Carlito's Way

Talk about swimming through treacle? "Carlito" (Al Pacino) has a pretty murky past when he is released from jail after five years (of thirty - on a technicality), but now free he is determined to hook up with his gal "Gail" (Penelope Ann Miller) and steer clear of the riff-raff he'd hitherto associated with. Easier said than done, though, when he almost immediately gets caught up in a gun fight with some drug pedlars and then embroiled in the complicated activities of his lawyer (Sean Penn) whose connections with the underworld are no less established than those of "Carlito" himself. What chan...

This movie feels off most of the time. The story is fine on paper, but almost all scenes lack soul. You see what is happening and it turns you off on a subconscious level. You know what they are trying to do, you have seen these kind of scenes, but they just don't work here. Its like an uncanny valley. Its the gangster movie your mom says you have at home, when you're trying to get her to buy you The Godfather, Donnie Brasco or Scarface.

The start is already weird. We see the protagonist being shot and lying on a train platform dying . Sad strings play maudlinly, people rush to help, but y...