Paul Thomas Anderson makes movies for people who love movies. That has always been true. And One Battle After Another might be his most entertaining work, period. It is also his most politically explicit, which creates a strange experience for conservative viewers who appreciate craft but bristle at being lectured.

Leonardo DiCaprio is terrific as a washed-up revolutionary turned paranoid stoner living off the grid with his teenage daughter Willa. He is funny, pathetic, and deeply loving in a way he cannot articulate because his brain is swimming in THC. Sean Penn is genuinely terrifying as Colonel Lockjaw, a corrupt military officer who built his career on anti-immigration operations and murders revolutionary group members without trial. Chase Infiniti, in her film debut, is the revelation. She carries the emotional heart of the film with a naturalism that would be impressive from a veteran actress.

The action sequences are outstanding, shot in VistaVision with startling depth and clarity. The car chase through Baktan Cross and the final highway confrontation are beautifully staged.

But the politics are relentless. The film opens with revolutionaries breaking detained immigrants out of a real facility. Immigration enforcement is presented as state violence. The Christmas Adventurers Club, a white supremacist secret society, represents organized, institutional racism. A sanctuary city is raided by military forces using immigration operations as cover. Conservative viewers who hold different views on immigration will find their positions coded as villainous throughout.

There are moments of genuine moral complexity. Perfidia, Willa's mother, is a revolutionary who is also a terrible person. She abandons her child, murders a guard, betrays her comrades. The bounty hunter Avanti refuses to harm a child and dies protecting her.

$208 million worldwide against a $130-175 million budget. 13 Oscar nominations, 4 Golden Globes. But the American public did not turn out in the numbers Warner Bros. hoped for.

Bottom line: brilliantly made, performances outstanding across the board, and politics unrelentingly progressive. If you can hold two thoughts at once, there is a great movie here.

Trope	Category	Location	Authenticity
Immigration Allegory / Pro-Immigration Framing	WOKE	Throughout - opens with jailbreak at real detention facility, sanctuary city raided by military	Organic to story, derived from Pynchon and Anderson's original material
Institutional Evil / Corrupt Military	WOKE	Throughout - Colonel builds career through anti-immigration operations and extrajudicial killings	Organic, derived from Pynchon's distrust of government
White Supremacy as Institutional Power	WOKE	Second half - Christmas Adventurers Club: wealthy, organized white supremacist secret society	Original to Anderson's screenplay
Sanctuary City as Moral Good	WOKE	First half - Baktan Cross presented as thriving community destroyed by military raids	Original to Anderson's screenplay
Revolutionary Heroes	WOKE	Throughout - far-left French 75 are the film's heroes despite violent methods	Derived from Pynchon's Vineland
Interracial Relationships as Threat to Power	WOKE	Second half - Lockjaw's relationship with Black woman used to destroy him by white supremacists	Original to Anderson
Militarized Police State	WOKE	Middle - troops raid sanctuary city with armored vehicles, storm school dance	Anderson's original material
Director's Political Framing	WOKE	External - Anderson discussed film as response to 'the feeling in the air' in America	External
Father's Love / Protective Parent	TRADITIONAL	Throughout - Bob's entire motivation is protecting Willa, tearful reunion at end	Derived from Vineland's central relationship
Defense of the Innocent	TRADITIONAL	Multiple scenes - Sergio evacuates people, Avanti dies protecting Willa, Bob crosses state for daughter	Organic to the story
Consequences of Betrayal	TRADITIONAL	Perfidia's arc - abandons family, betrays comrades, spends sixteen years in exile	Anderson's original material
Community / Chosen Family	TRADITIONAL	First half - Baktan Cross functions as genuine community with mutual aid	Original to Anderson
Villain's Downfall	TRADITIONAL	Final act - Lockjaw killed by the white supremacist institution he tried to join	Original to Anderson
Coming of Age / Independence	TRADITIONAL	Willa's arc - sheltered teenager to young woman who survives and chooses her own path	Derived from Vineland