Steven Spielberg Calls Leonardo DiCaprio's New Action Thriller 'Insane' After Early Screening

Paul Thomas Anderson just screened his new action thriller One Battle After Another in Los Angeles, and the early word is basically: buckle up. The crowd was into it, the critics were into it, and Steven Spielberg walked out sounding like a kid who just got off a roller coaster.

The Spielberg seal of approval

The screening went down at the Directors Guild of America theater in LA, where Spielberg moderated a Q&A with Anderson. Afterward, he did not bother with restraint.

"What an insane movie, oh my God."

"There is more action in the first hour of this than every other film you have ever directed put together. Everything, it is really incredible. This is such a concoction of things that are so bizarre and at the same time so relevant, that I think have become increasingly more relevant than perhaps even when you finished the screenplay and assembled your cast and crew and began production."

So what is this thing?

One Battle After Another follows Leonardo DiCaprio as an ex-revolutionary living off the grid with his daughter. When she disappears, he has to confront the radical past he tried to bury to get her back. The cast is stacked: Chase Infiniti, Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, and Regina Hall all factor in.

The film is being described as a darkly funny, full-throttle American odyssey loaded with car chases, gunfights, and a streak of absurdism. One reaction even dubbed it a 'modern American nightmare in VistaVision' — a very inside-baseball way of saying it looks big and old-school cinematic. Think gritty chase energy that nods to The French Connection, but filtered through PTA's brain.

Early reactions: big swing, bigger payoff

Critics who saw the screening came out hot. Raiders of the Lost Podcast called it a giant, absolutely insane odyssey with some of the year's most stunning filmmaking. Slash Film's BJ Colangelo called it electric, sensational, and explosive. Fandango's Erik Davis says Anderson is operating at the height of his powers and called it one of the best films of the year. Variety's Courtney Howard singled out the cast: DiCaprio in top form, Teyana Taylor as a standout, and Chase Infiniti as a full-on revelation who steals scenes. Several folks also flagged Sean Penn as both haunting and genuinely funny.

• Action and scope: more set-piece mayhem in the first hour than PTA has ever packed into a movie, with deafening shootouts and gnarly car chases
• Vibe: darkly funny, urgent, and weird in ways that feel pointedly of-the-moment
• Craft: muscular editing and bold, crowd-pleasing storytelling that pushes at blockbuster boundaries
• Look: 'VistaVision' got name-dropped in reactions — translation: expect big, classic widescreen vibes
• Performances: DiCaprio dialed in; Teyana Taylor pops; Chase Infiniti steals the spotlight; Sean Penn is unsettling and hilarious
• Themes: a sprawling, emotional trip through the ideologies chewing up America right now
• Consensus temperature check: multiple 'best of the year' calls already

Release date

One Battle After Another hits theaters on September 26.