p-stepien A prequel to the much-followed classic "Carlito's Way" endeavours to present a back-story to Carlito Brigante (played here underwhelmingly by Jay Hernandez). A small time thief enters the big time through connections hooked up in prison, where together with Italian Rocco (Marco Kelly) and African-American Earl (Mario Van Peebles) they form a multi-ethnic crime syndicate. After organising deliveries from the Bortolotta clan and reaching an agreement with Harlem crime-lord Hollywood Nicky (Sean Combs) the trio embarks into their new crack-dealing business. As with the above the rest of the story is pretty standard gangster stuff which include a love affair, some botched deals and life-threatening turn of events.A story which attempts to present the rise of Puerto Rican mafia boss Carlito Brigante is a fairly foreseeable affair with some dramatic twists. One of which feels more suitable for an "Ocean's Eleven" type of flick. Given the movie is supposedly a prequel, therefore essentially a homage to the original, the story tries too hard to detach itself from future occurrence and feels more like a stand-alone movie. None of the characters, save for Carlito, seem to have any connection to Brain de Palma's movie. Meanwhile - despite his best intentions - Jay Hernandez in no way reminds you of Al Pacino's character, therefore increasing the disconnect.Acting is general well-rounded, if unremarkable, while the story and execution gives off a tiresome feel, as utterly repetitive and forgettable. Not a bad movie by any means. Just a totally useless one, especially for viewers such as me, who aren't really fans of the gangster genre.

dbest_13 This was just a terrible movie. It hurt me to watch it. Almost every action was unmotivated within the context of the movie, the acting was really poor (P.Diddy was the best actor which really says something about the movie) and the plot was generally predictable. Some links to Carlito's Way were okay, for example his dream of one day moving to the Carribien, but on the whole they were weak. The love interest in my opinion was flat out wrong but hey that's debatable. Anyways I really wasn't expecting much before watching the movie and I guess you could say even those expectations weren't met. I feel bad for Jay Hernandez because he actually is a decent actor (Friday Night Lights). He's lucky though because I'm sure there won't be too many people watching this movie. I generally give movies a decent rating if they spark my interest at all so I'm gonna go ahead and give this one two stars. Better luck next time. And yes I did enjoy Carlito's Way.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews I haven't read the book nor watched the original Carlito's Way... all I know about the latter is who stars and who directs that one, and I know even less than that about the novels. Perhaps that's why this didn't come off as being as awful as people seem to feel it was... no basis for comparison. The story isn't poor, and it's decently enough told. The plot develops throughout, with some surprises. The acting varies. The lead could be better. Combs, eh, I don't know. Young isn't bad, but hey, is he ever? The pacing is fine. The music is fair. Editing could be better, but it's not terrible. Effects and such do reveal a budget, one that wasn't the biggest, but it's not as obvious as it could be. There is hardly any action, and it's certainly not worth watching this for. There could be more tension, where such is attempted built. Language is... loose, and there's violence, sexuality and drug use as well... this is hardly a film for children. The voice-overs leave a lot to be desired. All in all, you could find movies that deliver considerably less. Be aware that this is more of a gangster feature than an action flick. I recommend this to people who enjoy cinema(or, in this case, direct-to-video releases) regarding the environment. 5/10

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.