timivers

(2013-05-24 15:24:00)

Don't believe the Hype... because thats all this movie is.

Deceptive Advertising... I saw a commercial for Carlitos Way: Rise toPower that states "From the Producer of Scarface and Carlito's Way"LETS GET IT STRAIGHT... Michael Bergman did not produce Scarface, infact he was 'editing room assistant' for Scarface. Not to take awayfrom Bergman's talent... but in my opinion he should of had a littlemore class. I think I can speak for the masses when I say... We hatebeing blatantly lied to. As far as the movie goes, It was poor at best.I did think Puff Daddy did a good job. Although, Luis Guzman should beashamed for working on this film. Overall this film did not do a goodjob filling in the blanks for Carlito's Way. It's obvious this projectwas an attempt to make a quick buck rather a good film.

Brad

(2013-05-24 05:23:36)

DOES NOT REALLY WORK

CARLITO'S WAY: RISE TO POWER is a decent try to establish a new franchise. But unfortunately it lacks the punch and style of Brian DePalma's 1993 Cult Favorite. It takes place about 6 years before the original DePalma story but feels like it should be about 15 or 20 based on the casting of Jay Hernandez. Pacino's Carlito (Charlie) was 47 years old while Hernandez is obviously around 21 to 24 years old. Big flaw considering the time period between the two stories. The 2 films really do not connect in any way. It was really filmed for Theatrical release but I guess Universal thought it would be better suited for DVD premiere with a few selected Theatrical Engagements. What strike up 2,000 plus prints when you can sell 200 thousand DVD's instead? Not a awful film, it just has no style and just average.

jimmy-294

(2013-05-24 04:05:35)

Watch this movie.. and read the posts.. and what can i say.. it makes me so mad..

Quote: theurgist: Anyone with an I.Q. over 50 would have seen this filmwhat it is, an intelligent well acted prequel to a modern day classic,yes it doesn't have a blockbuster cast or a huge budget BUT it is stillvery well done and had me hooked for the full duration.An I.Q. over 50 you say.. that most mean you have an I.Q. lower than50.. its name is CARLITOS WAY: Rise to power !!! meaning it should havesomething whit the first one to do.. all and all its a OK movie if.. YOU CHANGE THE TITLE AND NO CHARACTERSNAMED CARLITO BRIGANTE!!!P.s don't comment on a movie if you don't know anything about movies.but i guess an I.Q. under 50,, you wont know what the hell i am yellingabout...Peace out!!

(2013-05-23 18:25:54)

Very Interesting film

This review is from: Carlito's Way - Rise to Power (Widescreen) (DVD) This was a very interesting film and a cliche all the same. I loved it as it was a refreshening escape from deep thought for a while. I was amused to say the least

The_Triad

(2013-05-22 21:18:33)

Good if taken separately.

Carlito's Way: Rise to Power is a prequel to the film Carlito's Way.Without giving too much away though, the film's end doesn't fit to thebeginning of the original, and thus is a bit of a disappointment. Ihave heard that there is another "missing piece" in between this filmand the original, currently being worked on as a novel, if this istrue, then time will tell how they all fit together, and many peoplecriticising this film for not working with the original may have to eattheir words. So, taking Carlito's Way: Rise to Power as a film in it'sown right, it does quite well. Carlito meets two guys in jail and theypush drugs when they get out. The usual gangster movie clichГѓВ©s areplayed out, but with some good comedy touches, clever plot and a focuson the morality of it all in dialogue. Any character played by Pacinois going to be a tough role to fill, but I felt Jay Hernandez did verywell, and would love to see the "missing piece" get made if it is true.Sean Coombs was also surprisingly good, having the bulk of the bestcomedy lines. All in all, as long as you don't expect a movie that isas good, or directly links to the original, you should enjoy it.

redwhiteblue5087

(2013-05-22 06:53:24)

