One Battle After Another ( 2025)

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So the Oscar winner has arrived on streaming services in the UK so I gave it a go. It stars Leo Dicaprio in the lead and like his last Oscar chasing movies ( lets face it, he only does Oscar chasing movies now) , Killers of the Flower Moon and Don't Look Up , there is a political take on modern America woven into the scripts. Leo loves to lecture us on save the world through his green initiatives but also loves to jet around the world burning kerosene and having fun in his six houses, including a private island. This one tackles white supremacy and Trump like immigration policy as Leo and his revolutionaries try to change the world through an urban terrorist group in modern day AMerica. Leo's character Bob is dating a fellow revolutionary Perfidia (Teyana Taylor) , a hot head black chic who is ready to spread some black power and change that world. But when a mission goes wrong and she is caught, we flash forward 16 years to find Bob is looking after his grown up daughter and mom has gone a long time ago. The group are still active of sorts and have an underground style railroad to stay hidden as still on the run from the cops after all those years. But when his daughter goes missing he has to try and figure out all the passwords and codes through the group to try and recover here as she has no phone and acting on the groups protocols of stealth to keep her hidden. Hot on their heels is military man Col Lockjaw ( Sean Penn), who his solemn duty to make sure he brings all of the group to justice and has an extra reason to find the girl. As with all Oscar movies its too long and trying to be too perfect. Great cast and Leo is a proper actor now as well as an A-List movie star, the pretty boy days of Titanic long gone but solid here. He is engaging in the lead playing that angsty middle class America angry with the world in most of his movies.. The films themes around powerful white supremacy clubs and the immigration crackdown clearly a pop at Trump by Oscar winning director Paul Thomas Anderson. I enjoyed it enough but not that memorable or stand out as far as best Picture goes. It's not a film you would not watch again or indeed remember. You just feel obliged to watch it when it pops up and enjoy it, as someone important feels its good. There's a cool and original car chase scene at the end I quite liked and it has that 1970s movie feel about it although the soundtrack could have been stronger.