Panic World - BONUS: One or two hot takes on One Battle After Another

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

(SPOILER ALERT!) Grant hosts Ryan on his podcast to share their thoughts on One Battle After Another and what it says about the current state of the US, dads, Gen X, and compare its political commentary to Eddington and Weapons. Check out the whole conversation on our Patreon — as well as ad-free episodes, bonuses, and other exclusives — and get the first month for just $0.50 with code PANICYEAR at ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So Ryan, let me ask you, why is your shirt so tight? I don't do tight shirts anymore because they're for millennials who I hate. Come on. No, no. Why is your, ask me why my shirt's so tight? Well, your shirt's tight because you've got some sort of psychosexual thing going on. You know, you're really, I'm not a homosexual if that's what you think. I'm not a queer.

I don't think that. I think it's the opposite, actually. I feel like. Wait, we're here to talk about one battle after another. I know, but I thought you maybe wanted to talk through some of your body issues. first. But it's the funniest line in the movie, Ryan. Is it? I didn't think you. I mean, it's pretty funny, but it's not my favorite line. What was your favorite line? I don't know. I enjoyed Leonardo DiCaprio's use of the word

homie. Yeah. I also, uh, I thought everything Beniso Dautra does is perfect. Amazing. I'm Grant Irving. Uh, the host when Ryan wants to talk about movies. This is Panic World, a show about how the internet warps our mind, our culture, and eventually reality. that's the first time I did that without it being right in front of me. Joining me today, a guy I call Sensei. Brian Bradrick. Hello, thank you for having me on my show. I am thrilled to say people seem to like us talking about movies,

which is really just what we want to do. And we both saw one battle after another. And fuck yeah, man. Let's go. Yeah, no, I felt like we needed to immediately record something about one battle after another. It fits perfectly into the sort of weird America. I've seen the term used type of 2020's filmmaking happening right now. A lot of our listeners wanted us to talk about sinners.

You and I will not be talking about sinners. Perhaps we can get some more thoughtful guests on a bonus episode about sinners. But no, I think the world does not need you and me sitting down and talk about it. Although I will throw, before getting deeper, I will throw my top line take on sinners out right now, which is that you could just... You're doing the you're doing the eddington teenager thing. I saw I saw people say that we should we should watch sinners and I'll throw this out, which is the beauty of sinners is its hyper specificity. But also you could kind of do sinners at any point in history with any marginalized group.

Like you could easily do a version of sinners that were like a Pete Buttigieg, like gay, was outside of like a hyper pop. like trans rave in Bushwick. You could like easily do that with like almost every marginalized group that exists. So like that's the genius of sinners to me is that like it is it is so specific but it's also very universal. I would also like to watch a movie about the, uh, the Native American vampire hunters and sinners. I would watch a whole other movie about that.

Anyways, uh, I thought like we should absolutely jump on real quick to talk about one battle after another, which feels very in conversation with weapons and very in conversation with Eddington. In fact, I would sort of argue that it's just everything Eddington's doing is doing better as like a better movie. I think part of that is because it takes place 10 years in the future so they can get a little a little fantastical with some of this stuff. But yeah, everything Eddington wants to be one better after another just does like effortlessly

in my opinion. Really? I thought it started in the aughts and then was today. I didn't think it was actually set in the. future. You can read it a couple ways. Okay. So it is not. Well, let's talk about this. So the prologue ends with perfidia, basically escaping witness protection. And then you see her put on a mask to cross the Mexican border.

And then she comes over the voiceover and says 16 years later, nothing happens to be that effect. So you could read. Yeah, you could read the movie taking place in 2026, let's say. And all of that's compressed. The timelines, it'll wonky. But the stuff later in the movie, particularly involving the far right cult of St. Nicholas or whatever and some of the job titles they're throwing around, I think actually make more sense.

Also the fact that in this movie, ICE no longer exists as a specific arm of, like, police. It's just police. I think the movie actually makes more sense to read it as like 10 years down the timeline we're on now. That's how I read. I think you're right. I think it does take place. It starts in the mid-2000s. I think she's in witness protection for a while.

