PTA has done it again! Viva La Revolution!

I saw “One Battle After Another” in Vista Vision yesterday, and I think that’s how all of Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie should be seen in. The opening shot of Teyana Taylor walking on a bridge overseeing an immigration detention camp, the car chases, and how the actors are placed on screen with the right dialogue and appearances. All of them look great with a classic 35mm aspect.

He’s one of our best filmmakers surviving in any generation. “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia,” “Punch Drunk Love,” “There Will Be Blood,” and “Licorice Pizza” are among the classics on his filmography. “One Battle After Another” is another worthy entry-more than worthy as a matter of fact. It’s a hilarious, dangerous, and wildly original film that continues to fight for the right cause in our country. And it likes to use the genres wisely. It’s probably something that “Eddington” wanted to be and couldn’t be.

Based on the novel “Vineland,” which was set in the year of Ronald Reagan’s reelection, it tells the story of revolutionaries-the French 75-who fight against racism and rescue immigrants. Members of that group include Leonardo DiCaprio as the demolitions expert Bob Ferguson, Teyana Taylor as his wife and the leader Perfidia, Regina Hall as Deandra, Wood Harris as Laredo, Alana Haim as Mae West (nice touch), and Shayna McHale as Junglepussy (you bet that’s her nickname).

The enemy created within is Sean Penn as the white supremacist Col. Steven J. Lockjaw, who becomes obsessed with Perfidia and will do anything to take the vigilante group down. He also wants to join the Christmas Adventurers Club, the secret nationalist club, whose members feature Tony Goldwyn and love discriminating people like there’s no tomorrow.

And the offspring of Bob and Perfidia is Willa (Chase Infiniti making an impressive debut), who takes up karate (with Benicio Del Toro as her sensai and Bob’s accomplice Sergio St. Carlos) and does great in school. Unfortunately for her, her mother is gone, her father is a druggie, and Lockjaw intends to capture her. That’s when Bob must reconnect on his French 75 past, which might be difficult due to the effects of THC. And that’s when he runs around like the Dude in “The Big Lebowski” with the robe and sunglasses.

I doubled checked and DiCaprio has worked with filmmaking legends like James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg before, but never Anderson. This is their first collaboration, and I think they work well together. DiCaprio is comical and entertaining, especially when struggles to get his connections within the French 75. He might even see Towelie from “South Park” in a hallucination, one day, if he keeps smoking.

And yet, DiCaprio isn’t the only star worth praising, because credit must also go to Taylor, Hall, and Infiniti for their abilities to add style and humanity to their characters. As Penn meets well with age, he plays Lockjaw with a dangerous vibe and harsh dialogue. Del Toro displays the right poetic values and the energy when he aids DiCaprio’s character, and I love how he goes inside a floor door with the rug rolling over it. And Goldwyn has his moments when his friendly face tries to hide his character’s true colors.

I tried my best not to spoil the most important facts about this movie in my review, but I can tell you how it looks and feels. The VistaVision continues to make us want to thank Paramount for developing it in the ‘50s. We also get songs from the likes of Steely Dan, Tom Petty, and Jackson 5, which all work whether or not the film likes to take action. And even when the movie wants to be offensive and even when it wants to get political, you’re still laughing at the jokes.

“One Battle After Another” can go on for hours, and still keep you in your seat, but the fight for equality isn’t over yet. That’s how great and honest the movie is, in any format depending on what theater you go to.