Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

SnoopyStyle In the racially divided East Harlem in the late 60s, three prison buddies Puerto Rican Carlito Brigante (Jay Hernandez), the Afro-American Earl (Mario Van Peebles) and the Italian Rocco (Michael Kelly) bridge the divide. They import heroin, and does a deal with Italian mob boss Artie Badalato Sr (Burt Young). They negotiate a truce with Hollywood Nicky (Sean Combs) who runs the black area. Carlito hounds coat-check girl Leticia (Jaclyn DeSantis) until she falls for him. Earl wants to quit leaving his part to his younger brother Reggie (Mtume Gant). Only Reggie causes one problem after another.This is what happens when a producer thinks that he could do the job. Michael Bregman took the Edwin Torres novel and made the movie himself. It's a poor amateurish effort. There are some interesting actors involved. I'm sure a lot of them got pulled in by the title. However that's all we have here. The production looks so poor. Any money spent is wasted with this badly directed movie. The only truly interesting character is Reggie because he is such an annoying punk. His unrelenting superiority attitude is actually fascinating. Otherwise there isn't much interesting here. This material deserves better.

Claudio Carvalho In the 60's, the Puerto Rican Carlito Brigante (Jay Hernandez), the Afro-American Earl (Mario Van Peebles) and the Italian Rocco (Michael Kelly) become best friends while in prison. When they are released, Rocco intermediates a heroin business with a family of the Italian Mafia leaded by Artie Bottolota Sr. (Burt Young). Carlito negotiates with the lord Leroy "Hollywood Nicky" Barnes (Sean Combs) the area where the trio could operate in his neighborhood and sooner the three friends become powerful. Later, Carlito dates and has an affair with the beautiful Leticia (Jaclyn DeSantis). When Earl decides to move to Barbados with his girlfriend and leave the heroin business, his stupid younger brother causes a situation with the Italian mobsters, and Carlito and Rocco have to resolve the mess to save their lives."Carlito's Way: Rise to Power" is not as bad as written in many reviews in IMDb. Actually it is a good story, with the beginning of the criminal life of Carlito, showing his ability to negotiate. The story has good doses of humor, a decent plot and a surprising twist in the end. I do not dare to compare this movie with the excellent Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way, but I personally liked the explanations of the criminal life of Carlito and his friends. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "O Pagamento Final: Rumo ao Poder" ("The Final Payment: in the Way to the Power")

XDiamondsGlow I really loved this movie and it was way better then the last one.I really liked how they had Chuck Zito in this one, he was in the last one as well but was not really shown where with this one they showed him a lot.I like how this one played out way better then the first one and Carlito was way hotter then the last guy.I do not really like how they put Sean Combs in it because to me he has no talent and not to mention I do not even remember any blacks being in the first one so it made no sense to put them in this one.I would have to say if this movie did not have Sean Combs in it I would give it a 10 instead of an 8.

chaclark This movie had potential and I was willing to give it a try but there are so many timeline problems that are so obvious - it's hard to swallow being treated like such an idiot.Rise to Power is set in the late sixties. Carlito's Way is set in the mid to late seventies. For this movie to be realistic, it would have to be set in the fifties, if not the late forties.Rise to Power has no sign of Gail (Pennelope Ann Miller), no sign of Kleinfeld, no sign of Rolando that Carlito supposedly ran with in his "hey-day". None of the primary characters in the original film were in this movie. We're supposed to believe that Carlito met all these people in the span of a few years.Rise to Power ends with Carlito walking down the beach talking about retiring in paradise which is what he wanted to do in the original film. Also, the pre-quel creates the Rocco and Earl characters - what's supposed to happen with them since they are clearly not in Carlito's Way? It's also hard to understand how Carlito could have the relationship with the Italians he has in the original film watching the events of Rise to Power. Where are the Taglialucci's in this film? There is probably seven years between the two films and he spends five of them in prison. It's like trying to put a square plug into a round hole.It is obvious that no one was interested in telling a good story and that they were more interested in making some bucks by making an average gangster film and throwing a character called Carlito Brigante into the story. The film had some good moments but I think they would have been better off leaving this movie to stand by itself instead of trying to make it a prequel to Carlito's Way.If you feel determined to see this movie, the only advice I can give is to not think of the movie as a linear pre-quel. Think of it like the spaghetti westerns with Clint Eastwood's man with no name, in other words two movies that have the same character but aren't necessarily connected with each other.