Review of Carlito's Way (1993) by Blake B — 14 Jul 2009

I have this weird thing where I don't really care for Brian De Palma's direction in any of his movies, but I love the movies themselves. It may have to be a tribute to the acting and stories, which are always intriguing, that keeps me watching his films. Carlito's Way is the best in a line of movies where the protagonist wants to leave his current life, but keeps getting pulled right back in. Al Pacino is his usually awesome, flamboyant self, which we can always count on. Sean Penn is a great slimeball lawyer. I liked John Leguizamo's part as well.

Carlito's Way is the second movie that I saw Viggo Mortensen in back before I knew who Viggo was (the first was the movie Daylight). If you've read any of my other reviews of movies with Viggo, you'll understand how much of a treat it was for me to watch Carlito's Way again much later and realize that he was right there. His character wasn't very sympathetic, but Viggo was, even at this early stage in his career, giving very subtle performances. I watched his part carefully and there are several moments when you can see him trying to hide something. Carlito is understanding on the screen, but the viewer, unless he/she is playing close enough attention, could miss everything that Carlito sees in Laline's actions that set him off. Excellent, small work from Viggo, as usual from his '90s performances.

Overall, it's easy to get caught up in pulling for Carlito. Our society usually roots for people who make mistakes to get second chances. It's rare to see those people actually become earnest about making the most of it. It's sad to see all the different people from his past (and some new faces) continually trying to reel him back into the game at every turn. Even his best friend can't leave him to his future. We see in the opening credits that it will be just about impossible to follow through on his dreams. It's a strong character-driven gangster movie and I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the genre, as well as fans of Pacino, as it's a classic performance from him.