Carlito's Way: Rise to Power (2005) (V)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Michael Bregman

Writers (WGA):

Michael Bregman (screenplay)
Edwin Torres (novel)

Release Date:

1 December 2005 (Iceland)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

In the late 1960s, Carlito Brigante (Hernandez) emerges as the heroin czar of Harlem.

Plot Keywords:

Heroin | Mafia | Prison | Prequel | Corrupt Cop

Cast

Jay Hernandez	...	Carlito Brigante
Mario Van Peebles	...	Earl
Luis Guzmán	...	Nacho Reyes
Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs	...	Hollywood Nicky (as Sean Combs)
Michael Kelly	...	Rocco
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Little Jeff
Jaclyn DeSantis	...	Leticia
Burt Young	...	Artie Bottolota Sr.
Mtume Gant	...	Reggie
Domenick Lombardozzi	...	Artie Bottolota, Jr.
Juan Carlos Hernández	...	Sigfredo
Eric Nieves	...	Chucho
Jaime Tirelli	...	Leticia's Father
Nelson Vasquez	...	Manny Sanchez
Casper Martinez	...	Colorado

Also Known As:

Carlito's Way 2: Rise to Power (USA) (working title)
Carlito's Way: The Beginning (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, violence, sexual content and drug material.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:18 | Singapore:M18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:18A (Manitoba) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-15 | Iceland:16 | Brazil:16 | Norway:15 (TV rating) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Rogue Pictures

Trivia:

The movie is based on one of Edwin Torres' book series on the criminal life of Carlito Brigante. This is based after the first book in the series "Carlito's Way". Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way (1993) took the first books title because at the time it was decided that they would not take the title of the second book "After Hours" to avoid confusion with the Martin Scorsese -directed movie of the same name (After Hours (1985)).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Since the move is set in the mid- to late-60s, Malcolm X Boulevard would not have existed and would only be known as Lenox Avenue. Lenox Avenue was subtitled Malcolm X Boulevard in 1987.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Carlito Brigante: Sooner or later, a thug will tell his tale. We all want to go on record. So let's hear it for all the hoods. The Jews out of Brownsville, the blacks on Lennox Avenue, the Italians from Mulberry Street, the Irish in Hell's Kitchen. Like that. Meanwhile...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Follows Carlito's Way (1993)

Not Worth Watching...Just watch Carlito's Way again instead.

This was just a terrible movie. It hurt me to watch it. Almost every action was unmotivated within the context of the movie, the acting was really poor (P.Diddy was the best actor which really says something about the movie) and the plot was generally predictable. Some links to Carlito's Way were okay, for example his dream of one day moving to the Carribien, but on the whole they were weak. The love interest in my opinion was flat out wrong but hey that's debatable. Anyways I really wasn't expecting much before watching the movie and I guess you could say even those expectations weren't met. I feel bad for Jay Hernandez because he actually is a decent actor (Friday Night Lights). He's lucky though because I'm sure there won't be too many people watching this movie. I generally give movies a decent rating if they spark my interest at all so I'm gonna go ahead and give this one two stars. Better luck next time. And yes I did enjoy Carlito's Way.