Not as bad as most direct to DVD movies

Having read some of the negative reviews, I approached this with lowexpectations, but straight away was surprised by the good cast andclassy production values, which were much higher than the usual moviesreleased straight to DVD. Although not specifically a prequel, as itseems to be set in the same decade as the Pacino film, it stars thelikable Hernandez playing the same charismatic character. The storykept you entertained all the way through until the end, which was theonly slight disappointment. The final shoot out was a littleanticlimactic, but managed to tie up the loose ends satisfactorilyenough. Overall, worth a watch if you enjoy gangster movies, but don'tset your expectations too high.

random_avenger

(2013-05-21 01:49:57)

Rise to Power

American director Brian De Palma's best known work is probably the 1983crime epic Scarface starring Al Pacino, but its thematic companionpiece Carlito's Way (1993) has plenty of fans too. Of course,eventually a prequel was produced for the latter, chronicling theeponymous Carlito's initial rise to the status he wishes to relinquishin the original film.At the beginning in the 1960s, Puerto Rican hoodlum Carlito Brigante(Jay Hernandez) is doing time for petty crimes when he meets twoincarcerated criminal bosses in the prison. With the black Earl (MarioVan Peebles) and the Italian Rocco (Michael Kelly), Carlito sets up adrug trading business in Harlem, New York, upsetting the delicatesituation between the rivaling ethnic groups controlling the area'scriminal activities. The main rivals being an Italian family theBottolotas and the empire led by a suave black gangster boss namedHollywood Nicky (Sean Combs), Carlito and his associates find theirplace between the two opposites, doing favours for both whenevernecessary. His wealth increases and he starts a relationship with agirl named Leticia (Jaclyn DeSantis), but the gangster lifestyle is notwithout its hazards.Despite the change of director and lead actor, the expected elements ofan urban gangster tale are all there: self-confident, hotheaded thugs,badass crime lords, honour codes, bloody vendettas... Even though Imiss De Palma's touch with long takes and big chase scenes, I thinkdirector Bregman handles the storytelling decently, if less memorably.The colourful lighting in the atmospheric nightclubs is as good-lookingas in the first movie and the authentic New York exterior locationsalways provide a great backdrop for the scenes of tough street life.Making the 1960s setting more evident could have added a nice touch tothe whole though.Since we already know the conclusion of Carlito Brigante's story fromthe first movie, the prequel does not feel the need to examine hisactions from a moral point of view very much. Perhaps for the samereason character development has been left rather faint too, eventhough the story superficially tries to provide different sides toCarlito's personality, such as romantic, brotherly and ruthless. JayHernandez may not be as charismatic as Al Pacino, but I don't havemajor complaints about his acting, or almost anyone else's for thatmatter. Mario Van Peebles delivers one of the best performances in themovie, as does the always good Luis GuzmГѓВЎn as a hit-man Nacho Reyes, arole different from what he played in the first film. Sean 'Diddy'Combs' role as Hollywood Nicky remains pretty forgettable though,partly due to the way the character has been written, partly to Combs'emotionless 'cool' appearance.For a straight-to-DVD movie Carlito's Way: Rise to Power succeeds farbetter than could be expected. It doesn't present anything new withinits genre or provide interesting ponderings about the morals of crime,but I find it to be a perfectly watchable gangster flick. Thoughsmaller in scale than the first film, Rise to Power can nevertheless berecommended (with some reservations) to fans of the Brigante saga.

lav_6

(2013-05-20 11:27:54)

complete muck

really awful... lead actor did OK... the film, plot etc was completelycrap and inaccurate it may as well have been a sequel to well...anything it had little or no relevance to Carlitos Way... and should beavoided like the plague by any Carlito's ways fans... no mention ofGail in fact he ends up with some other bird, no mention of Klienfelt,no mention of how he got caught, no mention of how he ended up injail... they attempted to make it like the original with flash backs atthe beginning... but to be honest when rating it I was looking for azero mark... unfortunately I had to rate it higher...Its a terrible attempt to cash in on what was one of the best films ofthe 90's... overall it was approximately £6 and 2 hours of my lifewasted... for all the "action" in it, it was truly boring slow andpredictable... again to any Carltio's Way fans avoid this fiasco...