She escapes in 2020. The movie picks up in 2036. That's sort of, I think that makes the most sense in how you would read the movie. I like that read. So I think this is a movie that instead of just like describing characters, we can, like, Like, it is a very linear movie. It's pretty straightforward. So let's want to just take it section by section and I'll let me do a summer.

Yeah. So the prolog follows the French 75 and who are, I think, a very smart mashup of like Occup Wall Street, anonymous, early Black Lives Matter. They're like a radical group, specifically targeting immigration detention facilities, very clever, very smart. They start to splinter as things become more intense. They do like one last job kind of thing. That's like a dumb robbery.

They all get got except for Leonardo DiCaprio's character. The ostensible leader of the group, although we can talk kind of about the group structure later because I think that's interesting. Perfidia, Beverly Hills, she gets put in witness protection because she has like a weird sexual relationship with Sean Penn, who's kind of working. his way up, you know, something like ice. Yeah, Sean Penn like is like the basically runs the ice facility. When they're, when they're freeing the migrants, you know, the scene, the movie opens.

It's fucking epic with with them plotting to, to, to free this detention camp. And perfidia is keeping the, the leader at bay, a Mr. Stephen Lockjaw, played by Sean pen. Um, and, uh, while he's at gunpoint and, uh, in their sort of like trash talking, um, she tells him to get it up. And, uh, we, uh, we see true love spark. Uh, it becomes very clear in that moment that he's going to be obsessed with her in a way that, um, is undefinable and, uh, creepy. I hated all of this. Um, I hate this. Um, I hate this. Um, In fact, it's probably, it's the part of the movie where, like, I genuinely hate. I also think.

Wait, say why. I just, I think it's dumb. I think it's so dumb. I think it's part of the larger issue with all these movies and, like, how they do not understand or have any sense of how to handle, like, the Black Lives Matter element of, like, modern American activism and stuff. I hate it. I think it's so dumb.

I also think, like, the movie has to do a lot of work to tap dance around the fact that, like, a much more politically relevant film would have just flipped the entire thing that it should actually be Leonardo DiCaprio's character that is like the rat like it is so like there's a bunch of Hollywood shit in this movie that like I think really gets in the way of it it's fine I love the movie

but if we're talking about it as sort of like a political thing all this shit is so dumb to me Sean Penn's character fine but the whole it gets especially stupid when like Sean Penn later in the movie is like going on a whole monologue about how great right perfidia is it's it's like it's part it's part of the eddington problem to like hollywood

just cannot handle the racial optics of taking something like black lives matter seriously and it's just like a constant problem with these movies um so i have i i i hate it i think it's so stupid i and i think like do you hate it in the daughter is stupid oh yeah no i think it's i think everything with the daughter and john penn is stupid that whole plotline is stupid i think it's i i i i It's like I said, it's a great movie. I love the movie. I think like we talked about on the Wepping, the Weptington episode, trying to nail the psychosexual element of, of the American far right, which I think is admirable.

I just think Hollywood is not equipped for it. Like I think it is so stupid to be like, oh, this ice agent is in love with this black activist. It's like, fuck yourself. Like the movie makes more sense as a self insert for Paul Thomas Anderson and sort of like his anxieties about like not being relevant anymore. But like all the shit. with perfidia and Sean Pan's character. I was like, this sucks. And it's not going to,

and it's not going to age well at all. I think it's, I think it's a mess, but personally. I think I was just so taken by their performances. So we should probably go break it down a little bit more before, before we. So she's the leader.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Pat slash ghetto Pat, who is just kind of like the least important member, but he's like, he like, he's a bomb guy. He's the bomb guy. He's not the strategic, guy, he definitely has radical politics, but I think it becomes, it's like you see in those early

scenes that he's just obsessed and in love with her and kind of in all of her. And like, and like, he is down for the cause, but he's really down to like be the sidekick of, of this want to be revolutionary leader. Yeah. He, he has, I mean, he's, he's, he's a. very interesting character, like ignoring my sort of gripes with how the movie is set up. Like he's a really interesting character, especially after the time skip. I think he is a very good portrait of like an Occupy guy, you know, like a younger Gen X guy who gets caught up in revolutionary politics and like, let's say the early 2000s and kind of knows when it's time to tap out, but he's now surrounded by people who do not. And we can come back to start.

