poor cinephile, but I am here to say that after watching PTA’s new release One Battle After Another, I am going to rectify those blind spots as promptly as I can. I am truly astonished that even with the immense acclaim this film has already got, people say this is not even his best film, which does nothing but excite me to delve straight in and get watching. One Battle After Another is a wacky and strange, but also confident and coherent, film that feels like an instant classic cinematic epic. Films this good do not come by very often, and it has shot straight to the top of my films of the year.

One Battle After Another stars the ever-fantastic Leonardo DiCaprio as Pat, who is part of a revolutionary group called the French 75. In the prologue, we see him and a group of his companions freeing immigrants from a military detention centre, preaching freedom and not being afraid to humiliate the military in the process. Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), love interest to Pat and another member of the French 75, decides to humiliate the commanding officer of the camp, Steve Lockjaw (Sean Penn). The encounter only leads to Lockjaw’s sexual fascination with Perfidia, pursuing her and fantasising about her. Pat and Perfidia end up having a child, Charlene, but Perfidia’s refusal to settle down as a family leads to her capture, which ultimately leads her into witness protection, thus putting Pat and all her comrades in danger. After 15 years of hiding in a sanctuary town called Baktan Cross, Pat and Charlene, now known as Bob and Willa (Chase Infiniti), are about to be woken from their solitude. Lockjaw is after both of them, trying to tie up loose ends that are much more complicated than they might first seem.

To start with, you really need to understand just how mental this film is when going into it, because I was unprepared. This is a full-blown odyssey that feels as long as its almost 3-hour runtime might suggest, and yet every single minute is exceptional, lean-forward-in-your-seat ecstasy. Firing on all cylinders right from the beginning, so much is loaded into this package, and it takes a skilled director like PTA to tie all of it together, without making it feel bloated. It would be incredibly easy for this to feel bloated, with its political satire, absurdist comedy, unbearably tense action sequences, and much more in this perfectly stirred mixing pot. The bulk of this film is Pat going on the run and trying to find Willa, who he assumes has been taken in by his French 75 buddies. Lockjaw’s seemingly infinite connections, though, make this much easier said than done, and the whole film is full of nail-biting tension as a result. At times, it feels like a gangster film, except fitted with a nitrous boost engine in line with this film’s breakneck pace. There is a lot of talk of rats, moles, and speaking in code to make sure people are not exposed. One recurring joke is that Pat’s past 15 years as a stoner have rotted his brain to the point of not being able to remember his old codes, resulting in some heated phone calls begging them to help him out. It is no wonder they are so cautious because Lockjaw really is brutal and thorough in his quelling of the French 75 members. Abducting members and forcing them to turn against their comrades by threatening their families leaves them no choice, and so he is always breathing down the neck of Pat and Willa.

Part of the reason Lockjaw is also so menacing comes down to the performance from Sean Penn, who may have the Best Supporting Actor Oscar locked down. He is fantastic at being rather quirky and unassuming at times, but when he really has to get his hands dirty, you feel it immensely. DiCaprio is also brilliant, and though it’s a very different role for him, he proves why he is one of the best in the business. He sells this disgruntled stoner hippie, who is trying his best to look after his daughter, but ultimately failing to do so. He also has excellent comedic timing, and his chemistry with Benicio Del Toro’s character showcased some of the best. I mentioned him forgetting the codes for the French 75, and one phone call he has with them is laugh-out-loud hilarious. Though I would not quite classify the film as a comedy, it certainly feels like it at points. Its absurdist comedy and satire are both showcased when the film gets to its darkest, but its tongue-in-cheekness in these scenes makes it a riot. There is a group of white supremacists that Lockjaw is trying to get into league with, and they are called the ‘Christmas Adventurers’. Whilst they are horribly racist, they are also impeccably stupid, hence the name. How the film manages to have such dark subject matter, but not feel disjointed from the more comedic aspects, is true genius. This is what I mean when I say there is so much stuffed into this package. It has these comedic scenes, the political examinations and satirisations, whilst also having a tense thriller running through the whole thing. When it gets to some of the more tense and action-packed scenes, like some of the car chases shown in the trailer or the revolutionary scenes at the start, they still work in tandem with all the themes on show. Accompanying all of this is the fantastic and unusual score, done by Jonny Greenwood, that sums up the film as a whole through its quirkiness, tenderness, and full-on boisterousness. The result of all One Battle After Another‘s components working together is this inexplicably fun joyride that I genuinely think anyone will get some joy out of.

One Battle After Another will definitely be remembered for a long time, and though I find it hard to deem something an instant classic, this is one of the rare cases where I am completely sure. When I say everybody will enjoy this, it is because it really has something to offer for everyone. A tender tale about family, a tense thriller where nobody can be trusted, a satirisation of politics and extremist groups, it has it all. Although it may seem a lot to digest, I think that is perhaps the best thing about it. The most confident filmmakers can take all of these elements and fuse them into one project where they all contribute to each other’s strength. Paul Thomas Anderson has created a whirlwind of an epic that feels like classic cinema of old, and yet feels new and its own beast all the same. It has wonderful performances, a camera that moves around with such personality and care, but most important of all is that it is entertaining consistently over its 162-minute runtime. This has surpassed Sinners as my film of the year, and I would be very surprised if anything else came close.