With the recent report that Hollywood is in the process of making sequels to films that go direct to the video shelf, you might think it is a new trend. In fact, the studios have been doing it for some time. While I can see there would be a fanbase for direct to video/DVD fare in the animation, comedy or horror genres, a period crime drama is another story. Surprisingly, the ‘prequel’ to ‘Carlito’s Way’ isn’t half bad, and while not great, it is a heck of a lot better than most of the other ‘urban gangster’ flicks that come out. One thing going for ‘Rise To Power’ is that, what some may or may not know, both this film and the Brian DePalma film are based on a series of novels by Edwin Torres. DePalma had worked from the second novel, and this one, directed by Michael Scott Bregman, from the first. Because of the gap in time and in between story, it might not be a surprise if there were another prequel on the way.
But if there was, there is one character that they cannot do without: Earl, played by Mario Van Peebles. Yes, Jay Hernandez does a good job as Carlito Brigante, and Jaclyn DeSantis as Leticia is nice on the eyes, but Peebles all but steals the show. It is for Peebles alone that makes watching the film more worthwhile than it really should be. Burt Young’s mafiso boss Artie Bottolota Sr. was alright, although some of his demands (“I want the bodies on my doorstep!”) are a bit much and it’s not a pretty sight watching him gulp down plates of pasta. I wasn’t impressed with P Diddy , who plays the same character as he did in Jon Faverau’ “Made”- the only two differences really are different time period and a different name, Hollywood Nicky. There’s an awkward early scene of how we are introduced to Nicky. It goes like this: one young hood wants to get away from the hood and doesn’t want to pay Nicky a small debt of twenty dollars. This guy goes to the bar, talks with his girl about getting away, and moments later he’s gunned down by Nicky, who doesn’t care if there is a roomful of witnesses. He boasts that no one steals from him, then takes a drink without so much as looking at the new corpse on the floor next to him. It really has nothing to do with the rest of the film. But then there’s the usually reliable character actor Luis Guzman. In the DePalma film, he played a character named Pachanga. Here, it is a different character named Nacho. Guzman does a good job with his character, but it is distracting, because, see, Guzman has been around for awhile; and he hardly looks like he’s aged a day. That said, there’s no reason why he could not have played the same character as he did in the DePalma film. It is an adaptation, helmer Bregman could have gotten away with it.

The film itself consists of a plan for Carlito, Earl and Rocco (Michael Kelly) to work as go betweens selling and distributing heroin with the Italian mob, and Hollywood’s Harlem territory. The parnership goes smoothly, until three inciting indidents happen : 1) Carlito has a new love, Leticia, whose brother isn’t as dimwitted as he looks, and wants Carlito to stay away from his sister; and 2) Earl wants to get out while the getting’s good, and goes to a tropical paradise but 3) Earl’s little brother Reggie grows up to be an ignorant, bad attitude disrespectful young hoodlum. He refuses to listen to Carlito, despite Earl leaving him under Carlito’s wing. Reggie crosses hairs with both Carlito and then the Italian mob, resulting in a kidnapping and then a contract on Carlito, unless he finds Reggie, who was involved.

The film takes awhile to get going, not really picking up until Reggie’s actions cause even the mildest conflict. Having a ‘contract’ on Carlito holds little suspense, since this is, after all, a prequel, and Carlito won’t die just yet. It might have been more intense if Earl was targeted instead, and Carlito would have to choose his loyalities. It might have been more suspenseful if someone went after Carlito’s girlfriend. Instead, most of the picture is a mish mash series of events, but an incident involving Leticia’s coat early on has some tension and merit.

But there are those scenes where Carlito has to convince Leticia’s family that he’s just a successful booker-promoter for varios Latino musicians, his story worked out so much that it sounds the same everytime he explains it. As mentioned, her working class brother catches on quick, and not only refuses Carlito’s ‘help’, but also asks her to break up with his sister. These scenes, as well as the family not approving of a potential son in law’s line of work is nothing groundbreaking, it is nearly routine. It isn’t that these scenes are bad, they aren’t. It’s just that so many times in urban gangster films, regardless of time period, we’ve seen all this before. Yes, the unsuspecting family is the true victim, and it is only a matter of time before the anti-heroes’ actions catches up and affects all involved. Was a “Carlito” prequel really needed? I can’t really answer that, but what I can tell you is that if Carlito was out of the film and we just focused on Earl and Reggie, we probaly wouldn’t have lost a thing, but gained so, so much.

Carlito’s Way: Rise To Power
Directed by Michael Bregman
Starring Jay Hernendez, Mario Van Peebles, Sean “P Diddy” Combs, Burt Young and Jaclyn DeSantis