Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey guys, so figured its time for another post and this one will be my review of the Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, which seems to have gotten rave reviews from the critics (bar one!) and has split the fan base right down the middle, with some seeing it as great as the base game and others seeing it as a deeply frustrating exercise in difficulty. 

So, is Shadow of the Erdtree great or not? Well, let's take a closer look at the the game and find out...

So, I will say a little about the plot, so minor SPOILERS AHEAD but not many.

STORY

So, the story basically sees the Tarnished enter the realm of shadow after defeating Mohg, Lord of Blood in an effort to track down the whereabouts of Miquella, who is Malenia's twin (one of the main bosses from the base game). So, the Tarnished must follows a series of clues to where Miquella has gone and work out why he has entered the realm and what his true intentions are...

THOUGHTS

So, for me personally I think Shadow of the Erdtree is a very good DLC, which offers players a huge expansion to the base game, which will keep players busy for many hours. There are also plenty of new weapons and spells as well as other items and consumables to help you navigate through the shadow realm and the fact that you are entering a whole new world essentially really is very impressive in itself given the size and scale of the DLC. 

However, the DLC is of course not without its problems regarding its steep difficulty level, which needs to be mitigated via the use of some new items known as Scadutree fragments and it will punish many a player, who are even very well levelled up making this one of Fromsoft's most challenging expansions to date. Whether or not however, this level of difficulty is fair is open to debate but there certainly has been plenty of pusback from fans about how tough this DLC is and I can see both sides of the argument and can't ignore this issue myself, which I will say more about later in this review.

GAMEPLAY

As for the gameplay, Shadow of the Erdtree follows very much the same format as the base game with its use of combat and traversing with the only real difference this time is the damage mitigation features but I will cover them more in the sub sections below.

WEAPONS AND SPELLS

As for weapons, there are plenty of new weapons to be found in the DLC and there are 8 new weapon categories, which are reverse blades, light greatswords, perfume bottles, throwing blades, martial arts, great katanas, thrusting shields and beast claws. These weapon categories are very welcome additions to the DLC and feature some cool weapons such as Milday for the light greatswords, combining the faster dexterous speed of a sword yet the power of a greatsword. Other good weapons include, great katanas such as the Dragon Hunter Great Katana, back hand blades for reverse swords, the thrusting shield, which doubles up as a weapon as well as a shield and the perfume bottles, which come in different varities such as lightning, fire, frost and poison.

Spells wise, there are some new ones that are mix of gravitational spells such as the gravitational missile to summoning spells such as the impenetrable thorns, which can summons large thorns from the ground that deal bleed damage. There are plenty of incantations that scale with faith here too such as Aspects of the Crucible: thorns, causing thorns to appear out the player's back as they perform a roll, as well as Fire Serpent, which is a flame incantation that can be use to even target enemies from behind. So, there is quite a diverse mix of the spells and incantations on display.

SCADUTREE FRAGMENTS & REVERED SPIRIT ASHES

One of the key new features of the DLC are the scadutree fragments and revered spirit ashes, which are scattered through the realm of shadow and these items help reduce the damage you take while also boosting your own damage output, these can combined into Scadutree blessings of which you can have a max of 20. There are 50 of fragments in total in the realm and you need to collect them all to maximise your damage negation and damage output, which will be necessary given the enemies can hit really hard in this realm. 

You can also collect reversed spirit ashes as well throughout the DLC, which can be used to boost your spirit ash summons in the same way. There are 25 in total throughout the game to be found and these are combined into reversed spirit ash blessings of which you can have a maximum of 10 for your spirit ashes.  

ENEMIES AND BOSSES

As for the enemies in the DLC, there are plenty of new ones to be found throughout the realm as well as a few familiar ones form the base game here and there. These enemies can be very challenging and often hit pretty hard and deal a lot of damage in just two or three hits, so you need to be very wary of them in the DLC, so even standard enemies such as the Messmer soldiers here can pose a serious threat to the player and not just the bosses. 

There are also plenty of other enemies here such as undead priests, that hold candlabras and deal fire damage as well as holy, Cleaver ghosts, who hit like a truck and have a lot of HP. Other enemies include lesser Golden Hippos, who have a nasty bite and can produce thorns, Furnace Golems, who are toweing wicker like trolls that can deal massive fire damage. Last of all are the Aging Untouchables, who are similar to the Winter Lanterns from Bloodborne, who are lethal and do massive frenzy damage to you and can only be killed by parrying them, which is very challenging in itself to do.

As for the bosses there are plenty of new ones to be found here and they certainly provide a stern challenge for any player and there are some mandatory bosses and plenty of optional ones and suffice to say they all hit like trucks! Some of the bosses were note here are the Divine Beast Dancing Lion, a large lionesque creature that dances around and can do lighting and frost attacks. Then there is Rellana, who is the sister of Relanna, and wields two light greatswords, one magic and one fire. Then of course we have Messmer, the impaler, who is the signature boss of the DLC and we see in the posters for the expansion itself, who uses a fire infused great spear and then there is the final bosss and well...I'll not say anymore! So, its fair to say, this DLC is not short on difficult bosses! 

GRAPHICS 

Moving onto the game's graphics, Shadow of the Erdtree of course uses the same engine as the base game, so no real change is seen in terms of the character models and level of envrionment detail. However, the new DLC environments all look stunning and are easily some of the most impressive I've ever seen in a Fromsoft game. Standout areas for me personally were Jagged Peak, which is domain to most of the dragons in the game, the Cerulean coast, which features beautiful fields of blue grass, Stone Coffin Fissure, which is a vast underground area and perhaps the most pretty area in any From game, the Ancient Ruins of Ruah, which is a plush green landscape with a cavernous underground area. So, this DLC is certainly one of most visually impressive achievements that Fromsoft have created to date.

MUSIC 

As for the music, again we have an excellent soundtrack from the same composers in the main game, featuring Tsukasa Saitoh, Yuka Kitamura (who has since left Fromsoft) and Shoi Miyazawa as well a few others. The themes used are probably not quite as memorable as the ones we are used to in the main game but they are still very good for the most part with Relanna's theme, the final boss theme and most of all the Divine Beast theme being the real standout. The area themes are also pretty good with the Plainsite grave and Belurat, Tower Settlement being the best of these. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain some spoilers and is also purely my subjective viewpoint, so if yours differs, that's fine with me).

As for flaws...yes, Shadow of the Erdtree is not perfect imho but these are just my thoughts, so feel free to disagree (and don't shoot me lol!).

For starters, I think a lot of crticism levelled at the game's difficulty to an extent is quite well justified, as it feels like they did overtune the difficulty of the enemies and bosses in this game a bit too much, especialy on release the damage was just ridiculous with you getting one or two shotted with 50 vigor! And this was made worse by the fact that its not just stronger enemies that dealt heavier damage, this was also basic enemies such as Messmer's soldiers, who engage a buff and with that, they can also hit like a truck and destroy you in maybe 2 or 3 hits. The Scadutree fragments are of course supposed to help with this but I felt like, the damage mitigation I had seen wasn't frankly that great by comparison and should be better.

And this brings me onto the Scadutree and Spirit Ash fragment system, which in theory is a good idea but in practice, it does feel pretty flawed as its ability to mitigate damage per enemy is debatable, on weakier it may prove useful. However on stronger enemies such as say the enemy NPC at the start of the DLC with bear claws, wandering in his underwear (as you do!) they can still pulverise your HP and they did the same to me even with 13 Scadutree blessings at this point! So, at this stage, I felt like what is the use of these fragments if even against stronger enemies, the damage negation feels worthless?? Further to that, what is the point of armour sets and damage reduction items, if you still get obliterated regardless??

I also felt that the new NPC's were mostly all frankly quite boring and had little or no personality and none of them had the character of the some of the more coloruful NPC's in the base game as they barely had any humour in their dialogue compared to the main game's characters. In fact the only real memorable dialogue came from the NPC, Igon, who rants crazily about a powerful dragon called Bayle and delivers the already memed line "CURSE YOU, BAYLE!!!". I also felt the NPC questlines were quite empty and pointless with just some exchanges that lead to them going to a new area after a while and getting a few items off them and that's it and again compared to the base game, nothing interesting really happened with them. 

