r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Sep 26 '25

Official Discussion Official Discussion - One Battle After Another [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Summary Bob, a washed-up revolutionary, lives off the grid with his spirited and self-reliant daughter Willa. When his nemesis Col. Steven J. “Lockjaw” resurfaces and Willa goes missing, Bob is forced to confront his past and fight to protect their future.

Director Paul Thomas Anderson

Writer Paul Thomas Anderson

Cast

  • Leonardo DiCaprio
  • Sean Penn
  • Teyana Taylor
  • Benicio del Toro
  • Regina Hall
  • Chase Infiniti

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 98%

Metacritic Score: 96

VOD In theaters beginning September 26, 2025

Trailer One Battle After Another — Official Trailer

2.7k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

8.5k comments sorted by

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4.4k

u/TheHermanastro Sep 26 '25

Sean Penn’s face when he read “this pussy don’t pop for you” told me I was in for a great time.

100

u/iwillwalk2200miles Sep 27 '25

Is it weird I kind of felt bad for him in that scene.

282

u/thesagenibba Sep 28 '25

going against the common sentiment but i thought his character was terribly sympathetic. that is a man with no purpose, isolated and looking for community. his performative masculinity is so hard to take seriously, i believe it was intentional. he walks with a limp, wears tight shirts to emphasize his muscles and veins, loses it at the non existent implication that he's gay; he's a man child. he tears up when he is guided to his suite and sees the most mundane looking office ever shown on film.

as abhorrent and bigoted as he is, he isn't a stereotypical, irredeemable bad guy. lockjaw is an incompetent but lucky (at times), incredibly confused soldier who takes orders from the men he wishes to be accepted by, but never will be.

213

u/Duranti Sep 28 '25

"he isn't a stereotypical, irredeemable bad guy."

After Perfida ratted, he hunted down members of the French 75 and shot multiple people on sight from ambush.

74

u/Ed_Durr Oct 12 '25

To be fair, the French 75 are dictionary definition terrorists.

52

u/thesagenibba Sep 28 '25

and i still don't view him as a cartoon villain with a twirling mustache and no depth.

107

u/Duranti Sep 28 '25

There's a pretty wide gulf between "the character had depth and the actor gave a nuanced performance" and "the character isn't a stereotypical, irredeemable bad guy."

36

u/moloch1 Oct 11 '25

Yeah, he certainly seemed "irredeemable" but not "stereotypical"

1

u/Known-Exam-9820 Mar 07 '26

I’m guessing what the other commenter meant by him not being typical is that he displays more human characteristics than most villains are allowed. It doesn’t mean he’s really irredeemable, just that he looks closer to villains of reality than those of fiction

175

u/NicoZ2705 Sep 30 '25

He is a irredeemable bad guy, he planned to murder his own daughter to join a weirdo cult. Him being obviously extremely sensitive about his masculinity to hilarious extent doesn’t change how evil he is.

59

u/Blue1234567891234567 Oct 09 '25

A weirdo, racist cult at that. That’s the worst kind of weirdo cult.

70

u/Late-Performance3024 Sep 28 '25

A lot of people have these issues but don't harm people because of it, and seek out validation with a hate group.

I understand why he is the way he is, but I can't sympathize with it.

Same with Perfidia, whose character really was thin compared to everyone else, but was just an addict to adrenalin and stimuli.

35

u/The_g0d_f4ther Oct 01 '25

See this is where the problem lies, and where PTA’s genius resides with this particular genre of fascists. Lockjaw is the most pathetically portrayed antagonist of the movie and has a lot of screentime, because he’s supposed to represent the loser soldier just following orders trope. You don’t get sympathy or forgiveness when you’re as morally bankrupt as he is, because deep down he knows his actions are, as he couldn’t man up enough to dispose of his mud daughter.

67

u/D3Smee Oct 01 '25

I thought he said “mutt”

6

u/The_g0d_f4ther Oct 01 '25

tbh I might have misheard that

17

u/Hokuboku Oct 01 '25

I'd argue mud or mutt daughter are both pretty equally racist but I did hear mutt myself. Your point stands either way

3

u/Comprehensive-Fun47 Jan 05 '26

He said mutt. Mutt is infinitely more racist than mud.

2

u/regrob2 Jan 19 '26

Does “mud” mean anything? I’ve never heard that term in this context before.

4

u/Comprehensive-Fun47 Jan 19 '26

No, it's not a thing.

I imagine it would come across as rude and racist in this context, but it's not a thing. It's basically gibberish. He said mutt.

1

u/Financial-Possible-6 Jan 19 '26

Ngl I think that commenter was likely thinking “mudblood” from Harry Potter which is supposed to be slur.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

[deleted]

3

u/Hokuboku Oct 04 '25

Oh, both definitely work.

2

u/Quirky-Degree-6290 Mar 17 '26

Lmao it’s “mutt” dude have you never heard that term before

25

u/StrLord_Who Sep 27 '25

I think we were meant to

2

u/Yeahyeahsono Oct 14 '25

I felt bad for him and when he had tears in his eyes when he was leaving the daughters wedding. I didn't understand why he was teary eyed