Paul Thomas Anderson wrote and directed There Will Be Blood (2007), which is Anderson's fifth feature and is considered one of the greatest films of all time. That film was an adaptation of a novel by Upton Sinclair. Anderson followed that film with The Master (2012), his sixth feature, which is a loose adaptation of a novel by Thomas Pynchon, an author who is regarded as one of the greatest American novelists. Clearly, Anderson is a huge fan of Pynchon's work because his seventh feature, Inherent Vice (2014), was another adaptation of a Pynchon book. Anderson's eighth and ninth features were original works, but, for this film, his tenth feature, Anderson has gone back to adapting a Pynchon novel. Of Anderson's three Pynchon adaptations, this one is by far the best. It's his first to be more action-oriented. It's also his first film to be set in the present-day, since Punch-Drunk Love (2002).
This film also feels the most relevant to today's times, since Anderson's Magnolia (1999). Specifically, Anderson is adapting Pynchon's Vineland (1990), a book that's more a commentary on the times of President Nixon and President Reagan, including fascistic traits in the government and cultural clashes, particularly with those in the hippie generation. If there were a central issue being critiqued in Pynchon's book, it's likely the war on drugs and the so-called D.E.A., the federal agency at work in Vineland.
If there is a central issue being critiqued in Anderson's film, it's immigration and I.C.E., the federal agency basically featured here, which was created in 2003. However, many would argue that President Trump in his second term has been abusing his power and using ICE improperly, if too aggressively. Abuses with regard to immigration have been leveled at the Trump administration going back to his first term. One of the most controversial policies back then was the so-called "family separation" policy, which put added scrutiny to detention facilities on the U.S.-Mexico border. Anderson's critique of immigration and things like ICE is only made clear by the fact that his film opens in Otay Mesa, the place south of San Diego where an immigration detention facility is located. ICE has been engaging in raids in 2025 that have been seen as extreme with over-the-top round-ups. It's interesting that Anderson's film begins with what is essentially the reverse.
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street and Titanic) stars as Pat Calhoun aka "Bob Ferguson," a member of a revolutionary group, known as the French 75. He's good at coming up with explosive devices. The French 75 has no problem using those devices either. The French 75 could be considered a domestic terrorist group. If it is so, it doesn't fit the current profile. In 2019, the head of the FBI said the majority of domestic terrorism were connected to white supremacy. However, it's clear that the French 75 are being led by women and particularly, Black women.
Teyana Taylor (A Thousand and One and Coming 2 America) co-stars as Perfidia Beverly Hills, a leading member of the French 75. She is a very militant, Black woman. She literally has military-like experience and training. She's really good at wielding military-grade weapons and rifles. She's also a dedicated member, meaning the cause or the revolution and its actions are her number-one priority. Even when she gets pregnant, motherhood is not something she wants or cares about. She'd rather be a revolutionary and not a parent.
A question arises in the film of just how militant she is. At first, she seems like she would die for the revolution and that she would sacrifice anything and everything. She also seems like she would never betray that revolution or do anything to undermine it. However, the film is constantly giving us scenes where people are presented with the choice of protecting themselves or protecting others, and the so-called cause. Perfidia is offered that same choice and the ramifications of her choice is what drives the latter half of the film's narrative.
Sean Penn (Milk and Mystic River) also co-stars as Steven J. Lockjaw, a soldier and military officer who has been assigned to the immigration detention facility at Otay Mesa. He seems to be a very lonely man. He's also a very rigid man and he definitely wants to present himself as this perfect soldier and well put-together person. As such, he wants to be a part of the Christmas Adventures Club, a group that depending on one's point-of-view could be considered a domestic terrorist group too, a group that has the hallmark of being a white supremacist organization. Lockjaw wants to be in that circle. The problem is that the group is strongly opposed to miscegenation, which is interracial, sexual relationships, and Lockjaw knows he has violated that group's rule.
What Lockjaw discovers is that "Bob" has proof that Lockjaw violated that miscegenation rule. The latter half of the film becomes Lockjaw pursuing Bob and eliminating his proof once and for all. The second half of the film is an action chase, as Bob goes on the run and tries to flee from someone who has the power of the federal government. Literally, ICE agents or soldiers are sent after Bob. Watching him manage to escape somehow is the film at its most fun.
Benicio del Toro (21 Grams and Traffic) plays Sergio St. Carlos, a Hispanic business man who owns and runs a martial arts dojo and has a wife and child who run a separate, electronics store. He's a very calm man, very Zen, even when Bob and all his anxiety and neuroses come barreling into his life. Sergio and Bob have been friends for years, mainly due to Bob's daughter being a member of Sergio's dojo. Del toro's character is also a window into Anderson's critique of the immigration system. ICE or the soldiers here are rounding up Hispanic people on false pretenses and based on false charges when no wrongdoing has occurred. Sergio has devised an underground railroad of sorts to protect those Latinos, as Sergio is a kind of Harriet Tubman.
Watching Sergio execute his underground railroad to protect his people is amazingly shot, as we watch him brilliantly and calmly work. It results in a foot chase across rooftops that might have been more thrilling and surprising than anything in action flicks involving James Bond, Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt. There's also two really cool, car chases. The final one was amazing, not because of fancy maneuvers by the drivers. It's cool because Anderson's film utilizes the environment in a really clever way.
Chase Infiniti, in her feature debut, rounds out the cast as Charlene Calhoun, aka "Willa Ferguson," the daughter to Bob and Perfidia. She was raised mostly by Bob who did so under a large sense of paranoia. She's rebelled in simply wanting to live a simple but open life, one that isn't hiding away like her father is. Her father trained her, much in the way her mother was trained. A part of him though wants to protect Willa from her mother's life. It becomes clear that he can't.
Rated R for pervasive language, violence, sexual content, and drug use.
Running Time: 2 hrs. and 41 mins.
In theaters.