I also felt like the game could have with other inclusions such as more merchants other than the two we got in Thioller and Moore (unless I missed anyone else) both of whom offered limited items, some of which are useful. But we could have had more that sold weapons or other items of use rather than these two guys, plus I wish there was a new blacksmith in the DLC, as that would have been nice inclusion for your character to stay within the the shadow realm than go back to Hewg at the Roundtable. So, overall the NPC's felt really underwhelming here. 

Another infuriating thing is that there are several bosses in the game that try and insta-kill you or at the very least attack you as soon as you go through the fog wall! So, if you want to try and summon e.g. the mimic tear, you might get wiped out first before you get a chance! There are a few prime examples of this such as Commander Gaius (although to be fair they did patch his spawn to further away), Messmer, who does a leap attack at you also, giving little to prepare your summon, not to mention the NPC summon is INSIDE THE ROOM and NOT OUTSIDE! Then we have the boss, Jorl, Elder Inquisitor, who fires some holy BS at you, again right as you step inside the boss arena, so if you want to summon again, you need to find a window to do so (usually stand behind some stone pillars or something). 

WARNING: SPOILER AHEAD REFERS TO THE FINAL BOSS OF THE GAME!

And of course there is the final boss of the game...sigh! Yeah, the final boss is a bit of a nightmare to say the least, Promised Consort Radahn, who is a reskinned version of Starscourge Radahn from the base game and is supposed to be General Radahn in his prime. So, yes naturally this is a very tough fight and the first phase to be fair does feel somewhat more balanced in its challenge, however the second phase is a different story altogether! 

In the second phase, we get Miquella join Radahn by jumping onto his back and he therefore proceeds to somehow buff Radahn's attacks with holy power, which with certain moves can totally obliterate your health! In fact, with Miquella involved, this instantly made me think of this being a redo of the Twin Princes boss from Dark Souls 3. Plus throw into the mix a bunch of fast and frantic moves from Radahn, making things near impossible at times to see what is going on during the fight! Miquella also has an unblockable move where he puts a charm on you, which if he does it twice, it will kill you. However you can remove this effect with a special item but in order to do so, you need to fight yet another boss to get it first although to be fair, that boss (Scadutree Avatar) isn't too difficult.

Plus during this fight, Radahn's attacks are so relentless, it leaves you precious little breathing room to attack him yourself and I like many others, had to resort to using a greatshield and a thrusting weapon imbued with bleed or frostbite to finish him off. And this fight to me was very much an exercise in defense rather than offense as the boss himself gives little or no room to really retaliate, which for me isn't what makes for a good boss fight. 

I also felt that the process to find the Scadutree fragements and spirit ash fragments was also pretty tedious and drawn out, given they are scattered all over the realm. It meant again having to rely heavily on using Fextralife or one of the other websites to tell me the exact location of these fragments. To be fair at first, the first ten or so are easy to find but after this, they slowly start to become a real chore.

And last of all is a point that relates also to the base game, which is the map systems is once again deeply flawed, as it simply does NOT account for verticality at all! And a prime example of this are two locations, which appear very close to each other on the map, which are the Curelean coast and Charo's hidden grave. However, the map does not consider the verticality issues here in finding them, especially Charo's hidden grave, which is miles higher up than the coast. So, this becomes very misleading when you are trying to navigate to certain spots in the game and again leads to looking at Youtube videos to decipher where you are going.

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Shadow of the Erdtree is overall a very solid DLC that compliments the main game very well for the most part. The new weapons and spells are also pretty cool, especially the different weapon classes and the visuals of the DLC are also stunning and provides us with some of the best designed areas From have come up with. Some of the boss fights are also pretty good and quite engaging, even if they are somewhat overtuned in their difficulty at times. 

The game isn't perfect of course as I said above with the enemy and boss damage being a bit too much at times and the Scadutree fragments effectiveness can be debatable based on what enemies you fight. In fact I really think that Fromsoft needs re-evaluate enemy damage output in future games as right now its just tweaked too much in the wrong direction with one or two shot attacks. There are also some issues with the NPC's and their quests, which I found to be mostly very underwhelming and their characters were not very interesting.

However that all aside, I still like the DLC, even if it has its issues, it wouldn't stop me returning to it athough maybe not with the same level of vigour and keeness as I did with the main game but that said, Shadow of the Erdtree is definitely worth taking a look at.

So, I will rate it:

8.5 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back again soon with another review, until then, its bye for now! 

P.S. If you want to check out my Youtube channel, I have a full playthrough of the Elden Ring DLC, which is close to being finished. The link to my channel is below, so feel free to check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMJJ44Q0efVPBqj6g30lYow

Beverly Hills Cop "The supercop story was working!"

 

 

 

 

 

So, figured its time for another post and this one will be yet another revisit of one my older ones, which does need a bit of an overhaul, which is for 80's comedy, Beverly Hills Cop starring Eddie Murphy as a cocky cop, Axel Foley. Plus this is the film's 40th anniversary and there is even a new Beverly Hills Cop on Netlfix starring Muprhy and the original cast called Axel-F. 

So, let's take another look at this film and see how it fairs 40 years on...

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!

STORY

So the film begins with the main character, Axel Foley (Murphy) who is a cocky but talented detective with the Detroit police force.  Foley goes undercover on a sting operation involving a cigarette smuggling operation, which turns sour when a couple of cops unwittingly come across Foley trying to deal with the smugglers.  This then leads the smugglers to run off, with one of them driving the truck away (with Axel in the back hanging on for dear or cheap life!) and the driver causes alot of damage in the city, who ditches the truck then runs off.  

Foley back at the station faces his boss, Inspector Todd (Gil Hill) who is angered by his operation which was unauthorised and he warns Axel if he disregards police procedure again he will be fired.  Axel later returns back to his apartment where he finds his best friend Michael Tandino (James Russo) is there who was previously serving time, but after his release went to Beverly Hills where he worked as a security guard, a job he got through a mutual friend, Jenny Summers (Lisa Eilbacher).  

After they go out to a local bar and head back to Axel's apartment, Axel is knocked out by two men who then question Tandino, who had stolen some bearer bonds from the factory where he worked, then is killed by one of the men, Zack (Jonathan Banks). Afterwards Axel insists on getting involved in the case but Todd refuses to let him due to his close ties with Tandino.  Axel then decides he wants to go on vacation, which he uses as an excuse to go to Beverly Hills and try and solve the crime himself.  

In Beverly Hills, Axel meets up with Jenny who tells him she hired Tandino to work for Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff) a wealthy local art dealer.  Axel then goes to meet Maitland at his office, by barging in, he tries to question him but then Maitland has his bodyguards throw him out and they launch Axel through entrance windows.  Axel is then arrested by two police officers for a charge of disturbing the peace and taken to the police station where he meets Sergeant Taggart (John Ashton), Detective Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and their senior officer Lieutenant Bogomil (Ronny Cox).  

Bogomil asks what Axel is doing in Beverly Hills and also that he has spoken with Inspector Todd who said if he finds out he has been investigating the Tandino murder, he will be brought up on charges and fired, but Axel simply insists he is on vacation.  Bogomil then has Taggart and Rosewood follow Axel's movements, however Axel manages to evade them using different methods.  Axel then sneaks into one of Maitland's warehouses where he snoops around and finds information that reveals most of Maitland's crates were not passed through customs. 

After this Axel joins with Taggart and Rosewood and reluctantly persuades to come along to a strip bar where Axel spots two men whom he foils from committing a robbery.  Axel is taken back to the police station where he tries to big up Taggart and Rosewood, who reclutantly tell Bogomil that Axel deserves credit for the arrest, but Bogomil then decides to take them both off the case and put two of his other staff on tagging Axel's movements.  

The next day Axel manages to evade Bogomil's backup cops, and he meets with Maitland at a country club where he confronts him and attacks Maitland's bodyguard, Zack, only to be arrested again.  Back at the police station Bogomil insists why Axel keeps bothering Maitland and Axel tells him about Tandino and how he thinks Maitland had him killed and what he has learned so far.  Bogomil while sympathetic is then ordered by his police chief Hubbard (Steven Elliott) to escort Axel off the building and ensure that he leaves Beverly Hills.  

