NEW YORK (OSV News) -- Considerable acting and filmmaking talent is put to questionable use in the off-kilter action feature "One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.). Artistically impressive yet politically distorted, the film also includes much incidental material that sensible moviegoers of any age would find unsettling.

A decade-and-a-half after what writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson's script presents as his glory days in a Weather Underground-style revolutionary organization called the French 75, Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) is aging, drug-addled and isolated. About the only thing he has going for him is his bumpy but loving relationship with his teen daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti).

So when Col. Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn), the Army officer who long ago succeeded in neutralizing Bob's equally radical live-in girlfriend -- and Willa's mom -- Perfidia (Teyana Taylor), resumes his hunt for Bob, the latter is ill-equipped to evade capture. Yet, since Lockjaw's pursuit endangers Willa as well, Bob feels compelled to marshal his forces and rise to the occasion.

He's aided by Willa's unflappable karate instructor, Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio Del Toro), and by Deandra (Regina Hall), a former comrade in the French 75. For his part, Lockjaw is distracted by his fervent desire to be accepted into a powerful secret fraternity of racist reactionaries who go by the absurdly unlikely name the Christmas Adventurers.

The artistic flair and humor with which Anderson approaches his tale are blunted by the script's unbalanced political outlook. This involves winking at violent left-wing extremism while grossly caricaturing the far-right conspirators with whom Lockjaw longs to hobnob.

The fact that the French 75 are portrayed as rescuing downtrodden immigrants from the unjust detention they're forced to endure under Lockjaw's supervision feels more exploitative than timely. Nor will movie fans committed to the sanctity of human life feel comfortable with brief references indicating that the group's other targets include politicians opposed to legal abortion.

In what is presumably a bid for laughs, Anderson has Willa eventually finding shelter with a group of habit-sporting pseudo-nuns who support themselves (and their ultra-feminist agenda) by growing marijuana. Off-setting this a bit is a scene showing that the community of migrants Sergio protects find sanctuary in what is obviously a Catholic church.

Some gripping suspense as well as the humane family values showcased via Bob and Willa's close bond also partly compensate for the more problematic elements of the story. On the plus side of the artistic ledger, moreover, Anderson even manages to infuse fresh life into the long-since shopworn car chase.

But gritty sexual content, albeit relatively brief and nongraphic, raises yet another barrier for casual viewers. As a result, "One Battle After Another" can only be endorsed for those grown-ups equipped and willing to confront a challenging work that requires careful assessment.

The film contains skewed values, much stylized mayhem with brief gore, aberrant sexual behavior, narcotics use, several profanities, about a half-dozen milder oaths, pervasive rough and crude language and obscene gestures. The OSV News classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.- - -CAPSULE REVIEW"One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.)Considerable acting and filmmaking talent is put to questionable use in this off-kilter action feature from writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson. An aging and drug-addled former revolutionary (Leonardo DiCaprio) finds his past catching up with him when, after a hiatus of a decade-and-a-half, the Army officer (Sean Penn) who succeeded in neutralizing his equally radical live-in girlfriend (Teyana Taylor) resumes the hunt for the activist, endangering the couple's now teenage daughter (Chase Infiniti). The artistic flair and humor with which Anderson approaches his tale are blunted by the script's distorted politics, which involve winking at violent left-wing extremism while grossly caricaturing the far-right conspirators with whom Penn's character longs to hobnob. Although some gripping suspense as well as humane family values partly compensate for this imbalance, gritty sexual content raises yet another barrier for casual viewers. Skewed values, much stylized mayhem with brief gore, aberrant sexual behavior, narcotics use, several profanities, about a half-dozen milder oaths, pervasive rough and crude language, obscene gestures. The OSV News classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. - - -CLASSIFICATION"One Battle After Another" (Warner Bros.) -- OSV News classification, L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. Motion Picture Association rating, R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.- - - John Mulderig is media reviewer for OSV News. Follow him on X @JohnMulderig1.