Al Pacino is better than Leonardo DiCaprio

Al Pacino may have higher critical rankings, but most critics have a bias and they argue over irrelevant things. This could also be because Al Pacino's legacy has aged well, Leonardo DiCaprio is in his prime and still going. What is the purpose of a movie, to make a profit based on showing people something they came to see. You could be an amazing actor, but if you don't make money, you are out of the job. Leonardo DiCaprio gets people in the theaters, this makes him a desirable actor. Commercial success is basically the reason actors get the work they do, so to say critical success counts more is completely wrong. People go to see Leonardo DiCaprio star in a movie. In the Godfather which is arguably Al Pacino's greatest film he is not the star and Marlon Brando owns that movie. The sequel had De Nero equally on the star status. Besides Django Unchained, Leonardo DiCaprio is the star, he is what people come to see and experience. To be a great actor, you need people to enjoy watching you, not just the critics. You said in your opening argument that Al Pacino was popular in the 1970s and 1990s, and it was in the 1990s he made a comeback. So this means that common audiences didn't go to see his movies, and therefore he was not a desired actor for a decade. Leonardo has never had a period where his career died out, he has been consistently working for 30 years with no stop to his momentum. Leonardo therefore proves to be the much more desirable actor. DiCaprio may have been a child star, but this means that acting was always a passion of his. He always took acting seriously since he was young. Age does matter because he's had experience since he was a young age, Pacino started later in life. You can't say age doesn't matter because the longer you act, the more experience you gain. Also Al Pacino might be known more for gritty violent roles, but it can't be said that Leonardo doesn't choose serious roles. There was not even a humorous moment in the Revenant. Tone doesn't make the actor, there are some actors who do great in non-serious roles, like Christoph Waltz, almost all of his roles are not serious yet he's an amazing actor. It is all about the ability of the actor, not the tone of the roles they choose. You claim that Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman stole the Oscars from Leo, but let's look at the evidence supporting that claim. According to Wikipedia, Joel Grey beat Al Pacino for Best Supporting Actor when he was up for the Godfather . He lost to Jack Lemmon a year later, Art Carney the next year. He also lost to Joe Pesci in 1991 and Gene Hackman in 1993, only two out of the seven nominations he was up for he lost to any of three actors you listed. You stating that Al Pacino's nominated performances are better is subjective. Your argument that Pacino has diverse roles is very hypocritical, in your original arguments you said that he only plays serious roles where he is a crime lord, so now you are telling me that he has a diverse list of rolls. Also, you listed Scarface as a diverse roll simply due to the ethnicity of the character, however you overlooked that the character is a crime lord. When you tried to list roles more diverse than just a crime lord you listed the ethnicity of a crime lord. Also you listed a very specific set of roles that Leonardo DiCaprio hasn't done and claim that just because Al Pacino has done them means he's the better actor. Leonardo has a way more diverse list of roles and has done many things that Al Pacino hasn't. With your logic, just because Al Pacino never played a mentally challenged kid means that Leonardo DiCaprio is the better actor for doing it. It is about what character you put into the role, Leonardo takes these diverse roles and gives them character, he is able to play many different people, in different settings and situations. It takes a lot of skill to be a different person, Leonardo plays many different people. Al Pacino has proven that he skillfully portrays a corrupt crime lord with not much else to offer.