On leaving however Axel persuades Rosewood to take him to one of Maitland's warehouses so he can expose the evidence of Maitland's smuggling, but when he get's Maitland's men are waiting for him, and from here Axel needs to find a way to get even for his friend's murder...

THOUGHTS

Beverly Hills Cop was a big commercial hit on its release and its easy to see why as it is still a very enjoyable action comedy, and it was also one of the early buddy buddy cop films.  And its a perfect vehicle for Eddie Murphy's comedic skills as the cocky Axel Foley where he uses his improvisation in pretending to be someone in order to get what needs, and he is undoubtedly the film's star as he get's plenty of comic highlights. 

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!) 

So, as for the performances, they are pretty good overall here.

Starting with Eddie Murphy, who is perfect in his role as Axel Foley, the young detective from Detroit, who investigates the murder of his friend out in Beverly Hills. 

And Muprhy's notable scenes include the one where Axel attempts to check into an expensive hotel but he is told they are fully booked and he pretends he is a journalist writing a story on Michael Jackson for Rolling Stone magazine.  And he angrily says to the desk clerk "Don't you think I know what is going on here, miss? I'm small reporter who is in town to do an exclusive interview with Michael Jackson for Rolling Stone Magazine, which is going to get picked up all over the world. But I was going to call the story Michael Jackson can sit on top of the world, as long as he doesn't sit in the Beverly Palms Hotel because there are no niggers allowed in there!". The manager then comes along and puts Axel at ease by telling him there has been a last minute cancelation and he gives him a room key and Axel says "Thank you, if Michael calls tell him I'm here".

Then there is the scene where Axel is throwing out of Maitland's office and quite literally through a window. So, in the scene, Maitland orders his men to escort Axel to the door and they pick him up and Axel angrily shouts "GET THE FUCK OFF ME, MAN!!! GET OFF ME!!". So, as they go down in the elevator, they throw him through the window and almost immediately a police car turns up and the officers tell him to get up. Axel says "Did you see this shit?! I can describe ALL of them!". One of the police officers tells him to put his hands on the car bonnet, so Axel does and they find his gun and one of the cops tells him "Sir, you are under arrest, you have the right to remain silent!" and Axel asks "So, what's the charge?" and the cop says "Possession of a weapon and disturbing the peace". Axel then shouts "Disturbing the peace?! I got thrown out of a window! What's the charge for getting thrown out of a moving car, huh?!! Jailwalking?!! This is bullshit!!".

Then we have the scene where Axel in a cell at the Beverly hills police department, is beckoned by one of the officers to leave the cell. So, Axel says to him "Its about time, I thought you guys forgot about me. I never been in a cell with a phone it. Can I stay? As I ordered some pizza!" but the cop beckons him again and Axel get's up and leaves with him and he says to himself "Somebody'll eat it".

Another good scene is when Axel sniffs around Maitland's warehouse and pretends to be a customs officer to get information. So, Axel spots a security guard as he looks around and says to him "How you doin?! You got a match?" and the guard says "There's no smoking here" and Axel says "Its Ok. I'm going to smoke it outside" and the guard gives him a match. Axel then asks "Are you security here?" and the guard says "Yeah" and Axel asks "Do you have a supervisor?" and the guard asks "What's the problem?" and Axel suddenly flashes his badge and angrily says "You're the fuckin problem, go get your supervisor now! NOW!!" and the guard nervously says "OK" and walks off.

Then there is the next scene where Axel has the warehouse supervisor's men checks their files for information relating to Maitland's manifests. So, in the scene one of the staff asks Axel "You got a warrant for this?" and Axel irritated says to him "You know you have a very big mouth, sir. Is that your porsche outside? I bet that's yours porsche outside! How would you like the IRS to come down here and take your car and crawl up your fuckin ass with microscope?! I seen them do it and it ain't a pretty sight!". 

Another one of Murphy's highlights is the "supercop" scene where he tries to tell Bogomil how great Taggart and Rosewood are and how they foiled the robbery at the strip bar and he says "I don't know what you teach these fellows, as its like a sixth sense, and all that's missing from them are capes!". Taggart how tells the truth to Bogomil and says that Axel deserves the credit for the arrest and Bogomil says to Axel "Detective Foley, I respect your assistance but in future if you want to practice law enforcement, I suggest you do it in Detroit". Axel then nods and says "I understand, sir and I'm sorry. But I want you to know the supercop story was working, and you guys just messed it up" and Bogomil can't help but smile at this. Axel then says as he leaves "I'm trying to figure you guys out but I haven't yet, you fuck up a perfectly good lie and its alright!".  And if you watch this scene you can clearly see John Ashton as Taggart, trying not to laugh.  

Also the moment where he walks into Maitland's country club and he pretends to be gay infront of the maitre'd, essentially mimicing Serge from Maitland's gallery. So, Axel in a camp voice says to the maitre'd "I have to talk to Victor, its very important" and the maitre'd says "Well, why do you tell me the message and I'll give to him". So, Axel in his camp voices "Well, yeah I guess I can do that. Tell Victor that Ramone, the man Victor saw, tell he had a herpes simplex 10, and he said he better go and check with his physician before things start falling off on the man!".The maitre'd suddenly looks embarrassed and says "Perhaps you better tell him that" and Axel says "You know I think that would be best!" and the maitre'd says "So, do I" and Axel walks off.

Then there is the scene where Axel goes into Maitland's warehouse with Jenny and opens one of the crates to find bags of cocaine hidden under coffee grounds. So, in the scene Axel opens the crate and says to Jenny "This is one that hasn't passed through customs yet" and we see the coffee grounds and Jenny puts her hand in and takes some and sniffs it and says "Coffee?!" and Axel says "Yeah, coffee ontop" and pulls out a bag of cocaine and quickly tastes a little and says "This ain't sugar. Go get Rosewood" but then they are surrounded by Maitland's men at gunpoint and one of them says to Axel "Welcome to the party!". And as Maitland arrives, Axel warns him as Jenny is taken captive "If something happens to her..." and Maitland says "I'm all ears" and Axel seriously says "I'll kill you" and Maitland smiles and says "Really? That would be a neat trick!".

And last of all is the final scene of the film, where Axel meets with Taggart and Rosewood outside the hotel he was staying at and Axel offers them to go for a drink. So, in the scene Axel says to them "I was figuring I would have drink before leaving the city" and Taggart smiles and says "Yeah, we kind of figured you would" and Rosewood says "Oh, I don't think so, Axel, we're still on duty" and Taggart suprisingly says "Oh, well one drink isn't going to kill us, Billy" and Axel delighted says "Listen to Taggart, Rosewood! One drink is not gonna kill us!". Axel then says to them "Hey, if you get lost just follow my lead OK?" and Axel says "I know the perfect place, you'll love it! Trust me!" and he gives a furtive wink and it freezes. 

The supporting cast are also excellent, especially the John Ashton and Judge Reinhold as Taggart and Rosewood and they make for a very amusing comic double act as the two bumbling cops.  

And Ashton's first scene is worth a mention as Taggart and Rosewood question Axel at the station, so Taggart asks Axel "Why didn't you identify yourself as a policeman when we first arrested you?" and Axel says "Because I was minding my own business. Where the fuck do you guys get off at arresting someone for being thrown out of a window?". Taggart then says "We havesix witnesses say, you went in tore up the place and jumped out the window!" and Axel asks "And you guys believe that? What the fuck are you? Cops or doormen?!". Taggart then angrily says "We're more likely to believe an important local business, then some foul mouth jerk from out of town!" and Axel says "Foul mouth?? Fuck you man!".  Taggart now angry stands up and warns Axel "You watch your mouth!" and Axel then warily stands up and says "Look do you want to square off with me with some bullshit and start some static?" and Axel pushes him and Taggart says "Don't push me!" and Axel pushes him back and says "Fuck you man!" and Taggart punches him in the stomach. Then Bogomill calls Taggart into his office and Taggart soon returns to Axel and awkwardly says "Sir, I apologise for striking you, I have no excuse". 

