Sean Penn And DiCaprio Deliver Powerful Performances In New Film

First of all, talk about a star studded cast: Benicio del Toro, Chase Infiniti, Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor and Sean Penn. I mean, come on. Second, this movie feels tailor-made for a Wyoming audience. It's a film about revolution, fatherhood, and government distrust. It takes aim at institutions, power, and what happens when ordinary people get chewed up in the gears of both — ideas that hit close to home in a state that’s no stranger to independence and skepticism of authority.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Bob Ferguson, a one-time revolutionary who’s spent years off the grid, raising his daughter in a dusty outpost that could just as easily be along the Platte River as in the New Mexico desert. When an old enemy — a menacing, bureaucratic soldier played with icy precision by Sean Penn — resurfaces, Bob’s quiet life unravels. The result is part road movie, part fever dream, part indictment of a system that turns people into pawns.

If that sounds heavy, it is. Wide, wind-swept landscapes echo Wyoming’s own backroads and open spaces, grounding the chaos in something raw and familiar. It’s a film that understands both the beauty and the loneliness of big-sky country — even if it’s technically set elsewhere.

The performances are stellar. DiCaprio’s Ferguson is weary and human, more ranch-hand philosopher than action hero. Teyana Taylor steals her scenes as a defiant survivor, while Penn, looking like he’s been carved from government stone, gives the film its fire. The score is haunting a beautiful.

My one criticism is that some stretches drag on with too-long monologues and slow moving plot points. At nearly three hours, it’s a long haul — the cinematic version of a drive from Casper to Evanston without a gas stop — but it earns its miles. Beneath the gunfire and grit is a film about the things Wyomingites know well: self-reliance, loyalty, and the quiet courage it takes to keep fighting even when the odds look bad. One Battle After Another isn’t just another Hollywood epic. It’s a meditation on resilience that feels surprisingly at home.

Rating: ★★★★☆ — bold, sprawling, and worth the ride.