I Finally Watched One Battle After Another, And There’s One Performance That’s Not Getting Enough Praise

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As a person who loves Paul Thomas Anderson (I watched). there will be Blood at least five times in theaters), I have no excuse for waiting so long to finally see one fight after anotherThe 2025 film, which despite being a “flop” at the box office, was a hit with critics, not only lived up to the hype but also exceeded my expectations, PTA’s new thriller is a fun, silly, and badass movie filled with rich characters (even the less-than-likable ones) played by some of the best actors alive,

While I’m glad Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Benicio del Toro are getting lots of praise and a few Golden Globe nominations, there’s one performance that isn’t getting enough love: Regina Hall’s DeAndre, a French 75 revolutionary who is a force for peace in this nearly three-hour epic. Seriously, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this surprisingly underrated performance.

Regina Hall’s co-stars give such loud and chaotic performances, but her performance is a power of quiet calm

There’s something to be said about Regina Hall’s brief but powerful performance as DeAndre, aka “Lady Champagne” one fight after anotherIn a movie that doesn’t look like Leonardo DiCaprio’s dude-like character, Pat Calhoun/Bob Ferguson, or Sean Penn’s Colonel Steven J, Filled with intense, colorful and bold characters like Lockjaw (now that’s a useless name), it was refreshing to have someone who was just as powerful but without all the outbursts, profanity, racial slurs or foggy memories,

There was something so calm, reassuring and magnetic about DeAndre whenever she was on screen and I was mesmerized by her the whole time. As someone who wasn’t very familiar with Hall’s dramatic work before pressing on to the play, I was legitimately astounded by her on-screen ability.

Regina Hall is at the center of two of my favorite scenes

Spoiler warning: major spoilers for two key scenes one fight after another are below. If you haven’t seen it yet and have come this far, please use caution.

However his character is not involved in that terrifying and inventive car chase during the film’s climax, and his fate was left up in the air. one fight after another Finally, Hall had a major part in two of my favorite scenes of the film.

First, there’s the restroom scene during the school dance where DeAndre suddenly shows up and gives a “come with me if you want to live” speech to Chase Infinity’s Willa Ferguson/Charlene Calhoun. Terminator 2: Judgment DayHowever, rather than being a towering cyborg, DeAndre is a calm, reassuring, and reassuring guide to safety for a 16-year-old girl who is being stalked by a man who may or may not be her biological father, The way Hall, in the mirror’s inverted image, directs this scene is out of this world,

A similar scene occurs later when Lockjaw’s forces raid Brave Beaver’s sisters to find and capture the young teenager. Moments before it was over, DeAndre told Charlene to shut up and quietly walked down the hallway. This moment feels like a reversal of that earlier one, even if the outcome is less optimistic.

you can see one fight after another Premieres Friday, December 19, 2025 on HBO Max. Meanwhile, there are other great movies from 2025 Warner Bros. sinners And WeaponAs well as films from the studio’s historical past. view deal

i love regina hall’s performance one fight after anotherBut I have one small complaint: I wish we had seen more of her character. I guess I’ll have to settle for watching this Oscar hopeful when it becomes available with an HBO Max subscription.