Rating: 3.5/5
Like a veritable Franz Biberkopf, Carlito (Al Pacino) leaves prison after five years and proclaims that he will go straight and retire to Paradise. His lawyer and best friend, David (Sean Penn), helped him get out on technicalities and doesn’t believe Carlito can change.
After a small favor for some capital turns nasty, Carlito uses the earnings to buy a share of El Paradiso so he can make enough honest money to retire for good.
David’s getting into trouble, doing an 80s-worth of coke, and stealing millions from clients in prison. So now he has to bust a guy out of Rikers, and he’s guilted Carlito into helping him.
If I had seen this before Mission to Mars, I might have called this a lesser De Palma. By lesser, I don’t mean bad, though. This movie is good, even though it made a few unfortunate choices (mostly the casting for this Puerto Rican gangster story). It’s just sitting next to some of the best movies I’ve seen in De Palma’s filmography.
The movie has stellar music choices — some of my favorite disco/dance numbers.
** Complaining ** Pacino’s Puerto Rican accent is fucking abysmal.
Viggo Mortensen showing up with a mouth full of Chicano slang is embarrassing.