“How does Leonardo DiCaprio get away with it?” ask the clickbait warriors at Slate. The question concerns the actor’s well-chronicled love of superyachts and 20-year-olds, but it might just as easily be posed of the Oscar winner’s choice of projects. In the 21st century thus far, DiCaprio has made exactly two movies that weren’t directed by a household name — Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond (2006) and R. D. Robb’s Don’s Plum (2001). His other 18 collaborations are a veritable who’s who of American cinema: Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, and on the list goes. 

One possible answer is that the 50-year-old really is that talented. Certainly, he has given some fine performances, most notably during a three-picture run in the early-to-mid aughts. Catch Me If You Can (2002), perhaps Steven Spielberg’s last great movie, represented the culmination of the actor’s Peter Pan phase and remains thrilling more than two decades later. The Aviator (2004), now undeservedly neglected, depends so heavily on its star’s peppery charisma that it barely lets him offscreen for a moment. Best of all was The Departed (2006), in which DiCaprio reached new heights of aggression, vulnerability, and pathos. Not since John Cazale made The Godfather Part II (1974), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and The Deer Hunter (1978) in sequence has a five-year stretch of acting been quite so bracing.