When Steven Spielberg watches a movie three times before its release and calls it “insane” in the best possible way, you know Paul Thomas Anderson just delivered something special. One Battle After Another DiCaprio premieres September 26, 2025, and early reactions suggest PTA’s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland might be the most action-packed existential crisis ever put to film.
Spielberg’s Praise
“What an insane movie, oh my God. There is more action in the first hour of this than every other film you’ve ever directed put together,” Spielberg gushed during the Directors Guild of America Q&A with Anderson. The One Battle After Another DiCaprio collaboration marks the first time these titans have worked together, with Spielberg comparing the film’s tone to Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove.
Based on Pynchon’s 1990 novel, DiCaprio plays a washed-up revolutionary forced to rescue his teenage daughter Chase Infiniti (played by newcomer Chase Infiniti) when enemies from his past resurface. “The core of the story is a great one. It’s an ex-revolutionary [who] ends up in the woods raising a daughter, and the past is going to come back and haunt him,” Anderson explained.
Star Power
The One Battle After Another DiCaprio ensemble includes Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, and Teyana Taylor, creating the kind of casting that makes industry insiders take notice. Shot on VistaVision format for IMAX presentation, the production represents Anderson’s most technically ambitious project since The Master.
“I have not seen a movie that is so tonally related to Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove,” Spielberg continued during the DGA event. “This brings a kind of absurdist comedy, taken very seriously, because it’s so much a reflection of what’s happening today, every day, throughout this country.”
Critical Buzz
Early press reactions to One Battle After Another DiCaprio have been overwhelmingly positive, with IndieWire’s David Ehrlich calling it “might be the best movie released by a major American studio since I started working as a critic (~2010).” Film critic Bryan Sudfield praised it as “an uproarious, masterfully orchestrated descent into contemporary chaos, with PTA balancing absurdist flair and visceral thrills.”
The film explores themes of political disillusionment and generational trauma through Anderson’s signature character-driven approach, while delivering the kind of action sequences typically absent from his previous work. “But it takes it to a point where you want to laugh, because if you don’t laugh, you’re going to start screaming, ‘This is too real,'” Spielberg noted about the film’s uncomfortable relevance.
The One Battle After Another DiCaprio September 26 release positions it perfectly for awards season consideration, with the Spielberg endorsement providing the kind of industry credibility that transforms box office expectations. Whether audiences embrace Anderson’s most accessible yet challenging film remains to be seen.
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