Angelus2

(2013-05-18 03:45:13)

Who decided this film was worth making?

Carlito Way, the original is a brilliant story about an ex-drug dealerwho hopes to leave his criminal past and so he invests in a club andthe deals with the trouble that comes with it.This film was....I saw the trailer and knew instantly it was going to be bad..But afterdismissing films in the past and finding out they were great( LuckyNumber Slevin, Tokyo Drift)...I gave this a shot and it failed withinthe first five minutes...The script is something a teenager would come up with if given fiveminutes to prepare...It was weak, with weaker dialogue. It seems thereis an instant need for romance in a gangster movie. So Brigante decidesto beat a guy up for the girl....and she say's 'Yes!' And if you needto act bad just throw racism around...As we learn from the 'Italianmobsters'...The acting was terrible to say the least...I found 'Hollywood Nicky',hilarious.I absolutely hate all these musicians turning to movies. Lets face itthe only reason P Diddy did this movie was so he could play agangsters...The actress who plays Leticia was weak but beautiful. Thesex scene was weak but we got to see her..which was okay...But overall I expected it shed light on how Carito ended up in prisonand the love of his life...And the assassin towards the end completelyadded to the horrendous movie that is...Carlito's Way: Rise to Power..

dbborroughs

(2013-05-17 14:37:45)

Frustrating sequel to a classic film - It should have been a radio play (or had a better director)

(This is not an objective review but a personal rant about what mighthave been) The plot of this movie follows the early days of Carlito, as he risesto power and prestige in the drug world. (his later exploits were toldin Brian DePalma's Carlito's Way) This film disappointed me a greatdeal. Here's a reasonably well written movie that completely fallsapart because the director can't make this film look like anything morethan a mediocre direct to home video movie. He has decent actors and adecent script based on a good novel, but he is rudimentary in how hehandles the shots. There is no feeling that the actors are doing anymore than pretending because we are never drawn in to what washappening on screen. It looks fake. You never believe any of it.If you want to see how dumb the choices are you need look no furtherthan the opening monologue where the tenuous position of the PortoRicans is explained. We have a well read bit of dialog inter-cut,badly, with black and white footage and stills. When the script callsfor some one to die we hear a gunshot with a clichГѓВ©d close up of a gunfiring that doesn't match the surrounding footage. Its so clichГѓВ©d yourmouth drops open because you can't believe some one would do somethingthat dumb.But it shouldn't be like this. The script is actually quite good...Growing tired about a third of the way into the movie I began to closemy eyes. As I listened to the film I suddenly began to like what I washearing. I opened my eyes because I figured that the movie had gottenbetter, but I was instantly struck by how the script and theperformances were being wounded by the visuals and directorial choices.He's a perfect case of a bad director turning fillet Mignon in tosloppy joes.If you liked the first movie you may want to try this, but I'd eitherdo something else while watching, or turn off the TV and just listen tothe sound through the sound system since it plays better as a radioplay.5 out of 10 for a good script and cast.

The_Pat_Bateman

(2013-05-15 19:13:01)

