Paul Thomas Anderson's ‘One Battle After Another' Test Screens

Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest screened on Thursday evening in Phoenix. Anderson was in attendance, and in good spirits. This is going to be one lengthy film — the film clocked in at 2 hours 50 minutes. The cut shown looked “close to finished.”

We finally have some concrete details about this one, which garnered positive reactions. Obviously, as with all such screenings, it’s very hard to measure just how good (or bad) a film is going to turn out, so I’m not even going to bother with any of the in-depth reactions I’ve been hearing about.

What I will say is that our initial hunch has proven to be correct. This is, more or less, Anderson’s take on “Vineland,” but in the most mainstream way imaginable. The story is taken straight out of Thomas Pynchon’s novel, although the character’s names have been changed, and there are enough differences for the film to firmly stand on its own.

As far as the title goes, it’s definitely called “One Battle After Another.” Based on what I’ve heard, that’s a very apt description of the entire film which goes from one big elaborate action set-piece after another. It’s a “huge crowd-pleaser” with “lots of stunts and car chases.”

Sean Penn plays Col. Steven J. Lockjaw and he’s a “white supremacist” who somehow had an affair with Teyana Taylor’s character. She ends up leaving him, taking up with with Leonardo Dicaprio’s “Bob” and that’s when Lockjaw tries tracking both of them down. It’s a 3-hour chase movie, but despite its dark themes, is very funny, filled with comedic elements, including slapstick.

According to one source, the best way to describe “One Battle After Another” is as a “big action comedy,” and one can very much witness Jonathan Demme’s influence, especially his great 1988 film “Something Wild,” which itself was a hybrid of action and very dark humor. Anderson’s film seems to have taken Demme’s template, and blown it up into a 3-hour epic.

As far as the performances go, Leonardo DiCaprio is his usual great self, but it’s Sean Penn who seems to steal the show as Lockjaw. Sporting a greyish buzzcut, Penn’s Lockjaw is described as a “great villain” that’ll be giving you some real nightmares once you’ve finished watching the film.

Warner Bros. greenlit PTA’s latest for the whopping sum of (at least) $140 million. The film is said to be PTA’s most “mainstream” film to date.

“One Battle After Another” is set to be released in theaters on August 8, 2025, including IMAX. The still-untitled film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Sean Penn, Alana Haim, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, Wood Harris and Shayna McHayle aka Junglepussy.

UPDATE: The Film Stage has its own report, having spoken to an attendee who called the film “batsh*t crazy.” Penn gets the second most screentime after DiCaprio. Johnny Greenwood’s score is “chilling” with a “techno” style. The piece also confirms my previous reporting that PTA’s film has “some sci-fi elements” and is inspired by both Demme’s “Something Wild” and Alex Cox’s “Repo Man.”