Francis Ford Coppola took to Instagram to post a long note sharing his thoughts about Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another. The legendary filmmaker said that he saw the film in Rome at a theatre with no subtitle and that his hearing is "not so good," two factors that "made the experience challenging" for him. The filmmaker also acknowledged that he is "a fan of PTA's unique films," making a special note of Boogie Nights, Punch Drunk Love, Phantom Thread, The master, and Licorice Pizza. "Something I love about his films is that he allows you to form your own opinions without diminishing his own," wrote Coppola.

Despite the experience that he found challenging, Coppola said that he wants to watch One Battle After Another once again, expressing hope for a different reading of the film then, as with a film by legendary director Stanley Kubrick. Coppola appreciated the fact that the Anderson directorial speaks to the times we live in, describing it as "an action story set in what's really going on in America today, a fictional thriller with a setting that is the real thing."

However, Coppola admits to not understanding Sean Penn's character in the film. "Not being sure exactly who he was," said the filmmaker about Penn's Colonel Steven J Lockjaw. "His weird name made me link him immediately to Kubrick's General Buck Turgidson as played by George C Scott a military type but lower level so he could rise through up the ranks, making Colonel and not the big chief of all military matters."

Coppola found the performances in the film by Leonardo DiCaprio, Penn, Regina Hall, Benicio del Toro, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, and Tony Goldwyn to be "memorable". He also regarded the love story between the father (DiCaprio) and his daughter (Infiniti).