A disgrace

Where can I begin. I heard this movie was coming out and I was verymad. I am a huge fan of the original Carlito's Way and when I heardabout this, I thought it would be just like almost all the othersequels that come out in Hollywood. I thought it would be bad. Boy wasI wrong, this movie was much worse than I expected. Not saying allsequels are bad, but thats the problem with Hollywood these days, theymake too many sequels and remakes and rush them. This was not a theaterrelease, it is a DVD release. Still, in my opinion, there was no reasonat all for this to be made. After I heard about this film was inprogress, I then later heard Pacino was not in it. That right awaykilled any chance this movie had of being good. Why did I check thismovie out then some of you may ask? Well I had the opportunity to seeit so I did. I don't only watch movies that I have high expectationsof, I had low expectations on this one obviously. I just wanted to seeif it would have anything relevant in it. Now, if any of you readingthis are a Carlito's Way fan, you know a lot of the story in the firstone has to do with him going to jail.*VERY MINOR SPOILER* I wont ruin anything, because this may actuallymake you not want to waste 2 hours watching this trash. All I will sayis- in the end of Carlito's Way 2, we don't see Carlito go to jail.Now, I don't know about any of you, but I would have thought a prequelto Carlitos Way would show how he ended up in jail. I even had someinterest in actually seeing what happened.Now, thats not my only problem with the film. The actor who playedCarlito did not do too bad a job, but he could not have saved this filmif he tried. There's not even all those little things that should bethrown in there that Carlito's Way fans would like. You don't see anyappearance of Kleinfeld or other key characters in the first one, Iwould have liked to see something like that. What is even worse, isLuis Guzman is in this film, yet he doesn't play the same character heplays in the first film. Big mistake on their part, why cast the sameactor for a different character, it made the movie worse than italready was.Bottom line, I am a Carlito's Way fan, this new straight to DVD releaseis a disgrace. If you are a fan, don't watch this movie coming in withhigh expectations. This movie did basically nothing for me, and it isdefinitely one movie I wont be picking up on DVD, or watching everagain.

(2013-05-15 13:42:29)

Rise to Power is Rise to Nothing

This is one of the worst films of 2005, a prequel that is almost as bad as dumb and dumberer and son of the mask, the acting is terrible especially P. Diddy's performance, the screenplay is a mess, the cinematography is ridiculous and the violence is bloody, sickening and silly.This is not as good as al pacino was in 1993.I Hated this film.

Wil

(2013-05-13 18:33:06)

Not Bad but had the potential to be much better

Although the director fail to rehash the psyche of Carlito, and Jay Hernandez fall short portraying the good vs bad, soul searching elements of Carlito's character. It wasn't that bad. It all boils down to the script not living up to the truth of the character's. Where was the purpose of the character, the hot and cold nature, the com before the storm rising before the viewers eyes, the street genius that make Carlito a classic. Carlito was a gangster but his psyche and the turmoil within is what appeal to the audience. The direction of the film focus only on the gangster side and tainted one of the top five gangland classics in cinema history.

(2013-05-13 13:07:49)

Can't wait

I can't wait. I don't know how it will paly out, but regardless I am gonna need it for the collection

edge_records

(2013-05-12 12:58:13)

I didn't see the first one, and I liked this one

Many of those who gave bad voting did see the first Al Pacino movie.Well, I didn't and I enjoyed this one pretty much. One thing the otherssaid I can confirm, the actor who is playing Carlito wasn't that good,but probably if you don't (have to) compare him to Pacino the nicestory and the intelligent plot are are making up for that and the movieis worth watching it.Obviously did the Pacino Carlitos way start at another point as thisone is ending, so a lot of people were confused. So I think if theyjust would have called the movie another way and the main characterwouldn't have the name Carlito but Karl Ernst von Halmacken-Reuter, orwhatever, even those guys would have liked this movie, too.So, if you have a choice, first watch this one and enjoy it, and afterthat watch Pacino, and enjoy both.

kingdeejp

(2013-05-11 21:24:18)

Anyone ever read the book?

All of you guys trashing the movie... well everyone is entitled totheir opinion,but I have question for you guys whether you liked themovie or not. Did any of you actually read the books that the Carlito'sWay movies was based on. There is so much that could've been put intoeither movie that it could've made a mini-series. If I'm not mistaken,this new film focuses on one chapter of the whole story. when I say onechapter, its not one chapter of one book. Its one major part of thecharacter's life. this is the part of Carlito's first major battle inhis Rise to Power. I think that the movie was pretty good. It could'vebeen much better, but it wasn't too bad for what it was. You reallycant expect the young Carlito to be so much like the older Carlito fromthe first movie. People change with time, experience, and age. Justlook at the Godfather saga and all of the changes that Michael Corleonewent thru. I do think that there need to be more movies to fill in theblanks between this prequel and the original though.

ignatiuskafka

(2013-05-10 23:59:21)

Ouch!