sort of the interesting parallels, especially later in the movie between like Anonymous and Occupy and the French 75. Because I think it is kind of a fascinating thing they start to do later in the movie. But yeah, his character is interesting. And I think Baphidia's character is like well drawn as well. You get the impression that she's sort of raised in a family of black revolutionaries, like made to think that she is like part of the black revolutionary movement and she will continue to be. And then the movie like has like the decision in it.

that I just think it's so stupid and I it's fine, whatever, where she sells out the French 75 and then the movie takes, you know, then the actual movie starts. Yeah. So let me just fill that cap in. Pat and Perfidia have a child. He's like, you know, let's, let's ease it up so we don't end up in prison

while we're supposed to be raising our daughter. It is very clear that she is restless And that is not what she's into So the remaining members of the French 75 Set a bomb to go off after hours in a court building And it becomes clear that lockjaw Sean Penn's character Is stalking her And then there's the

Real Desperate One Last Job where they're robbing a bank to fund their revolution. And a security guard keeps moving and Perfidio shoots him, which he did such a good job of every time there was gunshots or violence. It did not feel cool at all. It felt loud and horrible in a way that it rarely does in movies. But then it's followed by one of the coolest car chases. I've seen in a movie.

But perfidia gets captured and is beat up from this chase and Lockjaw visits her in the hospital and is like, you go to jail for the rest of your life or possibly die or you rat at all your friends. And you also have to admit that you love me. So stupid. I just think it's so fucking dumb, man. It is definitely the least developed part of the whole movie works so much better without it. Like if you just take all that shit out, you can still make her a rat if you want to, which I think once again politically makes the sense. And then like. Say why it doesn't make sense because I like the I really like the the father-daughter

relationship of it all. I didn't I don't need the Sean works. Obviously we're spoiling this whole movie. I didn't need the DNA test. Think of it. That was dumb. No, I, well, this is the problem. Like, this is why the movie works better as a movie than Eddington and also the problem with trying to do these kinds of movies set against the backdrop of these kind of politics, which is that like the real life versions that they're playing with are still happening. Like, we talked about this on Weptington. We're like, that you're doing a great job of saying of saying Weppington. And each time, each time I think you're going to mess it up. And I'm You're a pro.

I'm just proud of it. Because on weapons, I think the movie succeeds so well because it has like abstracted all this stuff up a couple layers. So like the movie, I think you could watch it 50 years from now and be like, yeah, that's great. Like I totally get it. And then if you watch it right now, you're like, ooh, this is like really like this is really hitting on some stuff.

One battle after another, I think is a better movie. Trying to tell a father-daughter story against this kind of backdrop. makes things really complicated. It's like that George R. Martin quote about like every time you make like one creative decision, it creates like a million avenues that you have to go down. Like the fact that they've set it up this way, you have to do something about the wife. So yeah, you could kill her off. You could make her the rat, which I think the racial politics of are strange.

and like the message there is a little odd too. They clearly wanted some sort of interpersonal relationship between Sean Penn's character and Leo and the daughter. And so like this is this was the solution. And I just think it's dumb because like it is so politically fraught and like strange. And it creates all sorts of other problems down the line further into the movie. And I get the impulse. and I'm not going to like script doctor like this movie that's absolutely going to get Oscars.

But as it should. Yeah, but yeah, it's a great movie. But there are issues, particularly in the prologue and the transition into the main movie that you have to do something with to make it a satisfying film. And later on, like the politics start to get really strange. Yeah, I didn't mind the read of her affair with Lockjaw. as a political tactic, but that falls apart when she becomes the rat.

If it was like, if, like, she's this, and justify the means for the revolution, for the revolution character, like, I can use this guy.

