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Written by: Edwin Torres (novels "Carlito's Way" and "After Hours"), David Koepp (screenplay)
Directed by: Brian De Palma
Starring: Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, John Leguizamo, Luis Guzmán, James Rebhorn, Viggo Mortensen
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
Released from prison early, a Puerto Rican criminal buys a nightclub and decides to go straight, but his cronies and enemies pull him back to the dark side
Verdict
There's no easy way to get out of the criminal life. Carlito has a plan, but loyalties and violence have a cost. It's a balancing act as his old friends expect him to return to his old ways, and he just wants out. Wanting it and getting it are entirely different. The ironic fact is that if Carlito wasn't trying to escape the life, and remained ruthless like before, he might not have gotten into such a jam. Then again, that might only have prolonged the inevitable.
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Review
This opens with one of my most disliked tropes, the how we got here, with a scene that obviously appears near the end of the movie. I will give it credit, that often this trope is used just to add excitement, but here it's used to make us wonder and instill a sense of dread. We know Carlito (Al Pacino) wants to get out but obviously something happens. What, and how bad is it?
Carlito argues in court that he's reformed. It seems like bravado. Even the judge knows it, but Carlito's lawyer Dave (Sean Penn) is correct that evidence was illegally obtained. The judge has no choice but to release him. Carlito returns home, and immediately his old friends want to know if he's back. He tells them he's going straight, but he also agrees to join his cousin on a drop off. If you want to quit crime you can't be around it. As soon as they walk in the door the drop off feels uneasy. When things go bad we see that Carlito knows how to handle himself. He acts quickly, managing to escape with the drop off money and uninjured. That allows him to buy a stake in a club. He hopes to earn enough money to retire from the life.
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| Luis Guzmán, Al Pacino play Pachanga, Carlito Brigante |
There's a lot of voice over as Carlito laments how much has changed since he was in prison. While he feels disconnected after his incarceration, he still understands people's motivations and thus business. He wrestles with his life before and now as well as the people he's left behind. While it's difficult to believe his earnest claims that he wants to go legal, it may just be true when we see how many people he knows that have died in the life. That and he spent five years away, incarceration can change a person. With the opening scene, it seems like Carlito has an expiration date. His dreams of getting out might be in vain. Then again, could the movie be faking us out? Either we we know something will happen, it's just how. A movie should generate questions, too many and viewers are overwhelmed, too few and they detach. This opening provides great foreshadowing, and rarely do I like that trope.
After a dust up with Benny Blanco (John Leguizamo), we see Carlito has changed. He talks about how he would normally kill a guy in this situation but he can't burn bridges as he needs to get out. He knows how much reputation means in this world and still doesn't kill Benny. He only threatens him.
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| Al Pacino, Ingrid Rogers, Sean Penn play Carlito Brigante, Steffie, Dave Kleinfeld |
Dave becomes erratic, making mistakes in all avenues. He's stealing, getting high. Desperate, Dave asks Carlito for help. What is Carlito going to say? This is his best friend, the guy that got him out of prison early. He wants to leave the criminal life, but that's difficult when you're right in the middle of it. Carlito knows he shouldn't help Dave who is spiraling. As the movie progresses, we begin to wonder if he doesn't escape. The job doesn't go as expected, and Dave even claims to have evidence on Carlito to save himself. Even then, Carlito refuses to give up Dave.
Carlito is on his way out, and you just know he'll get one step away before his aspirations crumble. Dave freed him, but he's also the reason for the trouble. Because of Dave mobsters confront Carlito at his club. He escapes, but not without being seen. That leads to a chase in the subway and Grand Central Station that's exciting and tense. We're rooting for Carlito while also wondering if the moment is near.
This ending. It was no one thing that caught up to Carlito. You could critique and suggest he took a half measure when it should have been a full measure, but Carlito knew what he was doing. It's ironic that trying to keep the peace had a cost. He survived being a criminal but couldn't make it out alive when he tried to leave that life behind.
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