From the violent beginning, to Carlito's speech patterns, right down to the director this movie seems like its trying to be a follow up to the 1983 classic Scarface, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The only possibility of that attempt at becoming a bad thing is that Scarface is one of the greatest crime movies ever made, with classic lines, an iconic poster, and possibly the most bad ass ending of any movie ever... so any attempt at, even a solely thematic one, continuing that movie sounds doomed to fail.
But I won't spoil the fun and tell you here if it was a failure or a success.
Carlito's Way (1993), despite my intro paragraph, is a very different movie (plot wise, at least) from Scarface. Where as the latter is all about the rise of an immigrant from low level hood to kingpin of the Miami drug trade, Carlito's Way is more of a post-rise movie. Admittedly, this is a very interesting take on the genre. Consider, if you will, most of the great gangster movies. Little Ceaser... a hood rises to rule, then falls. Goodfellas... a hood rises to power, then falls. Scarface, a hood rises to rule, then falls. State Property... I did say great didn't I? never mind State Property then... I believe you get the picture now. But this movie is a man who has already fallen, being released from Priosn, Carlito is no longer the drug Kingpin he used to be, but nobody in cinema has ever been able to walk away from the former lifestyle of violence, just ask William Munny.
The cinematography is gorgeous in an almost ironic way. The back ground scenery is shot with a way to show the grimy under belly of society that is being portrayed by the characters in the shots. Furthermore, Stephen H. Burum and Brian de Palma shoot the movie as if following a page from the Sergio Leone guide to Westerns, intense close ups, graphic deaths the film is made that much more of a gripping experience.
The voice overs are interesting, and they do move the story along well... but I feel like the script lacks the punch of Stone's Scarface script or Pileggi and Scorcese's Goodfellas script. Although trying to tell the story of a man seeking redemption, not fame and wealth, there was a certain level of hardened dialogue missing. And when the hardened dialogue was used, it seemed almost forced (e.g. John Leguizamo's first appearance at the club). Although, that doesn't really bog down the movie. There is a lot of great dialogue and exchanges, like when Carlito reunites with Gail, and those scenes really elevate the movie above the average crime fare, but the aforementioned script troubles mixed with some of the key problems keep the movie out of the truly great category.
Al Pacino turns in another great performance, although there seems to be too much Montana seeping into Carlito. Although the character does stand alone, it seems like Pacino slipped into the comfort zone of Latin American born gangster created by the most iconic of the bunch. Furthermore, Sean Penn is (don't stone me) average. He's definitely not bad here, but there's nothing that he does that is really all that inventive/creative/breath taking. There's also Guzman, who is alright in these bit parts (think Boogie Nights) but again not great. Although only briefly in the movie John Leguizamo's Benny Blanco is actually a pretty good performance, but it keeps par for the course, making my biggest complaint the lack of great acting, not just really good acting.
In terms of cinematic experience, Carlito's Way is a very good way to spend 2 hours and 25 minutes, but if you are searching for a truly moving and hard edged gangster film instead pick up Goodfellas, Scarface, or any number of films that do a similar kind of movie, but better.
Dr. Brooklyn says: LIKE this movie (8.75/10)
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