One Battle After Another

Paul Thomas Anderson’s, One Battle After Another (OBAA) has been my favourite film of 2025. I went in blind, without watching the trailer. All I knew was that it had received a lot of praise for its original plot. And after getting through to the credits, I definitely agreed. It was a great mix of spiralling drama, high-stakes action, and chaotic humour. It’s been a couple of months since that cinema trip, so it feels a bit strange opening up Youtube to watch the trailers. But, for the good of this blog post, I persist.

There are two official trailers released by Warner Bros for OBAA. I prefer the first trailer over the second; it has better music, a stronger editing rhythm, and is overall a bit more spoiler-free. Because of those points, this review will focus on the first trailer.

I’m in two minds about the trailer. I kinda feel for almost every good point, there is a bad. I think the best thing about OBAA is its unpredictable narrative. Lots of characters, twists, and turns. It took me a while (maybe 30 minutes or so) before I started to fully understand the plot. That might sound bad, but I found it extremely refreshing considering the amount of IPs I have consumed in the cinema this year (Jurassic World, Superman, Dandadan etc), where I already knew the lore and what to expect. So in that sense, watching the OBAA trailer felt a bit counterproductive as I would rather be taken on that narrative journey through watching the film.

But to its credit, the trailer does a good job of not giving too much away. It tells us Bob (Leonardo Di Caprio) is an ex-freedom fighter looking for his daughter (Chase Infiniti), and Steve Lockjaw (Sean Penn) is the bad guy. Considering all the subplots and layers to OBAA, the trailer is decently spoiler free, as previously mentioned. However, I honestly can’t tell if the trailer underplaying the talent and plot is fault or brilliance.

The trailer for OBAA mainly focuses on Leo as Bob. Through quick cuts you get to see the other actors on offer. You can deduce Teyana Taylor will play a big part as Bob’s love interest. As well as Benicio del Toro’s character, having a close relationship to Bob. You’ll see Regina Hall make a brief appearance, and just about make out ​​Wood Harris is in there too. Chase Infiniti is also a big presence as Bob’s daughter. It’s my first time seeing her on the big screen, though I’ve just found out she’s in the Tyler the Creator music video for “Darling, I”. Who knew! But anyway, there’s a nice “like mother, like daughter” moment where we see both Teyana and Chase mirror each other in rifle-shooting practice. So overall, a pretty good cast ensemble and character dynamics.

I would say in comparison to the trailer, OBAA really does excel in giving these other characters and subplots room to breathe. For example, a lot of the discourse I’ve read online hails Sean Penn as the most Oscar worthy in the film. Which I think is fair. His presence is quite diluted in the trailer. That said, you must trust your audience to know there is more to the film that meets the trailer.

I really liked the music in the first trailer. It's an original piece written by Wood Harris who created the entire soundtrack to OBAA, bar one song. I think the track is called “Like Tom Fkn Cruise”, or is a trailer specific variation. It really captures the high adrenaline of the film, as well as its cat and mouse-like tension. It’s my favourite aspect about the trailer.

The dialogue extracted from the film felt like a good choice. There is good dry-humour in the responses delivered over the phone as Bob fails to correctly say the password. I think that audio bite sits well between the snippets of action too. Who said you can’t fight government oppression without a few laughs?

The last scene of the trailer is one of my favourites in the film. I think it really showcases Bob’s character development and his relationship to Benicio del Toro’s character, Sergio St. Carlos. I would argue that it’s maybe too good to show. But it does convey the, at times, whimsical nature of the film. 

And now, to the main question. Does the trailer make me want to watch the film? I guess so. It looks fast-paced and entertaining. Definitely an accurate reflection of the film. The trailer tells us there’s a strong and diverse cast, and director. There’s a lot of playfulness to it; almost an A24-esque edginess and quirkiness, and you can understand there's some political themes. There’s some emotional depth sprinkled in there too; e.g. Starletta DuPois as Grandma Minnie, levelling with Bob that he is not up to her revolutionary standards. So overall it's ticking a lot of boxes. 

I think my issue is, when I watch the trailer I’m not super excited. It shows promise, but my expectations aren’t super high. I’m not watching it, thinking this film is gonna be my favourite of the year. There are some trailers I like to watch repeatedly, this isn’t one of them.

And that’s my overall assessment of the trailer. I feel this review has been a bit all over the place. So, thank you if you’ve made it this far. Writing it has helped me form my opinion. I think the trailer is decent, but the movie is far better. I really like the music and its pacing. I appreciate it not giving too much away. I’ve made comments on this blog about modern trailers revealing too much. But in this case, it just doesn’t deliver a lot of excitement for me. If there was a bit more emotional weight, that would’ve shifted my opinion a bit. I found the buzz generated through word of mouth reviews more enticing than the trailer itself. 

Overall rating - 3/5