Then there is the scene where Taggart and Rosewood tail Axel but do it not so subtly as he is onto them and Axel distracts them by sending down a supper from the hotel to their car. So, the waiter from the hotel with the dish says to them "Compliments of Axel Foley" and Rosewood surprised asks "Foley?! How did he know we were here?" and Taggart says "Becuase I let you drive!".

One of their funniest scenes is where Rosewood and Taggart stakeout waiting for Axel in their car and Rosewood reads aloud from a newspaper article and says "Wow! It says here by the time the average man is 50, he will have five pounds of undigested meat in his bowels" and Taggart angrily says "Why are you telling me this?  What makes you think I have any interest in that at all?" and Rosewood replies "Well you eat alot of red meat!". This is then followed by the scene where Rosewood says to Taggart "You know I've noticed you've been drinking a lot of coffee lately. Well, I think that's why you have a hard time relaxing" and Taggart shakes his head.  

Then there is the scene where Rosewood drives Axel to the city limits but Axel tries to persuade him to go to Maitland's warehouse to nail their illegal shipment. So, in the scene Rosewood asks Axel "Why didn't you tell Bogomil about this shipment?" and Axel says "Bogomil does everything by the book, I'm starting to think everyone in this town is a goddamn robot! This thing is very personal to me". Rosewood then shakes his head and says "All I had to do was drive you out of town, now Im gonna screw that up too!" and he sighs and says "Oh boy!" and Axel says "Billy, I love you! I just fallen in love with you!".

Also later on during the climactic fight scene at Maitland's house, Rosewood holds up his badge to Maitland's guards and shouts "Police you're all under arrest!!" and they open fire at him and Taggart admonishes him and says "You do that again, I'll shoot you myself!".  This is then followed by the funny moment Rosewood and Taggart at Maitland's house hide behind some plants from the gunfire and Rosewood says this reminds him of the climax of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Taggart looks at him wearliy saying "Billy, I'm gonna make you pay for this!".

Then this is followed by the scene where the Beverly hills police surround the area and point their guns at the remaining henchmen of Maitland. So, Billy takes his moment and holds up his badge and shouts out "Police you are all under arrest!! Put down your weapons infront of you and take two steps back and put your hands up!!!" and the henchman comply. Taggart then looks on impressed and says to Rosewood "Very good" and Rosewood pleased with himself says "Great!".

Steven Berkoff is also very good as Victor Maitland, the film's main antagonist (or bad guy) and he plays Maitland with a smarmy and transparent deviousness and its clear from the get go that he is dirty.  

Berkoff has a few scenes worth mentioning starting with his first one where Axel barges into Maitland's office. So, Maitland sees Axel and asks "Who let you in here?" and Axel says "I let myself in. I cam here to ask you some questions about Michael Tandino" and Matiland and his bodyguard, Zack look tense for a moment. So, Maitland hangs up his call and asks "And what may I ask is your interest in Mr Tandino?" and Axel says "He was a friend of mine, he visited me in Detroit and a few hours later somebody killed him" and Maitland shocked says "Oh my God! That's terrible!" and Axel says "Its fucked up". So, Maitland asks "And what is it you want to know?" and Axel asks "He worked for you , didn't he?" and Maitland "Yes he did. This is terrible news". Axel then asks "Exactly why did Mikey do for you here?" and Maitland asks "I'm sorry, I don't know your name" and Axel says "My name is Foley" and Maitland says "Well, Mr Foley, I don't mean to sound rude but I think this is something for the police in Detroit to take care of" and he hits a buzzer on his desk and some mean suddenly enter. Maitland then says to his men "Could you escort Mr Foley to the door?" and they grab Axel off his feet and drag him out as Axel shouts "GET THE FUCK OFF ME! GET OFF!". 

Then there is the scene when Axel confronts him at Maitland's country club and Axel says to him "Hi, Victor, I'm back". Zack then get's up and warns him "Why don't you get the hell out of here, cuz!" and Axel says "Keep the fuck away from me, man!" and Victor tries to hit him and Axel throws him over a buffet table. Axel then says to Victor "That's very good, Victor. Can he sit down and roll over and all that shit too?". Maitland then asks "What do you want?" and Axel says "I want to talk to you, last time I didn't get a chance to talk to you" Maitland angrily says "I have nothing to say to you" and Axel says That's cool, I'll do all the talking". 

Axel then sits next to Maitland and says "This is a real nice club, Victor, real nice" and Maitland says "That's good, I must make you a member". Axel then says "Look, Victor, I know you're into some crooked shit and I have a pretty good you had Mikey killed but when I find out for sure, I'm gonna fuck you up real bad". So, Matiland calmly threatens Axel "Now listen to me my tough little friend. I don't know from under which stone you crawled or where you get these ridiculous ideas about me, but it seems painfully obvious to me you don't have the slightest fucking idea who you are dealing with!  Now here's my advice to you, go back to your little rock in Detroit before you get sqaushed, OK?". The police then come in and handcuff Axel again and Axel says "Gotta go now, Vic" as he is cuffed and he looks at Maitland and says "Catch you later, Vic!" and Maitland says "I can't wait!".

And last of all is the scene where Axel and Jenny are captured by Maitland's men at his warehouse and Maitland looks at Jenny and says to her "Jeanette, I can't tell you how disappointed I am to see you here" and Jenny tries to explain "Victor..." and he shouts "SHUT UP!! I don't want to hear it". Jenny then nervously asks of Axel "What are you going to do with him?" and Maitland threatens her "I think you should be more worried about what we're going to do with you". Then after she is taken away, Axel warns Maitland "If something happens to her..." and Maitland sarcastically says "I'm all ears" and Axel says to him "I'll kill you" and Maitland smiles "Really? That would be a neat trick". So, as Zack punches Axel in the stomach and slaps his face, Maitland bids farewell "Goodbye, Mr Foley, have a nice day!".   

Elsa Eilbacher does a fine job in her role as Jenny, Axel's friend, who works for Maitland at his gallery and helps him try and find out if Maitland was involved. 

So, Elsa has a few scenes worth mentioning such as the one where Jenny bails Axel out of the police department. So, as they walk to Jenny's car, Axel says to her "It just so happens Mike had some  German bearer bonds on him when he was killed, when I mentioned his name in Maitland's office, that's what he does to try throw me out". Jenny however then says "Axel, you barge into his office like a hoodlum, I mean if I didn't know, I would have thrown you out!". So, they stop at Jenny's car and Axel surprised asks "Is this your car?!" and Jenny sarcastically says "No, in Beverly hills we just take whichever car is closest!".

Then there is the following scene where Jenny drives Axel back to his hotel and she smiles and says "I remember you used to drive that crappy blue Chevy Nova. What are you driving now?" and Axel tells her "The same blue crappy Chevy Nova" and she laughs. Axel then laughs and asks her "Do you think its too late for me to study art?" and Jenny says "Yeah, I do". Jenny then asks Axel "Axel, you don't think Maitland had something to with Mikey getting killed?" and Axel says "No, no, I was just poking around". Jenny then says "Axel, Victor Mailtand is one of the most successful art dealers in the last 10 years" and Axel says sarcastically "I'm impressed" as he looks in the rear view mirror and Jenny asks "What are you looking back there for?" and Axel says "The cops are following us" and Jenny surprised asks "What? Where?" and Axel says "In the back on the right, a biege Ford".  

Bronson Pinchott also makes a noteworthy debut as the camp art gallery employee, Serge, whom Axel shares a scene with when he asks him how much a vase went for in the gallery and on telling him the price "100,000 dollars to a collector" and Axel yells Gget the fuck out of here!" and Serge says "No, I'm serious, I sell it myself!". 

Pinchott's best line is of course when Axel and Rosewood later arrive at the gallery and Axel asks Serge if he will make Rosewood some tea. So, Axel asks Serge "Can make my friend an espersso?" and Serge asks "Do you want it with a little lemon twist" and Rosewood says "Sure if it isn't too much trouble" with Serge replying "No don't be stupid!" and Axel laughs.   

