4) Inception
Inception‘s Dom Cobb is a deceptively simple part for DiCaprio. Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending sci-fi epic doesn’t ask its actors to reach deep within themselves or deliver blistering monologues. Cobb for one remains cool and collected for most of the movie – and it’s a testament to DiCaprio’s skill and innate screen presence that he makes the character so immensely watchable.
If anyone needed a single one as evidence, Inception is the movie that proves Leonardo DiCaprio’s star quality. It’s a quality he often denies in his work, taking on as he does so many dark, complex roles.
Cobb is the kind of character that, once upon a time, the likes of Robert Redford and Paul Newman would have been hired to play – great stars and people that DiCaprio so effortlessly emulates when he dares to be a straightforward leading man.