Best movie ever!

A Masterpiece!

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Since in the original Carlito's Way Al Pacino narrated the whole thing in flashback from his death gurney, it would not be possible to do a sequel and outside of Michael Corleone, Al Pacino just don't do sequels. So young television actor Jay Hernandez was given a shot at a prequel film, Carlito's Way: The Rise To Power.It was hoped that this film would make Jay Hernandez a major star. Sad to say that didn't happen, through no fault of Hernandez. He is a most charismatic young man and hopefully will get a second big break.What Pacino did in the first Carlito's Way was create a portrait of an aging Latino gangster who would just like to live without any more hassles. But as one of his other creations, the aforementioned Michael Corleone said, they keep dragging me back in.Hernandez doesn't inherit a family tradition like Michael Corleone, he's a street kid from East Harlem and was caught in first the social welfare system after losing his parents and then the criminal justice system after some street crimes. In prison he meets up with Michael Kelly and Mario Van Peebles and in the spirit of the new times forms an alliance with a black man and an Italian man to carve out Spanish Harlem as his heroin turf and to have two allies available to deal with the black and Italian gangsters on the scene.Actually the performance that caught my attention was that of Mtume Gant who plays Van Peebles younger brother. Gant is inflamed by all the revolutionary rhetoric of the Sixties and Seventies, but in actuality just proves to be a punk.In the original Carlito's Way, Sean Penn had a major role as a criminal defense lawyer who decides to go in business for himself as a gangster. I was so hoping to see a younger version of his character in Rise To Power. From what Pacino did in the original, Rise To Power turned out to be nothing more than a routine gangster drama. I hope Jay gets a second break.

A complete and utter slap to the face to DePalma and Pacino.Do I need to even explain the plot? A rise from slums to riches in the ghetto streets of Harlem....yawn! Boring! What makes Carlitos Way a truly amazing movie was the sheer fact of storytelling and characters that explain how he got to where he was.Shame on whoever greenlit this project.Prequel? No.Story? No.Sean Puff Piffy Dadd farty licky? No..Pass. Better movies out there. Go rent Number 23 with Jim Carrey. Trust me..you'll lauh harder.

Well to the fans of the original movie this offers pretty much nothing. To be quite honest, this movie would have been much better without the tag of Carlito's Way but it's a money making scheme and there's nothing wrong with that.The movie is just lighthearted mob-like fun and I thought it was nice to see Mario van Peebles in a different role for a change (not as a b-movie hero that kicks butt). The movie just tells about Carlito and his drug dealings and networking around the time he was young. Basically I just liked the movie and there's even a small twist in the end which I won't spoil. But if you're looking for a serious movie about the mob or a serious prequel to Carlito's Way, then don't pick this title up. As I said, this basically has nothing to do with the original masterpiece but as a mob "fan" I'd give this a 6/10. Lighthearted but kind of fun.

I saw this prequel a couple of days after watching the 1983 version with Al Pacino. While this was not quite as good as the first one, I really think that Jay Hernandez did a great job of portraying Carlito in the early years. He was able to come off as a "good guy" even though he was a gangster. His loyalty to his friends was indeed his eventual downfall, but this is what made him a likable character. The plot twists were good and your basic "happy ending" was achieved. I do wish though that they would have continued with the same girlfriend in the original, Gail. Maybe there was a reason and I just missed it. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and would recommend to those who have tired of watching reruns of Godfather and Goodfellas.