Other performances in the film worthy of note are of course Ronny Cox who is great as Lt Bogomil, who he plays as a decent cop who is very straight down the line and does everything by the book.  

Cox has some good scenes worth of note such as the one where Bogomil says to Axel after Taggart punches Axel, "Detective Foley, do you wish to press charges against this officer for assault?" and Axel asks "This a joke, right? Look where I'm from cops don't file charges against other cops. No, I don't want to do that". Bogomil then asks Axel "What were you doing in Victor Maitland's office?" and Axel says "I'm on vacation, I stopped by his place, looked like a nice place, so I went into the bathroom and next thing I know six guys threw me through the window". 

Bogomil then says to Axel "I just got off the phone with an inspector Todd in Detroit, that name ring a bell?" and Axel awkwardly says "He's my boss". Bogomil then says "He says you are an outstanding young detective, I find that very hard to believe" and Axel says "Its true though". Bogomil then says "He also told me, he nearly had to fire you for insubordination, now I find that very easy to believe". Bogomil then says "I've got a message from Inspector Todd, you want to hear it?" and Axel worried says "I don't think so" and Bogomil says "He says if you are out here investigating the Tandino murder, you needn't bother coming back. He says if you tell us you are investigating this case, you will be brought up on charges and fired! Now one last time, what are you doing?" and Axel shouts "I'm on VACATION!" and Bogomil smiles and says "Vacation! Rosewood could you take Mr Foley over to the courthouse and have him arrange for bail?".

Then there is the scene where Bogomil confronts Axel over why he is perstering Maitland after being arrested at Maitland's private club. So, Bogomil asks "Detective Foley, this is becoming very irritating! Why are you bothering Victor Maitland?". Axel realises he has no choice, tells the truth "I had a friend Michael Tandino, who visited me in Detroit and Maitland had him killed. I can't prove that right now, but when I do, you'll be the first to know" and Bogomil, now sympathetic says "Forget what you can prove, talk to me". Axel then shares what he has learned having spied on Maitland's warehouse and the crates that were being brought in. So, Bogomil then asks "And you witnessed all this?" and Axel says "Everything except the drugs, but I found coffee grounds all over the warehouse" and Taggart asks "You something about this before, what does that mean?" and Bogomil says "Drugs are sometimes packed in coffee grounds, the scent throws off the dogs". 

And lastl there is the scene where Bogomil tells the police chief what happened in the aftermath of the shootout at Matiland's mansion. So, Bogomil makes up a report saying to the chief "And in the course of defending ourselves, we shot several suspects, including Mr Maitland". Chief then asks "You expect me believe that report?" and Bogomil says "That's the report I'm filing, sir" and the chief asks Taggart "Sgt Taggart, can you tell me what really happened?" and after a long pause Taggart says "It happened just the way the Lt said, chief" and everyone smiles. So, the chief says to Bogomil "Well, I guess congratulations are in order, I expect to have that report on my desk tomorrow" and Bogomil says "Yes, sir, first thing".  So, after the chief leaves, Axel smiles and says "You were lying your ass off!" and Alex then asks Bogomil if he could straighten out his mess with Todd in Detroit and Bogomil generously says "I will call him first thing tomorrow" and Axel says "You will?" and Bogomil says "You bet" and Axel says "Thank you so much, sir". 

Gil Hill, who was a real life police detective, does a fine job as Inspector Todd and he is given some great dialogue.

And Gill has two good scenes, such as the one where Axel and shouts at him after the cigarette bust "You mind telling me where you come off doing some undercover bullshit! You wanna do that, go do it on someone else's precinct!". Axel then says "You wan't to hear my side of the story" and Todd says "What's your fuckin side of the story??!" and Axel pauses and says "Let's hear your side of the story". 

Todd then warns Axel "You know how much this little stunt of yours cost this city" and Axel says "I don't think cost should be the issue, sir, I think the issue should be my blatant disregard for correct procedure". Todd annoyed then says "You damn right, wiseass! The chief just called the deputy chief and deputy just chewed my ass out! You see I don't have any bit of it left, don't you?!". Tood then warns Axel "Look, Axel, you're a good cop and you've got great potential, but I'm tired of taking the heat for your ass. One more time and you're out on the street, do you understand me?" and Axel tries to explain "Look boss..." and Todd says firmly "Do you understand me?!!" and Axel says "Yeah I understand". Axel then says as Todd walks away "Boss, the chief hasn't chewed it all off, you still have a little ass there" and Todd fed up warns Axel "Don't fuck with me, Axel! Not now. Go on, go home". 

Then there is the scene where after Mike is murdered, Todd says to Axel to check himself at the hospital for his head wound after being knocked out. So, Axel asks about the case investigation and says to Todd "Look, I heard Rand is on this case and between the two of us, he doesn't know the time of day. He hasn't left his desk in 12 years" and Todd says "At least he's had 12 years. Just don't do a damn thing, stay out of this!". Axel then angrily says "Look, we're talking about a friend of mine here!" and Todd says "Yes, we are, aren't we? Let's take a closer a look at that friend,  one a hoodlum friend, two a professional hit, three, in a cop's apartment. This whole thing stinks to high heaven!". Axel asks "How do you know it was a professional hit?" and Todd says "Whoever killed you're little friend wasn't worried about your narrow ass. If they were, you'd be inside that meat wagon with him!". Axel then says he has some vacation time and wants to take it and Todd warns him "Stay away from this case, Axel" and Axel says "Look, I've got some vacation time coming to me, I wanna take it, that's all". Todd looks at him and says "Alright, when you're done at the hospital, you're on vacation" and Axel says "Thank you" but Todd warns him "But if you decide to butt into this case, it'll be the longest vacation you'll ever heard of". 

And finally Jonathan Banks is pretty good at Maitland's main henchman Zack, who kills Axel's friend Tandino.  Banks had a fine line in playing baddies in 80s films at that time, and he does a good job at playing the brutal bad guy.

And I will mention two of Banks's scenes starting with the one where Zack turns up outside Axel's apartment, knocking out Axel, he confronts Tandino over the stolen bonds. So, Zack says to him "Hey, Mikey, where have you been?" and Tandino worried says "What's up, Zack?". So, Zack asks him "What have you got there, Mikey?" and the other henchman searches his pockets and produces the bonds. Tandino then tearfully says "I swear to Christ I was gonna bring the back!" and Zack asks "You got lost?" and Tandino says "No, I figured you'd know I had them, you know?" and Zack slaps him and asks "What am I supposed to do with you, Mikey?". Tandino then says "I'm sorry" and Zack says "Shut up, Mikey" and he puts his arm around him and warns Tandino "I swear if I ever see your face out there again. EVER!" and Tandino says "You won't. I'm sorry!" and Zack says "EVER!" Tandino says "You won't, I'm sorry. I fucked up, I'm sorry". Zack then seemingly takes Tandino's answer but then punches him in the gut and takes out his gun and shoots him.

Then there is the scene where Zack confronts Axel in the warehouse and says to him "Well cuz!" and Axel says "Are you still pissed at me" (as Axel threw him over a buffet table earlier in the film) and he replies "Oh no, no! But I should have taken care of you in Detroit" and he leans into him and says "When I popped your little buddy!". Zack then punches Axel in the stomach twice and slaps his face with contempt as Maitand prepares to leave and says "Goodbye, Mr Foley, have a nice day!". 

DIRECTOR 

Moving onto the direction, the director Martin Brest does a good job here in keeping the comedy and action moving along nicely at a good pace and the film never really lags as its quite taut time wise in just over 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Brest interestingly enough was previously hired to direct the film WarGames (but he was fired after nearly two weeks due to a personal dispute on the production) and the sets used for the Beverly Hills police department were actually the sets designed for the NORAD base in WarGames and you can see how similar they look.  

Getting onto the film's music score by German composer, Harold Faltermeyer it remains one of the most memorable synthesized scores from the 80s and Axel's theme is instantly recgonisible and overall its a pretty good one. The score itself has plenty of light hearted and atmospheric passages that compliment the comedy and action of the film. The score also features the memorable title track "The Heat Is On" by Glenn Frey, which is instantly recognisble.    

