User:Stephenfisher2001/sandbox/Carlito's Way

Carlito's Way is a 1993 American crime drama film directed by Brian De Palma, based on the novels Carlito's Way (1975) and After Hours (1979) by Judge Edwin Torres. The film adaptation was scripted by David Koepp. It stars Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller, Luis Guzman, John Leguizamo, Jorge Porcel, Joseph Siravo, and Viggo Mortensen.

Carlito's Way received a positive response from critics, with a similar lukewarm result at the box office, but has subsequently become a cult film. Both Penn and Miller received Golden Globe nominations for their performances. A prequel titled Carlito's Way: Rise to Power, based on the first novel, was released direct-to-video in 2005.

Plot
In 1975 New York, after having served five years of a 30-year prison sentence, career criminal Carlito Brigante is freed on a legal technicality exploited by his close friend and lawyer, Dave Kleinfeld. Carlito Brigante chooses to lead a quiet life after being released from prison. But when he reluctantly becomes a part of a drug deal, he realizes that there is no escape.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Amazing directing by Brian De Palma.
 * 2) The acting, especially for Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Penelope Ann Miller is great.
 * 3) Al Pacino did an amazing job portraying Carlito Brigante, His performance is pretty good,
 * 4) Great cinematography, as it fits very well in a crime film.
 * 5) The setting of 1975's New York City is well done.
 * 6) Carlito Brigante is a tolerable, and likeable character, and he gave tons of great character development, as he starts off as TBA.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) TBA.

Reception
On release, the critical response to the theatrical release was somewhat lukewarm. The film was criticized for re-treading old ground, mainly De Palma's own Scarface and The Untouchables. Roger Ebert stated in his review that the film is one of De Palma's finest with some of the best set-pieces he has done. Patrick Doyle was praised for his scoring of the film soundtrack, which was described as "elegiac" and "hauntingly beautiful," which "displays Doyle as one of the major talents of modern film scoring." Peter Travers (of Rolling Stone) criticized the film for Pacino's "Rican" accent slipping into his "Southern drawl from Scent of a Woman", "De Palma's erratic pacing and derivative shootouts" and "what might have been if Carlito's Way had forged new ground and not gone down smokin' in the shadow of Scarface."

On the Siskel & Ebert show, Ebert gave the film a thumbs up while Siskel gave it a thumbs down. Owen Gleiberman (from Entertainment Weekly) described the film as "a competent and solidly unsurprising urban-underworld thriller" and is "okay entertainment," but went on to say that the plot would have worked better "as a lean and mean Miami Vice episode." The film has an approval rating of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 49 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.10/10. The site's consensus states: "Carlito's Way reunites De Palma and Pacino for a more wistful take on the crime epic, delivering a stylish thriller with a beating heart beneath its pyrotechnic performances and set pieces."