Justin Chang

The exact time frame isn't specified, but from the opening sequence, in which a band of revolutionaries rescue immigrants from a detention center near the U.S.-Mexico border, it's clear that the moment is ours.

The revolutionaries call themselves the French 75.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Pat, an explosives expert.

A searing Teyana Taylor plays his lover, Perfidia Beverly Hills, who's fiercely dedicated to the group's radical principles.

The film's first half hour catches us up in the heat and momentum of their reckless romance, and also in the tension and danger of their work, as they plant bombs in courthouses and pro-life politicians' offices.

Perfidia makes a powerful enemy of an army colonel with the colorful name of Stephen J. Lockjaw.

He's played by an unnerving Sean Penn.

A dark, sometimes perverse game of cat and mouse ensues, and it all ends in betrayal and disaster.

Perfidia vanishes, forcing Pat to go into hiding with their infant daughter, while many of the French 75 are rounded up or killed.

Sixteen years later, Pat, calling himself Bob Ferguson, is hiding out in a fictional town called Bactan Cross.

The film was shot across California and in El Paso, Texas.

His daughter, Willa, is now a smart, plucky teenager, played by the remarkable young actor Chase Infinity.

A fitting name, since the rest of the movie is basically one relentless pursuit.

Lockjaw has located them and sent troops into Bactan Cross on the pretext of cracking down on immigrants.

His true targets, though, are Bob and Willa.

Amid the chaos, father and daughter are separated.

Willa is rescued by an old friend of her dad's, played by a terrific Regina Hall.

Bob, meanwhile, narrowly escapes Lockjaw's clutches and calls on the French 75 for help.

But he hasn't been in touch with them for years, and with his memory fried by booze and pot, he can't remember all the secret passphrases to confirm his identity.

DiCaprio has always been an underappreciated comic performer, and he hasn't been this funny or physically dynamic in a film since The Wolf of Wall Street.