Leonardo DiCaprio's 'One Battle After Another' is a scruffy yet flawed rebellion

You can have too much of a good thing, even if that’s a goofily paranoid Leonardo DiCaprio running around in a flannel robe.

Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s action dramedy “One Battle After Another” (★★½ out of four; rated R; in theaters Sept. 26) is a high-minded, resonant piece of world-building inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland.” It’s full of assorted revolutionaries and villains, featuring a cast of standouts including Sean Penn and newcomer Chase Infiniti, as well as themes and political satire that feel of the moment. What’s explosive doesn’t always equate to propulsive, however, in a stuffed narrative with pacing issues and a plot that doesn’t need two hours and 40 minutes to make its point.

Back in his day, hangdog stoner Bob (DiCaprio) used to be quite the revolutionary as the demolitions expert for a small but effective anti-establishment outfit called the French 75. They freed immigrants held behind fences at the border, blew up banks and just generally were a menace to a military police force led by the merciless Col. Steven Lockjaw (Penn).

Bob cozied up to fellow freedom fighter Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), a force of nature who gets pregnant and has a child. But she made some questionable decisions, especially in regard to Lockjaw, and left Bob and the newborn child behind.

The movie then fast-forwards 16 years, where weed and alcohol have replaced triggers and gumption in Bob’s daily existence. The single dad raises teenage Willa (Infiniti), whose rebellious streak reminds of her mom, but mainly he just stays off the grid. Lockjaw, however, suddenly returns more ruthless than ever, setting his sights on Willa. The youngster gets an assist from another former 75er, Deandra (Regina Hall), while Bob quickly needs to get his revolutionary groove back to keep his daughter safe. Or at least remember some of his old passwords.

Anderson has crafted an authoritarian version of America that seems just around the corner from our own. He doesn’t explain much about the government or the Christmas Adventurers Club, a secret white supremacist cabal that Lockjaw is dying to join, but there are enough threads for viewers to connect to real life (i.e., detention camps) if they so choose. All one needs to know is stuff’s bad enough in Bob’s world to spawn something like the French 75 and other underground networks to help those in need.

“One Battle” is an absolute flamethrower at the start, with moments and personalities that absorb you quickly into the intense landscape. It’s when Taylor’s character exits the movie for the most part, and the second act moves into more of a buddy show with Bob and Willa’s helpful karate sensei Sergio (Benicio del Toro), that the movie downshifts and never gets that same zoom back. A climactic car chase even seems arduous.

DiCaprio’s performance nicely contrasts the confident detonations guy Bob used to be with the unkempt oddball he is later, a character arc defined by him needing to become a stronger father figure. The movie shifts perspective from him to Infiniti, yet that ends up being a strong move as Willa's combo of youth, gravitas and growing activism is a joy to watch. (The film on the whole begs for more of DiCaprio and Infiniti together.)

Then there’s Penn, whose Lockjaw is a hateful, venomous sort who’s easy to hate. At the same time, the actors makes it clear that macho facade can only tamp down the crippling insecurity so much, and Penn showcases that vulnerability most in Lockjaw’s tussles with Perfidia and Willa, the two people his jackbooted thuggery can’t control.

“One Battle” is a mixed bag compared to the rest of Anderson’s impressive resume – not as wacky as “Inherent Vice,” more engaging than “Phantom Thread,” yet not at the top-notch level of “The Master,” “There Will Be Blood” and “Licorice Pizza.” It’s full of big personalities and bigger ideas, though the execution isn’t there to bring it all together.