‘One Battle After Another’ Early Reactions Are Overwhelmingly Positive, Steven Spielberg Compares Tone Of “Insane Movie” To ‘Dr. Strangelove’

Later this month, audiences will finally get their eyes on Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” and there couldn’t be more buzz surrounding the movie after a wave of early reactions hit the internet, including a very strong response from fellow director Steven Spielberg, who doesn’t often gush about recent releases.

Spielberg, who has seen the movie three times already, also sang his praises for the PTA pic when speaking at the DGA theater (via The Film Stage) comparing the tone of “One Battle After Another” to Stanley Kurbrick’s masterpiece “Dr. Strangelove,” an extremely well-crafted satirical take on the threat of the Cold War and being on the brink of a nuclear Holocaust with the Soviet Union.

“What an insane movie, oh my God. There is more action in the first hour of this than every other [PTA movie] put together… I have not seen a movie that is so tonally a relative to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Dr. Strangelove.’ 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. 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.’ And so you got that outlet… more than nervously, I had a great time laughing all the way through this. But it’s interesting where you laugh here, where you allow us to laugh, and then when you shut it down,” Spielberg said of his impressions on the new PTA movie.

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Here is a taste of those early reactions making the rounds on social media, including our Editor-In-Chief, Rodrigo Perez.

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER. Suffice to say #1 movie of the year, urgent, visceral, funny, emotional & layered in the way it weaves all these disparate tones together in one wild rollicking ride of a story about all kinds of revolutions & evolutions, personal & political. Loved it. pic.twitter.com/3wu5lXwcTs

— yronlyhope.bsky.social (@YrOnlyHope) September 9, 2025

#OneBattleAfterAnother is a powder keg of a movie. The stellar ensemble cast deliver top notch performances from a sharp script over a killer score. Paul Thomas Anderson’s chaotic, engrossing opus is a wild ride. Masterful filmmaking that could have been a mess in the wrong hands pic.twitter.com/OqadmPtRfL

— Simon Thompson (@ShowbizSimon) September 9, 2025

Paul Thomas Anderson’s #OneBattleAfterAnother rips! A riveting masterclass handling absurdity, satire & suspense. DiCaprio is in top form. Teyana Taylor is a standout. Chase Infiniti is a revelation. She steals the show. Jonny Greenwood’s score hits like no other. @warnerbros pic.twitter.com/d2rrbgc752

— Courtney Howard (@Lulamaybelle) September 9, 2025

#OneBattleAfterAnother is an extraordinary achievement: a timely, viscerally suspenseful, and gut-bustingly hilarious ride — one of PTA’s best… and that’s saying a lot.

Anderson punches your gut and warms your heart, focusing on thrills but never forgetting about humanity.… pic.twitter.com/CXGCwLeflD

— Alex Saveliev (@alexsfilmthread) September 10, 2025

Paul Thomas Anderson’s #OneBattleAfterAnother is an absolute triumph—an explosive action spectacle filtered through the artistry of one of cinema’s great filmmakers. Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyona Taylor and Sean Penn deliver especially memorable performances in a story that’s as… pic.twitter.com/c3Im2QfyrX

— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) September 9, 2025

#OneBattleAfterAnother is another PTA hit.

Leonardo DiCaprio delivers an entertaining performance in this political revolution/kidnapping thriller. It meanders a bit for the first two acts, but the last 45 minutes are among PTA's best. Story-driven and riveting. pic.twitter.com/4x1xEqy8ko

— Jonathan Sim (@TheJonathanSim) September 9, 2025

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is PTA at his most ambitious, bold, and urgent. A gargantuan, powerful, crowd-pleasing swing with a visionary idiosyncratic voice, brilliantly blending action, adventure, comedy & drama while pushing the boundaries of blockbuster filmmaking into a new era pic.twitter.com/lsvKWyTu6h

— Diego Andaluz (@thediegoandaluz) September 9, 2025

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is an uproarious, masterfully orchestrated descent into contemporary chaos, with PTA balancing absurdist flair and visceral thrills. DiCaprio is in peak form, while Chase Infiniti delivers a revelatory, star-making turn. Experience on the biggest screen! pic.twitter.com/fjuA2y73xx

— Bryan Sudfield @ #TIFF50 (@BryanSudfield) September 9, 2025

If you’re not familiar the premise of “One Battle After Another,” it is said to be loosley inspired by the Thomas Pynchon (“Inherent Vice”) novel “Vineland,” as lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio plays a reclusive and washed-up revolutionary that is now forced to come out of hiding to save his teenage daughter when an enemy from his past returns. Others appearing in the new PTA pic include Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and newcomer Chase Infiniti.

Warner Bros. has been on quite the hot streak at the box office in 2025, which refutes naysayers who have been questioning confident choices made by the studio’s top brass, which, in retrospect, have been some of the more innovative moves in Hollywood as of late, and audiences get to reap the benefit. We’ll have to wait to see if “Battle” ends up another notch on their box office belt.

Thankfully, we won’t have to wait much longer as “One Battle After Another” arrives in theaters on September 26.