“One Battle After Another” makes its first of two 4K appearances

4K ULTRA HD REVIEW / HDR SCREENSHOTS

Teyana Taylor plays Perfidia Beverly Hills, the charismatic co-leader of the radical group French 75. Her partner is Bob Ferguson, a revolutionary foot solider and explosion expect, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. The two comfort their baby daughter Charlene.

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4K screenshots courtesy of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment - Click the jacket for an Amazon purchase

“ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER”

4K Ultra HD, 2025, R for pervasive language, violence, sexual content and drug use, Digital code via Amazon Video (4K), Apple TV (4K), Fandango Home (4K), Movies Anywhere (4K)

Best extra: None are provided

FIRST OFF, this is the bare-bones version of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “carnivalesque epic” of “One Battle After Another.” An undated ‘Steelbook’ version, more likely in March or April, will include a number of extras.

New York Times critic Manohla Dargis describes Anderson’s film, “It’s about good and evil, violence and power, inalienable rights and the fight against injustice; it’s also a love story. It’s brilliantly directed, but what it exhilarating is that it engages with it moment as few American fiction films do. It feels shockingly urgent.”

The excellent cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob Ferguson, a revolutionary foot soldier, an underground fugitive as a caring single dad. At the beginning, Bob is in love with Perfidia Beverly Hills, a charismatic co-leader of the radical group French 75.

Teyana Taylor, who just won the Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Perfidia, is more likely to get a nod when the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences announces the nominations on Thursday, January 22. Co-star Sean Penn gives one of his performances as the nemesis, Col. Steven J. Lockjaw. Anderson will also be nominated for Best Director and Best Picture, with an expected total of over 10 nods for “One Battle After Another.”

VIDEO

Anderson and cinematographer Michael Bauman, a five-time collaborator, decided to resurrect Paramount’s long-dormant 35mm 8-perf VistaVision. The format launched in the mid-1950s with the musical “White Christmas” and the last film was Marlon Brando’s Western “One-Eyed Jacks” (1961). The film runs horizontally through the VistaVision camera, giving you the larger 8-perf frame, like an old school 35mm still camera. Some shots were captured in the smaller 4-perf Super 35 format, as camera operator Colin Anderson used markings on the ground glass of the camera for its flexible framing, since it was released theatrically in four different aspect ratios (1.43:1, 1.50:1, 1.85:1, and 1.90:1).

The on-screen 4K resolution and clarity (1.78:1 aspect) are perfect. We assume the VistaVision frames were scanned at 8K or higher and Super 35 at 4K. The organic natural film grain varies from super fine to much larger during night scenes. The contrast levels are excellent with its HDR10 and Dolby Vision grading with deep-deep blacks, and the colors are well saturated, with its cinematic imagery.

Producer Sara Murphy says during a Warner Bros. online featurette, “It’s an incredible format. We spent several years prepping the cameras and making sure we had the film stock, and the lab was ready for it.” Bauman says they captured 1.5 million feet of film, partly because the film is moving twice as fast in VistaVision compared to standard 35mm. Everything was captured in practical locations, and mounting a camera onto cars was a challenge. The noise of the film running through the camera was like a “lawnmower on the set,” says Bauman. They designed and built a blimp around the camera to deaden the noise.  

AUDIO

The 4K includes the enveloping Dolby Atmos soundtrack, with the dialogue front and centered, and a driving Oscar-worthy nominated score from composer Jonny Greenwood. The sixth collaboration with Anderson features a piano-leaning score, building suspense, much like the works of great composer Jerry Goldsmith with “Planet of the Apes.” The bass response is deep and powerful, with plenty of firepower during explosions, guns, and helicopter action.

SPECS:

• 100 GB disc

• TRUE 4K mastering and possibly higher.

• Captured in the 8-perf VisaVision format, and some 4-perf Super 35, and matted into the 1.78:1 aspect ratio.

• Video bitrate: Runs with an average low 50 Megabits per second, with a running time of 161 minutes.

• HDR10 maximum light level: 192 nits

• Max frame average light level: 69 nits

• Box office: Domestically $71 million, and worldwide $206 million, with an estimated production budget of $130 million.

• Rotten Tomatoes: Top Critics’ 95 percent, Moviegoers 85 percent.

• Metacritic: Critics 95 percent, User score 6.9

• Awards: American Film Institute Top 10 Films of 2025

• Critics Choice Awards – Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay

• Golden Globes – Best Musical or Comedy Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress