Sequel to Carlito’s Way?

It seems all I’ve written about since I joined has been remakes and sequels where they may not necessarily need to be, and it’s no different here.

Carlito’s Way was a brilliant film, made moreso by two great actors Al Pacino and Sean Penn. The real beauty of the film is that Carlito returns to the world he has been away from for a very long time. It, and he, have moved on and moved on in different directions. His gangster past won’t let him go and pulls him right back into the old life, all the time, even to the very last moment, he still believes he can escape, but the truth is he never can. Carlito is trying to go straight, his past friends won’t let him, and even when he does wrong, he still thinks he’s fighting for the right way.

Now, if you take Carlito back to his past, when he was that gangster, what do you have? Another Scarface? You loose the essential element of what Carlito’s Way was all about, of what Carlito was about, what made him fight. Going back to his past he’s just another mad, mean gangster.

So…Universal are about to do just that, making the sequel to Carlito’s Way. Give me strength. This news report from BBC Films says so.

Oh, and there’s the other part, it stars Jay Hernandez (from Ladder 49), Sean “Pee Diddly” Combs and Mario Van Peebles. Well done Universal, following on from the decision to cancel the American Gangster movie with Denzel Washington and Benecio Del Toro directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), especially after letting the stars sign a deal that entitled them to full pay whether the film gets made or not. Sterling work guys.