The first rave reviews of Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio’s “Next Battle” are not led by Steven Spielberg, who praised the film while moderated Q&A with Anderson at the director’s Guild of America theatres in Los Angeles.
“What an insane film, oh my god,” Spielberg said (via the film stage). “In the first hour of this, there’s more action than every other film you’ve ever directed. All, it’s really incredible. This is a kind of concoction that’s very strange and very relevant at the same time.
Based loosely on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel “Vineland,” “One Battle andally,” he casts DiCaprio as a washed-down revolutionary who is forced to save his teenage daughter when his past enemies reappear. Supported cast includes Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor and Chase Infinity.
“I’ve never seen a movie that sounds very loud compared to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Dr. Strangelove’,” Spielberg added in praise. “This brings about a kind of absurd comedy that you take very seriously because it reflects so much what’s going on throughout this country every day, today, every day. But if you don’t laugh, if you don’t laugh, you start screaming, ‘This is too real.’ And you got that outlet… I laughed the whole time through this, where you made us laugh, and when you shut it down, it laughed the whole time. ”
On social media platforms, several film reporters welcomed “Announcement Battle” as one of the standout films of 2025. Boys health writer Evan Romano called it “my first film of the year.”
“I laughed loudly the whole time. It was probably Anderson’s most entertaining film, and at the end I was so deeply moved and crying,” Arnold added. “Shaun Penn wins an incredibly well deserved Oscar, and my God. I didn’t stop thinking about car tracking and what the camera would do.”
Slash film editor and critic Chris Evangelista repeatedly praised the film, deeming it a “Vistavision of the Nightmare of Modern America.”
He found X’s “An “Fight” captures the current hellish landscape with thrilling car chases, deafening gunfights and dark, funny films packed with absurdity.
Critic and “Beyond the Trailer” host Grace Randolph initially had mixed feelings about the film, but as the film progressed, she began to rethink.
“I hated it at first and thought it was ridiculous,” she wrote to X.
Critic Edward Douglas screamed both DiCaprio and Penn in X, writing that they are two balanced aspects of good and evil struggle.
“Pen gives him a standout and incredible performance in “The Next Battle” as the film’s main antagonist, allowing Leo to handle most of the cartoon’s lift,” he writes. “This will certainly make a lot of people talk to me.”
New York Times pop culture reporter Kyle Buchanan considers the film an Oscar frontrunner in X, claiming Anderson is the film that earns the honor of his first best director.
“The autumn festival didn’t move Oscar’s needles much, but the ‘fight for the next’ certainly will,” he wrote. “Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest updates could be fully nominated (Shawn Penn & Teyana Taylor stands out), and finally the NAB PTA for the Top Oscars.
A “A Battle” will begin at the theater at Warner Bros. on September 26th.
Check out the initial reaction below.
