Five iconic Leonardo DiCaprio movies to watch on Netflix
Leonardo DiCaprio could have milked Titanic for decades, and frankly, he still would’ve been the “king of the world”; instead, he swerved left, the heartthrob lane behind, and started working for a filmography that makes awards voters reach for the good stationery.
Scorsese became central to that transformation. Gangs of New York pushed him into rougher material, and then came The Aviator, which earned him another Oscar nomination. The Departed proved he could shine brighter in a film packed with brilliant performers. Crikey, that partnership did some serious work.
Then Inception came along and put DiCaprio at the centre of one of the decade’s great pop-culture brainteasers. The Revenant finally brought the Best Actor Oscar in 2016, ending one of Hollywood’s favourite running gags. About time, frankly.
And he still has not started phoning it in. Killers of the Flower Moon showed a star willing to look foolish and very unpleasing on screen, which, good grief, is exactly why DiCaprio remains such a cracking watch. But we should never forget the classics, and hence, here are five of his all-time iconic films that you need to revisit without a second thought.
Five iconic Leonardo DiCaprio movies to watch on Netflix:
Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay, 2021)
Leonardo DiCaprio as a nervous astronomy professor telling everyone the world is about to end? Oh, you know this is going to be hilarious. Oh, but in the film, it’s maddening. His Dr Randall Mindy discovers with Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) that a comet is heading straight for Earth, which sounds like news that makes governments drop everything. Right? Instead, the warning is spun into political theatre, turned into television chatter, and, good grief, Mindy himself starts getting rather comfortable with his newfound fame.
And then comes the on-air breakdown: Crikey, he absolutely goes for broke. DiCaprio didn’t just star in the film but helped director Adam McKay reshape that speech through multiple rewrites, and you can feel why. When Mindy finally loses his rag, the comedy drops its grin for a moment, and the panic underneath comes roaring out. When Mindy finally loses his rag, all the jokes give way, and, blimey, the real fear hits home. But hey, that’s classic DiCaprio!
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019)
Oh, Rick Dalton is a mess, and thank God for it. Leonardo DiCaprio plays him as a TV cowboy who can feel Hollywood moving on without him, which means every bad day is basically a disaster… for him. He is insecure and well aware that younger actors are coming up behind him, which makes it funnier than it’s supposed to be. Tarantino takes him into 1969 Los Angeles with Brad Pit’’s Cliff Booth at his side, Sharon Tate close by, and the Manson murders edging nearer to the story. So yes, the setting looks gorgeous, but there is something horrible brewing.
What makes DiCaprio so much fun here is how little dignity Rick has left to protect. He is desperate to still matter, and Leo plays that with just enough comedy to stop it from becoming miserable. His scenes with Brad Pitt help too, because Cliff is so calm that Rick looks even more wound up beside him. And somehow, that makes him one of the most entertaining things in the film.
The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013)
You cannot talk about The Wolf of Wall Street without talking about Leo because, honestly, he is the reason Jordan Belfort’s rise is such a mad watch. Belfort starts out as a stockbroker in the film and then builds Stratton Oakmont by pushing dodgy stocks. The man gets filthy rich, but that happiness doesn’t last long when the FBI starts sniffing around. But does that stop him? Oh, please. Leo has played him like a guy who thinks he can charm his way past every disaster, which makes the whole thing only more outrageous.
Then the walls start closing in, and, good grief, Belfort still carries on as if none of it can touch him. But everyone from Margot Robbie to Jonah Hill in the film has done an excellent job. Leonardo DiCaprio earned an Oscar nomination for the role, and fair enough, because this is probably one of his best performances to date. You can’t talk about him and not mention this classic.
Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010)
After The Wolf of Wall Street, you might fancy seeing Leo in something a bit less crazy. Bad luck because Shutter Island sends him to 1954 as US Marshal Teddy Daniels in yet another Scorsese classic. The man arrives at a psychiatric hospital on a remote island to investigate a patient who has disappeared from a locked room. Sounds straightforward enough. Oh, please! The case starts twisting around him while Teddy’s past keeps getting in the way. Before long, you are questioning whether he should trust anyone there. But don’t get tired just yet because this film will let you question yourself a bunch of times.
It was Leonardo DiCaprio and Scorsese’s fourth feature together, and Leo called it his most emotionally challenging film at the time, describing the story as a “complex jigsaw puzzle”. Says the man who also worked in Inception. But you will see why. That ending? Blimey. It changes how you read Leo’s whole performance.
Catch Me If You Can (Steven Spielberg, 2002)
After Shutter Island has done your head in, young Leo turns up in a pilot’s uniform looking like he has never caused a day of trouble in his life. Sure, sure. Catch Me If You Can has young DiCaprio playing Frank Abagnale Jr, a teenager forging cheques and pretending to be a Pan Am pilot, while Tom Hanks’ FBI agent Carl Hanratty tries to catch him. The nerve of this boy, I tell you. Spielberg keeps it light enough to enjoy the chase, but Frank’s family problems are always there underneath, which stops him from becoming just some smug little con artist.
And Leo was 28 when he played Frank from his teenage years onwards. Not the way he pulled it off – just brilliant. Perhaps it’s that cheeky confidence sells it. Even better, the real Frank Abagnale appears as the French officer who arrests him. It’s a nice little touch in the movie that stays with you. Leo makes the whole thing look effortless, and that is half the fun.