FLAWS

As for the flaws... yes Beverly Hills Cop isn't perfect. 

So, for starters, you could argue at times Axel's character while he is likeable, he does become a bit grating and childish, especially when he takes the mickey out of Bogomil's black police officer for how he says "We're not gonna fall for a banana in the tailpipe".  You just think at that point that you wish Axel would grow up a bit, but perhaps it also highlights his youthful naivety.  

The film naturally as it is an 80s flick also looks quite dated to its period and the fashions are blatantly outrageous, and most of all the cheesy 80s music tracks are pretty duff and cringeworthy to listen to, particularly the track used in the strip bar called, Vanity 6's "Nasty girl" and "Stir it up" by Patty LeBelle.  

I also found it remarkable how quick the cops were to show up when Axel is thrown out the entrance window to Maitland's offices. I mean these cops are there in almost a split second after Axel lies stunned sitting on the ground having been just throw through the window. Not only that, Axel isn't cut or bruised in any way shape or form here, so maybe the windows were made of sugar glass! I suppose in Hollywood films they will of course use breakaway glass, which will reduce the risk of cuts or bruises. 

There are also some daft moments in the film such as Axel going to the bonded warehouse and flashing his badge to the supervisor without of course the guy actually being able to see it. So, naturally the supervisor and the staff have to comply with him although they could have actually asked to see it to try and call his bluff but for the sake of convention they never do it.

I also thought it was a bit silly how in the scene where Axel offers a hotel robe to Taggart, who says to keep it as a soveneir, Axel says "I already have three of them in my bag". However when you say Axel's bag, its way too small to actually fit more than one of those robes in his bag never mind three of them! So, yeah this scene always struck me as being a bit stupid and making no real sense. 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up Beverly Hills Cop is still a very enjoyable watch after 40 years, despite its 80's fashions, it has aged relatively well and its the perfect vehicle for Murphy's comedic skills The performances are also very good with Murphy perfect in his role as the cocky cop Axel Foley and the supporting cast of John Ashton as Taggart, Judge Reinhold as Rosewood and Ronny Cox as Bogomil all excellent. The score by Harold Faltermeyer is also very memorable and sticks with you well after the film is over. There are some minor flaws with the story here and there but that aside, this is still an excellent action comedy film that is still worth watching 40 years later.

So, I will rate Beverly Hills Cop:

9 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will return soon with another post.

Until then bye for now!

Carlito's Way "Here come the pain!!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey folks, so I'm trying to repost my review of Carlito's Way, which was blocked by Blogger as it supposedly violated their community guidelines although it gave no clear reason why. So, I am attempting to post it again, so I will see if it accepts it...

So, after 31 years, let's take another look at this film and see how it fairs...

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOIELRS AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So, the story is set in New York, 1975 and begins with Carlito Brigante (Pacino) who has just been acquitted after serving five years of a 30 year sentence, and a former big drug dealer, who returns to the streets and his Peurto Rican neigbourhood.  However after his time in the joint, Carlito finally has changed and no longer wants to return to his life of crime and wants to start again with a clean slate.

However, going straight isn't all that easy for Carlito as he gets drawn into the life again, after narrowly surviving a botched drug deal which he is brought along on by his cousin Guajiro (John Augstin Ortiz), who is then killed, leaving Carlito to shoot his way out of the bar.  Carlito then uses the money from the drug deal to buy into taking share of a nightclub, which his lawyer friend David Kleinfeld (Penn) also puts money into.  But Carlito insists he is only buying in so he can get enough money together to get out and take over one of the friend's in the joint's car businesses, to ensure he will go straight.

Along the way Carlito also re-unites with his former girlfriend Gail (Penelope Ann Miller) who works as an exotic dancer in a strip bar.  But Carlito also faces a few new problems, the first one being and up and coming gangster Benny Blanco "from the Bronx" (John Leguizmo) who repeatedly tries to get Carlito to become business partners with him, which ultimately leads to a fight in the club, where Carlito tells Benny if he returns to the club he will be killed.  Benny then vows to kill Carlito if he ever sees him again, which leads Carlito to knock him down a flight of stairs, but rather than kill Benny, he chooses to let him go.

However, Carlito's biggest problem of all is Kleinfeld, who in his absence has become very corrupt and involved in jury tampering, bribing, and money laundering.  Kleinfeld also becomes involved in ripping off a mob boss Tony "T" Taglialucci (Frank Minucci) by stealing a million dollars from him.  Tony insists that Kleinfeld help him bust out of prison, and given very little choice in the matter, as Tony will have him killed if he doesn't.  At this point Kleinfeld becomes a nervous wreck, using cocaine regularly, and he asks Carlito to help him with Tony T's prison break, who initially is reluctant but agrees to help him out.

On the night of the breakout Kleinfeld is accompanied by Tony T's son, Frank (Adrian Pasdar) as well as Carlito, but on locating Tony in the rough waters, Klenfield kills both Tony T and his son and with Carlito's help, he disposes of them in the water. Despite being confident about shaking off the mafia, Kleinfield the next day at his office, receives a trick phone call to lure him out his office and is soon ambushed by two mobsters, who attack him with a knife. 

Shortly after, Carlito is brought in for questioning by the DA Norwalk (James Rebhorn) who plays him a tape of Kleinfeld tipping off Carlito as supposedly dealing again, Norwalk offers Carlito a chance to testify against Kleinfeld, but he denies knowledge of the events surrounding Tony T's murder, even though the DA insists he knows that he was on the boat with Kleinfeld at the time.

And its from here Carlito must decide if he will testify against Kleinfeld or flee the feds whilst also trying to escape the clutches of the vengeful Mafia.

THOUGHTS 

Carlito's Way is not only a great crime thriller in its own right, its also ranks as one of Brian De Palma's best films and it features so many great suspenseful scenes, two of which in particular are the drug deal that goes awry near the start of the film with Carlito forced into shooting his way out and the other being the big chase scene through Grand Central station at the end.  De Palma as usual also employs many of his camera techniques, the opening scene is definitely worthy of note, the way it starts with the camera turning upside down as we see Carlito being carted away on a stretcher into an ambulence.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section continues spoilers and strong language!) 

Performance wise, the film also features an excellent cast, who are all on top form.

Starting with Al Pacino who is great in the title role of Carlito Brigante, and plays him as a man with a dark past who really has changed and become a better person, who just wants to try wipe the slate clean and start again.  Pacino has his share of good scenes that include both actual scenes and his narration and this post could mega long (as they usually are!). I will also refrain from quoting his narration as there is simply too much of it to include here aswell, so I will just use his actual dialogue scenes.

So, the first scene worth mentioning for Pacino is the one where Carlito is trapped in a bar where a drug deal is going down with his young cousin, Guijaro (John Augustin Ortiz) who is killed during a gunfight involving Carlito. And in the scene, Carlito decides to interrupt a game of pool to set up a trick shot, to buy him some time and he tells the dealers, "No trick shot! This is magic time! When you see this shot...you're gonna give up your religious beliefs!". 

And in the scene Carlito takes cover in the bathroom (where Guijaro's killer emerged from) and finds the gun he had taken from one of the other gang members is now empty, so he reloads the clip back into the gun and then shouts out to the others as follows:  "I'm reloaded! Okay? Come on in here, you motherf******! Come on, I'm waitin' for ya! What, you ain't comin' in? Okay, I'm comin' out! Oh, you up against me now, motherf******! I'm gonna blow your f****** brains out! You think you're big time? You gonna f*****' die big time! You ready? HERE COME THE PAIN!!!".

