This film was awful.

I thought it was good, not great or anything but a pretty good film. I think people like it because of the backstory of Carlito. Sure, the 'former gangster tries to straighten up but can't seem to stay out of the way of trouble' has been done before but this time, Al Pacino is in it. Which is another reason why people like it. Coming into the film he had two iconic roles under his belt as Michael Corleone and Tony Montana. And here again, he delivers another great performance as Carlito Brigante.

Although, I must mention that the film is based on a novel in which I have not read but probably will get around to it eventually. The book is almost always better than the movie.

That being said, I honestly think they went into this movie thinking of producing a prequel rather than a sequel which is a pretty rare occurrence when making movies but it's tailored made for it. The viewer is fed more and more info about his backdrop as the movie progresses. And yeah, eventually we did get a prequel like 12 years later but most agree that it sucked. No Al Pacino and Luis Guzan is not even playing the same character that he plays in CW. Like, what the hell? I can't comment too much on the prequel though because I haven't seen it yet but it looks pretty bad judging by the trailer. But someday I might check it out.

Anyhow, I still say CW has a pretty cool nostalgic feel to it, it actually feels like a really good homage to those 70s gangster films, it captures the scene of the time fairly well. I give CW two thumbs up. But I will agree, Penn's haircut was annoying to look at throughout the movie. Whoever had the idea of that haircut should never work in Hollywood again. lol...

THE DELETION MAKES SENSE☺

I’ve always found this to be a great movie.

Mostly the ending was what I hated most

6/10 for me. Felt cheesy to me. And the spoiler at the intro didn't help either.

Way better than awful.

I walked out of the theater when it was first released.

It’s far from awful, it’s kind of a curiosity within the gangster genre, a bit more stylised and with some fantastic action scenes. It’s almost campy and baroque in tone, but it works well as a tragedy with all of Carlito’s enemies swarming on him by the end, and there’s one too many. Sean Penn is fantastic as the scumbag traitor lawyer - a character that leaps out of the screen and into movie history.

I think it has pacing problems though, it takes a while to get into and meanders for a while, but the last 45 minutes are brilliant and the final chase is exhilarating. Nice to see Pacino in an extended action scene.

I actually prefer this to Scarface because Carlito is a very sympathetic guy, whereas Tony Montana is a complete prick, and we basically watch this asshole rise and fall for three long hours. Pacino is excellent in both films, of course.