For whatever reason, people seemed to be clamoring for a film version of Edwin Torres' other book, which was a prequel to his book Carlito's Way, the film version of which was a critical success due to the likes of Al Pacino, Sean Penn and Brian De Palma. So Carlito's Way: Rise to Power is a prequel, eschewing almost all of the old cast, and it's a direct to video production to boot. Do you smell what I smell? That's the scent of entertainment magic my friends!

Martin Bregman co-produced the first film with his son Michael, who adapted Torres' book into this screenplay, and directed it as well. In this film, Carlito, (Jay Hernandez ,World Trade Center), is thriving in prison along with his cellmates Earl (Mario Van Peebles Heartbreak Ridge) and Rocco (Michael Kelly, Dawn of the Dead (2004)). When the trio are released into the late '60s environs of New York, their Italian/Puerto Rican/African American partnership runs into friction, most notably when they bump into Hollywood Nicky (Sean Combs, Made) and Artie (Burt Young, Rocky). The agreement when it comes to the drug trade seems to work out well, but when Earl leaves the business and asks Carlito to look after his little brother Reggie (Mtume Gant, Bringing Out the Dead), the Italians, Puerto Ricans and African Americans start to clash, in large part because of Reggie's handling of himself around each group. Carlito is also pining for Leticia (Jaclyn DeSantis, Road Trip) and wants to get her out of a crowded house away from her family, though her brother Sigfredo (Juan Carlos Hernandez, War of the Worlds) is aware of what Carlito does and doesn't approve of the relationship.

Now it's perfectly clear that as the film's star, Hernandez doesn't carry as much weight as his predecessor, not many people do. But in this film that seems to want to pay homage to the character of Carlito Brigante, while Hernandez seems to be a better fit for the role, he just seems to be channeling Pacino from time to time, thus distracting it from the bigger message of telling the story about Brigante's origins and his friends on the outside before he went to jail. Sadly though, it doesn't seem to do that very well either. A few short minutes of monologue seem to want to paint the picture about how the Italians, Puerto Ricans and blacks don't get along, though it's simply not enough. When it comes to the overall characters in the story, it seems a little bit beneath the saga of Carlito to be involved with the brother of a friend of his who always seems to get into trouble with the wrong people.

There were parts of the story that did seem to hold up quite nicely. The overall look at the friendship between Earl, Carlito and Rocco starts out pretty well and holds up throughout the film, and even though he wasn't in the movie much in the second and third acts, Van Peebles does very well with what he had. It was almost as if he was the only semi-recognizable name who seemed to care what he was doing. Young's performance seemed to reek of over over-the-top hyperbolic gangster, while Luis Guzman (Q&A) doesn't seem to do much, but his works better than Young's performance. With all that in mind, average performances and low production values (this was straight to video, after all), Carlito Brigante seemed to deserve a lot better than what Rise To Power seems to offer.

1.85:1 widescreen and using the traditional VC-1 encode that Universal prefers to choose. Sadly there's no real revelation to be brought to Rise To Power in high definition. Blacks seem a bit crushed and the overall level of detail comes off as a bit flat, and the level of film grain is abundant. I can understand that Bregman wanted to do some muted palettes to maintain a '60s feel without breaking the budget, but geez!

Well sure, there's a choice of Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 surround soundtracks for this, but it's short on score and other production effects, so there's not much of a need for a lossless soundtrack. What little low end use occurs during gunplay, and the amount of panning or directional effects is non-existent. You're not missing much on either option.

All of the material is in standard definition, starting with five deleted scenes totaling a little over seven minutes and doesn't really make you yearn for a Director's Cut; the footage is understandably forgettable. From there, a making of look at the film (11:43) follows, but it's the requisite thoughts on the film from the cast and crew, along with Bregman the elder's thoughts on Bregman the junior as a director. The production and location designs are covered, along with a small discussion to the crime genre overall. "Bringing the 'Hood to Life" (7:58) is a piece that covers the hair, the clothes, the locations, the style and everything else that's related to the era, followed by a six-minute gag reel that solidifies how funny Guzman is. "Got Your Back" (5:37) has the stars discussing their roles and motivation, while the other actors discuss their roles, with a minor spoiler or two. Van Peebles guides us through a location shoot in the city, and the film's trailer completes the disc.

Now not having been all that familiar with the source material, from what I can tell, Carlito's Way: Rise To Power seems to lack a lot of what made the first film so good (no, I don't mean its cast). The performances are decent though I'd probably list them as workmanlike, and I'm going to presume that this is another case of the book more than likely being better than the film, but if you like Torres' work, this might be right up your alley.