Then there is the scene where Carlito's meets with Laleen who (SPOILER!) is wearing a wire and trying to catch out Carlito to see if he is dealing again. So, in the scene, Laleen tries his best to get Carlito to admit but Carlito tells Laleen how he isn't connected anymore and instead he grabs a knife and holds it to Laleen and looks at his lapel and pulls off a radio mic. So, Carlito furiously asks Laleen "Is this how you beat 30 years, you piece of shit?! I oughta kill you, motherfu****!" and he furiously kicks Laleen's wheelchair just as Pachanga walks in. So, Pachanga on seeing what has happened pulls his gun out to shoot Laleen but Carlito pushes him out the door as Laleen shouts at Carlito in self pity

Carlito then approaches Laleen and asks him "Who sent you?! Who sent you, motherf*****?! Answer me!" and Laleen gives in and says "The DA. The DA! He got a tip you were dealing again, big time!".  Carlito however inisists "I have been clean since I got out! I haven't made one f***** move! Who told him that?! WHO TOLD HIM THAT?!" but Laleen insists he doesn't know. So, Carlito get's out his gun as he prepares to leave and Laleen out of self pity says "Do it, man, just f****** kill me!". Carlito then tells Laleen "I ain't gonna kill you. I ain't even gonna hurt you, man" and he walks up to him close and asks him "I ask you...how could you f*** the only people that ever cared for you??" and he grabs Laleen by his hair and pulls his head back and says "You lost, motherf*****!" and let's go of Laleen and then he walks out.

Then there is the scene where Carlito is confronted by Benny Blanco, an upcoming gangster in the drug business.  And as Benny says to Carlito "Mr Brigante, this is the second time you turned me down for a drink.  What don't you like my champagne?" and Carlito says "Hey, could be".  Then after a pause, Benny says "I don't know, but there may be some mis-understanding, I don't know man, but maybe you don't remember me, my name is Benny Blanco...".  However Carlito then cuts him off and says "Maybe I don't give a shit. Maybe I don't remember the last time I blew my nose either. Who the f*** are you, I should remember you? What, you think you like me? You ain't like me motherf*****. You a punk! I've been with made people, connected people. Who you been with? Chain-snatching, jive-ass, maricon motherf*****! Why don't you get lost?  Go a head, snatch a purse. Come on, take a f*****' walk!".  Then after Benny causes a commotion, he is dragged upstairs by Carlito's men and he tells Benny "OK, Benny Blanco, from the Bronx, the chic, Stefi, belongs to the club.  Now if I ever, if I EVER see you here again...you die!  Just like that!"

Another good scene is where Carlito has a row with Gail after she meets Kleinfeld and takes a strong dislike to him as he keeps making thinly veiled references to their "boat" trip to bust out Tony "T" from jail.  So, they go back to Gail's apartment and she argues with Carlito, pleading with him not to help Kleinfeld.

So in the scene, Gail angrily says to Carlito "Why did you make me believe all the crap about Bahamas and paradise??!  I FEEL RIDICULOUS!!  Because you haven't changed!  You haven't changed a bit!".  Carlito then says to Gail "What the f*** are you tryin' to tell me? That my gettin' out is just some bullshit fantasy trip I'm layin' on you? Is that what you're sayin'? How could you say that? How can you say that when you know how close I am? How could you say those words to me? I gotta do this, just this one thing, and then I'm out!".  Gail the angrily tells him he doesn't owe Klenfield anything and that their dream will end with him dead and that he is "bullshitting" her, which prompts Carlito to angrily smash Gail's bathroom mirror and yell "YOU'RE NOT LISTENING TO ME!" and having cut his hand his walks to the door and Gail follows him, concerned for his injury.  And Carlito tells her before he goes "Dave is my friend. I owe him. That's... ...who I am. That's what I am, right or wrong. I can't change that!".

Then there is the scene where just after Kleinfeld disposes of Tony T and his son's bodies, he and Carlito arrive back on the shore, with Carlito now really seeing Kleinfield for what he is.  And Carlito says to Kleinfield "You ripped him off, didn't you?!" and Kleinfield asks "What?" and Carlito says "Tony T.  You DID take the million dollars, didn't you?!" and Kleinfield takes a moment and with a guilty smile says "Yeah".  Carlito then looks angrily at Kleinfeld and says "You ain't a lawyer no more, Dave. You a gangster now. On the other side. A whole new ball game. You can't learn about it in school, and you can't have a late start!".  Kleinfeld then confidently says "Don't worry about me" but Carlito then tells him "One more thing: we're even" and Kleinfeld puts his hand on Carlito's shoulder and says "Let's get a drink" but Carlito knocks it away and shouts "SAY IT!! We're even!" and Kleinfield, shocked gives Carlito a look and says quietly "We're even" and Carlito then storms off.

Another good scene is where Carlito confronts Kleinfeld in hospital over ratting him out to the DA, Norwalk as Norwalk has Kleinfeld on tape claiming Carlito is dealing again.  So, in the scene Carlito tells Kleinfeld where he has been "I've been to Nowalk's office, heard the tape..." and Kleinfeld looks guilty and says "That pig..." and Carlito angrily says "Never give up your friends, Dave, no matter what!".  And after Kleinfeld launches into an angry tirade at Carlito's code and honour and that he only has one rule and that is to save his own ass.

So, Carlito, who had taken Kleinfeld's gun places it back on Kleinfeld's bed table and says "See this? It belongs here. Not behind a pillow. This way you can reach for it quick. They come in, you ready for 'em. So long. You got a beautiful future!" and he leaves.  And in the next moment, we discover that Kleinfeld's gun was emptied by Carlito without his knowing, as Kleinfeld tries to shoot Vinnie, who walks into his room and we then see Carlito drops the bullets into a bin and he says "Adios, counsellor!" and Kleinfeld is left to his fate.

And last of all is the scene where Carlito confronts Saso in the club when his money goes missing and he storms up to Saso with grabs him and holds a flick knife up to him. So, in the scene, Carlito storms and shouts at Saso "MOTHERF*****! Where's my f***** money?! You heard that Kleinfeld got whacked out, you thought I was dead too! You thought you'd inherit my money, right motherf*****?!". Carlito shouts again "WHERE'S MY MONEY?!" and Saso panics and tells him "OK! OK! Its in the box, under the register! I was going to tell you!".

This is then followed up by Carlito being forcibly introduced to Vinnie, Tony T's son, as the two of them share an intense glare, Vinnie says to Carlito "I heard your jew lawyer met with an accident!". Carlito however dismissively tells Vinnie "Well, I have seen him lately" and as the waiter comes with a bottle champagne, Carlito uses this as an excuse to leave and says to the waiter "I thought I told you to bring the best and bring this cheap shit?" and he says to Vinnie and the other mobsters "Excuse me" and he quickly leaves.

Sean Penn is also great as the devious lawyer, David Kleinfeld, who is good friends with Carlito but he ends up getting him in serious hot water.  Penn also doesn't shirk from showing his character to be of the 1970s with his ridiculous permed hairdo!

Penn also his share of great moments in the film that include the one where Kleinfeld pleads with Carlito to help him spring Tony "T" from prison while they are at a party hosted by Kleinfeld.  And in the scene, Kleinfield suddenly notices one of his guests is getting some action from a girlfriend.  So, Kleinfeld yells at the man "Your f*****' chick's giving you something in front of everybody! I got guests here, for Christ's sake! People are eating!".  And as the man says "Take it easy, Dave!" Kleinfeld yells back at him "You take it easy! Got any manners? You wanna f*** her, f*** like a normal human being! Take her to the bedroom!" and then he goess to get a drink and says to Carlito "People, huh?!".

Then Kleinfeld explains what he wants Carlito to do in regards to picking up Tony "T" in the waters as he intends to use his boat to get him.  Carlito then says to Kleinfeld "Dave, you're a lawyer, man.  What the f*** is happenin to you?" and Kleinfield anxiously says "I am so f****** shook up, I cannot see straight. I'm in an impossible f****** situation here. Once I get Tony on the shore...there is a distinct possibility that he and his goombah son... ...have got some plans for me".  And as Carlito asks what kind of plans, Kleinfeld tells him "How do I know he's not gonna kill me? This guy hates my guts. I'm in trouble. I am in f***** trouble here. You are the only f****** person on earth...that I can trust!".  And Kleinfeld asks Carlito if he is in and Carlito takes a moment and says he is and Kleinfeld then immediately hugs Carlito and says "Thank you...thank you!".

