Leonardo DiCaprio’s Explosive New Movie Has a Near-Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score

In the next few weeks, there will be one movie that everyone will be talking about. And that movie is director Paul Thomas Anderson’s new epic One Battle After Another. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti as Willa, the daughter of DiCaprio’s character, Bob. And the just-released Rotten Tomatoes score seems like this movie will be an incredible mix of political thriller and a great night at the movies.

Here’s the Rotten Tomatoes score for One Battle After Another, the release date, and why the plot is actually based on an underrated novel.

One Battle After Another Rotten Tomatoes Score

As of Thursday, September 18, just one day after reviews started pouring in for One Battle After Another, the Rotten Tomatoes score for the movie was holding at a very high 97 percent. Though he’s a well-respected auteur, director Paul Thomas Anderson’s movies generally have pretty solid reviews. His last big movie was 2021’s Licorice Pizza, which has a 90 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. Before that, 2020’s Phantom Thread had 91 percent.

But the reviews for One Battle After Another seem much, much better. “It’s incredible how briskly paced and breathlessly exciting every moment of One Battle After Another is, despite its two-and-a-half-hour runtime,” critic Hoai-Tran Bui writes for Inverse. Meanwhile, Karina Adelgaard on Heaven of Horrorraved: “I can’t wait to watch it again either, and trust me, watching One Battle After Another feels like a workout of both your heart and mind.”

Related: Steven Spielberg Couldn’t Say Enough About ‘Insane’ Movie ‘One Battle After Another’

One Battle After Another is based on an awesome novel

CHASE INFINITI as Willa Ferguson in “One Battle After Another.” A Warner Bros. Pictures Release.

Like Anderson’s 2014 movie Inherent Vice, One Battle After Another is based on another Thomas Pynchon novel. This time, the book in question is the 1990 Pynchon book Vineland. The plot is all about off-the-grid rebels in America, and a father-and-daughter dynamic. Here’s how Rotten Tomatoes describes the film:

“Bob (DiCaprio) is a washed-up revolutionary who lives in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited and self-reliant daughter, Willa (Infiniti). When his evil nemesis (Penn) resurfaces and Willa goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her as both father and daughter battle the consequences of their pasts.”

Currently, Vineland is available as a free audiobook if you have an Audible subscription.

One Battle After Another release date

One Battle After Another will be released by Warner Bros. on September 26. Select theaters will screen the film in retro “VistaVision.”

Related: Leonardo DiCaprio Shares ‘Dream Come True’ Next Movie After ‘One Battle After Another’

This story was originally reported by Men’s Journal on Sep 18, 2025, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men’s Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.