This was so lame that I turned the DVD off...maybe halfway through. Itwas so weak, I couldn't even pay full enough attention to tell you howfar in I made it.Though I really wanted to believe that the depictionof the young Carlito would be somewhat different, I just couldn't buyit. I don't really blame the actors, because I think it was the scriptthat may have fallen flat. I did find myself laughing a few times, butI don't think those lines were intended to be funny.It's only saving grace is that I bought it in a 2 DVD set and I wouldhave paid the price I did for the original alone. This is one of thosecases when they should have let the classic stand alone.

(2013-05-10 03:36:35)

Carlito has lost his way

...It's almost like an extended SNL skit of "Carlito's Way: The Early Years"....horrible script, pacing, atmosphere, acting, and anything else you can think of. Reggie? The acting was as idiotic as the character..The girl's brother? Ditto.....P.Diddy was the best of the 3 and that's saying alot, because he was horrible..Stay away at all costs..

(2013-05-07 19:37:53)

Jay Hernandez shines

This review is from: Carlito's Way - Rise to Power (Widescreen) (DVD) Jay Hernandez, in a strong central performance, demonstrates once again that he can carry a film from point A to Z. As with 2006's horror genre entry, HOSTEL (which opened at #1), Mr. Hernandez holds his own against veteran performers and smartly resists turning in a "Young Al Pacino" portrayal. Instead, he is his own person, fleshing out his role and creating a number of memorable movie moments. While Mr. Hernandez is a strikingly handsome actor, he does not rest on those laurels... not in 'Rise to Power' or any other role he has undertaken.Why this talented young artisan does not headline more films is beyond this movie-goer. Recommended!

SCVUnlimited101

(2013-05-07 14:58:00)

For Those Who Aren't Ignorant.

The movie wasn't bad. This comment isn't for people who haven't seenthe movie, its for people who didn't understand the movie, like anumber of the people commenting this board.The movie is called "Carlito's Way: RISE TO POWER," hence why itdisplayed him rising to power. Had it been called something like,"Carlito's Way: Rise to Power and The His Arrest," or something to thatextent I Would have been disappointed in the lack of jail time at theend of the movie too.This movie did just what it had planned to do, it showed Carlito's Riseto Power which involved pushing heroin, dealing with Nicky, datingLeticia, and his involvement with the Italians. Basically, him risingto power, and gaining his immense wealth. That's the movie. It's aprequel because it comes before Carlito's Way, the sequel.It obviously didn't tell of his relationship with Gail, or what put himin jail. Perhaps that's for a story of another movie. Say Carlito is inhis late 20s to early 30s, I don't know his age, and then say he's inhis late 40s when played by Al Pacino. Therefore there's still about 15years unexplained if not more. I can't recall how many years he was injail before "Carlito's Way" but if it was less than ten they'd have toskip around 5 years at the end of "Rise to Power" to get to him beingput in jail. That would have confused you even more.If you happen to think that a prequel MUST lead up to a sequel, you'dbe incorrect. One of the most popular sagas of all time shows you this.In Star Wars Episode 1, Anakin is a child, next thing you know he's agrown man. What happened in between? How was puberty for a Jedi? Allthe questions in between are unanswered, whether you ask them or not.The prequel did not simply lead you through every second until thesequel. Episode 3 is the prequel to Episode 4, but Luke's entire lifeis unanswered. Doesn't make Episode 3 a horrible prequel does it?If you want, make up your own "Carlito's Way: Downfall," I don't care,but don't say it was a horrible movie. It was a well done movie andwell acted. It showed you a portion of Carlito's life you hadn't seenbefore. If you can't get over the fact that they didn't lead up to hisarrest, then you're missing out on a good movie for a dumb reason.