Rise to Power is the prequel to Brian DePalma's 1993 hit gangster movie Carlito's Way. This film chronicles Carlito's early years, and as the name suggests, his rise to power. Carlito was originally played by the quintessential gangster Al Pacino. This time around Carlito was played by the underrated Jay Hernandez,
who did a great job filling the big shoes. However, the distinct nationalities of Pacino and Hernandez are vastly different.The main problem with this film is that it ties together NOTHING from the first film. One of the advantages of doing a prequel is that you have the entire conclusion to the story at your disposal to work with. The new director, Michael Scott Bregman, did a horrible job of piecing the puzzle together. In the original film we were constantly reminded of what a bad ass Carlito used to be, and this film fails to deliver that storyline. Also, it would have been nice to see characters from the original appear in this film as well. The only returning roles were Luis Guzman's character and Carlito. No one else is introduced, which was highly disappointing.If Rise to Power had been made as its own separate movie, it would have been much better. It had an interesting, although linear, storyline. The director played it safe. With these kind of prequels you come to expect lots of gun fights and action since that is how one gains "power." Sadly, this was not the case... there was generally more drama than action in this film. Bregman also did a poor job of setting a mobster tone for the film, and the setting felt more modern than it's intended 1960's time line.In the end, this movie is plagued by poor directing and poor screen writing. Ultimately it's not a bad gangster film, but it IS a horrible prequel. Lower your expectations....
November 27, 2008
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