Like, that's cool. And like, and if there was, and if they were to do a, like, Leo is getting jealous of it, but like,

she's like, I care more about this revolution than I care about, you were kind of in like indoor territory. And I think that's really interesting. But I'm making her the rat, which is also just like, I kind of liked it because it is humanizing in a way that like all of us are down for a lot of causes. But when it comes to actually our lives being on the line, like, who was actually brave?

The optics, the, the political ramifications of making that choice were like, they could have just easily been like, oh, we got her and we have all their communications. and now we know who they all are and we're going to come get them. Like the symbolism of it is bad. Yes. Yeah, to make the most outspoken black female character in the movie. Now, there are, there are, I want to get away from the prologue. One, because I hate it.

And two, there's just more interesting stuff in the rest of the movie. But like, things become more interesting when we, when we come back with to Regina Hall's character, who I'm so glad is back. I love Regina Hall. Because like the whole sort of interplay between Regina Hall's character and Perfidia Tiana Taylor's character is interesting. as well later in the movie, although the ending of with Regina Hall's character is like also problematic because once again, like Hollywood does not know what to do with Black Lives Matter.

They don't they, they clearly don't understand they like I am not like an expert on Black Lives Matter, but I did cover it. I was like I was part of like conversations in newsrooms trying to force editors to take it seriously to cover. But like at the time, but like clearly like Hollywood just does not know what to do with it. What were editors saying at the time? Well, most Gen X editors, who I was working for, have the exact attitude that this movie has, which is that, like, protest movements are inherently stupid and do not matter, and we shouldn't bother covering them.

Well, I mean, 10 out of 10. That's just, that's born out to be true. Sure. Yeah, I agree. I agree. That's right. We now live in a universe of, of protest movements, but, like, it don't matter. Right.

So, like, no, it's just like, it's so, this movie has, like, this, like, really noxious Gen X streak throughout it that like comes up several times in ways that like scramble the movie in a really weird way. And like once again, I really love this movie. That's why I want to get the hell away from this prolog so I can enjoy talking about it. I hate it. I hate it. I think we have successfully because you've hated it so much, we had to do a lot more teasing out to get to the to the why and not just you're being angry. I think we successfully done that. It's an ugly thing. We can now, 16 years later. You're now. firmly in the part of the movie that to me reminds me

reminds me the most of one of the wildest most slept-down movies of the modern era which is Southland Tales and I want to talk about that forever. Southland Tales by the way if you've never seen it. All right. It's going to be the next movie we're going to do because I've absolutely not. We are I mean we could

there's some really interesting shit in that movie. I've not seen it. So if you're going to. It's it's by Richard Kelly. It was his fall up to Donnie Darko and it is the most bad shit insane movie that has that basically ruined his career. It stars the rock as like a... Hell, what do you mean we're not going to do it? It has the next president in it?

Come on. It's insane. But it is very similar in tone and sort of depiction of the future that one battle after another does. Because like, particularly the best sequence in the movie, which is the sort of like not even chase sequence, but like the sequence where Leonardo Caprio was basically trying to... to get out of the city as Sean Penn's forces are moving in. That massive, like 20 minute musical sequence is like one of the greatest things in film I've seen this year. Do you mean when he realizes that perfidio was arrested, like in the or the or the,

no, no, no, like in the major set piece of the movie, like where he, they are, they're, the, the ice agents or whatever are descending on the town and they're, they're basically using, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, they're using like a roundup as a pretext to finally and Acaprio's character. And like, that's where you get the really interesting political stuff happening in the movie because you basically get this picture of ghetto Pat as this bumbling idiot who because of his like sort of like naive belief in the revolution has allowed Benicio Dautour's character to quote unquote do some head, do some Harriet Tubman shit. And like that's where the movie is like, firing. Like that sequence is in my mind, like the, the movie is worth it for that alone.

So let me, let me just connect the dots in case people, apparently people listen to this before watching movies. That's crazy. Don't do that. Watch the movie first. Okay. The rest of the conversation is on the Patreon. I'm so sorry to tell you that. But the Patreon is basically free right now. Go to Patreon. Go to Patreon. Patreon.com slash panic world. Use the code panic year. It's celebrating that we've been around for one whole year. Wild.

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