Then there is the scene where Kleinfeld holds a party at Carlito's club but he suddenly notices Gail dancing with a suave Italian and he expresses his disgust at him and Italian hoods in general.  So, Kleinfeld says to Carlito "You're gonna let this f****** goombah paw your woman like that?!" and Carlito says "They're just dancin.  Don't you appreciate that, the movement, the rhythm?".  However, Kleinfeld vehemently says "What I don't appreciate, he's got his hands all over her ass!!" and he continues "Look at the shithead. These wise guys think they're so hard-assed. I am so sick of hoods like that...coming into my office, MY office...thinkin' they can push me around!".  And as Carlito sarcastically tells Carlito he should tell the Italian how he feels, Kleinfeld suddenly calls out to the Italian "Hey!  Hey!!  You!" and the Italian stops dancing with Gail and asks "What's that???" and Kleinfeld "Yeah, you.  Wop!".  The Italian looks taken aback and asks "Me?" and Kleinfeld grins drunkenly says "You, spaghetti dick!" and Italian says "You talkin to me?" and Kleinfeld says "Yeah, you!" but Carlito and the others soon difuse the situation.

So, as the scene continues, Kleinfeld teases Carlito about their upcoming boat trip to pick up the mob boss Tont T. So, Kleinfeld asks Carlito "Hey, Carlito, do you ever get sick on boats?" and Carlito reluctantly says "No, I don't". Gail a little suspicous asks "Are you two going somewhere?" and Kleinfeld says "No big deal just a little boat ride" and Carlito now irritated says "Just drop it, Dave, its dull what you're doing!" and Kleinfeld asks "What?" and Carlito says "Its just f***** dull!". Kleinfeld carries on says "What, I just wanna ask if the guy get's sick on boats, that can be a real problem". Gail finally asks Carlito "What boat are you talking about?" and Carlito looks awkward and says nothing and she asks again "What boat, Charlie" and he puts his hand in his hands and Gail leaves. Carlito then get's up angrily and get's in Kleinfeld's face and warns "If you ever talk that shit again infront of her, I'm gonna kill you!" and he storms out leaving Kleinfeld puzzled asking "What's the matter with him?".

And lastly there is the scene where Carlito confronts Kleinfeld in the hospital, where Carlito tells him he heard the tape at Norwalk's office of Kleinfeld ratting Carlito out to Norwalk.  And Kleinfeld looks guiltily but then tries to cover up by saying "They doctor these things...play them out of context.  I can't believe..." but then Carlito, who had taken Kleinfeld's guns, points it at him, prompting K to yell "Don't do that!  F*** you!".  Kleinfeld then angrily says to Carlito "F*** you and your self-righteous code of the goddamned street!  Did it pull you out of a thirty-year stint in five years? Did it?! No, I did! Did it get you acquitted four f****** times?! No, it didn't. I did!  So f*** you, f*** the street! Your whole goddamn world's this big and there's only one rule: you save your own ass!!". 
  
Penelope Ann Miller is pretty good (and pretty nice!) in her somewhat underwritten role as Gail, Carlito's girlfriend, with whom he reunites after he is released from jail.

I will however for time just mention Penelope's best scene in the film where Gail argues with Carlito after meeting Kleinfeld at a party and she storms out and they go back to her place and row over Carlito's involvement with Kleinfeld, whom she hates.

So in the scene, Gail enters her apartment with Carlito in tow and she says "I don't like him. I didn't like him the minute I met him!".  Then Gail asks Carlito "So what is this boat thing then? What is that asshole manipulating you into? Tell me!".  Carlito then tells her that he owes him but Gail angrily says "You owe him? He's a f****** cokehead! I can't believe you hang around with that guy. He's sick. He's gonna get you killed, or sent back to prison!".  Carlito shouts at her as she walks off to get changed out of her dress "He saved my life, Gail!" and Gail says "So now you have to pay him with it? Jesus Christ, Charlie, you give me this whole song and dance about how you're out of that shit, but you're not!".  Gail then angrily asks what Carlito dragged her into this and he asks her "Dragged you into what?!" and she replies "Why'd you make me believe all the crap about Bahamas and paradise? I feel RIDICULOUS! 'Cause you haven't changed! You haven't changed a bit!".

Then Carlito follows Gail into the bathroom as she has now changed into a dressing robe and he angrily says how he can't believe she doesn't believe in him and that he owes Kleinfeld one last favour.  Then Gail turns around and shouts "You don't owe him shit! You think you do. That's the problem. That's why nobody like you gets out. Everything you learned in the neighborhood won't do anything but get you killed!".  Carlito then tries to dismiss what she says as he says she knows nothing about his neighbourhood.

However Gail then becomes emotional and tells Carlito "I know how this dream ends, Charlie. It isn't in paradise. It ends with me carrying you into Sutton Emergency Room...at 3:00 a.m. And standing there...crying like an idiot...while your shoes fill with blood and you die!".  And she starts crying and yells "COS YOU'RE BULLSHITTING ME!!  ALL YOUR TALK IS BULLSHIT!" and Carlito then angrily smashes her bathroom mirror and he goes to walk out but Gail runs after him and he tells he owes David and that he is what he is and can't change.  Gail then pleads with Carlito not to go with Kleinfeld as she gently wraps his cut hand from the mirror in his handkerchief "Whatever he wants you to do...don't do it. For me, please, don't do it. Please. Just don't do it".  However, Carlito instead walks out the door and Gail shouts after him "That's the last time I wipe up your blood!" and she slams the door.

John Leguizamo is also very good as the ambitious young gangster Benny Blacno who later proves to be Carlito's nemesis, and Benny is naturally very arrogant, and all too quick to point out who he is all the time

And Leguizamo also has his good moments such as the scene where Benny first meets Carlito while he kisses a girl over at a table in Carlito's club and he is brusque at first under he realises who Carlito is and he immediately apologies and tries to charm him into going into business with him.

So, in the scene Benny says to the girl he was kissing "Get that stupid look of your face! You know who this man is? This man here, he's the f*****' J.P. Morgan of the smack business!".  So, Benny then tries to talk Carlito into getting involved in his drug business "I'm starting out small. I'm just building my organization. I'm refining it and maximizing my potentialities. I got my finger on some shit that's about to explode. If you can just give me two minutes...".  However Carlito is not interested and tells him "Maybe next time.  All the best to ya" however Benny continues "Just two minutes of your time" and Carlito says "I'll talk to you again" and he walks off.  This leave Benny looking frustrated as he calls out to Carlito "Just two minutes!  That's all".

And lastly there is the moment where Benny confronts Carlito at the club for turning down his champagne and for not sending over his moll, Steffie (Ingrid Rogers).  So in the scene Benny walks over to Carlito says "This is the second time you turned me down for a drink. You don't like my champagne?" and Carlito tells him "Could be".  So, Benny tries again "Maybe there's a misunderstanding. Maybe you don't remember me...." and Carlito shuts Benny down and tells he doesn't give a shit who he is and he should get lost.  So, Benny then becomes angry and says "The only problem here is that Steffie doesn't know where she belongs" but Carlito holds Steffie back from going with Benny.  So, Benny says "I think Steffie is making a big F***** MISTAKE!" and he lunges forward to grab her but Benny is pulled off her by Carlito's men and dragged up the stairs.

So, Carlito along with his bodyguard Pachanga and another men take Benny upstairs and Carlito warns Benny to stay away from the club and if he shows up again he will die.  Benny then looks at Carlito angrily and tells him "You're over, man. You're f****** in the history books. So you might as well kill me now, 'cause if I ever see you again, I'm gonna kill you!".  Carlito then suddenly hits Benny in anger, who falls down a flight of stairs and he is taken out back by Pachanga to await his fate.

Luis Guzman is also excellent as Carlito's right hand man and bodyguard, Pachanga, who watches over Carlito but towards the end his loyalties seem to drift away from Carlito.

And Luis has his good scenes also that include the one where Pachanga first meets up with Carlito again on the old neighbourhood streets.  So, Pachanga tells Carlito "Carlito, man, Death Valley out here, man. Mira, you know me, I take to the street with any of these motherf******, man. But these new kids nowadays, man, they got no respect for human life. They shotgun you, just to see you fly up in the air. 'Chacho, you're better off in jail. I don't even go up to black Harlem no more. They're f***** crazy up there".

Then there is the scene where Pachanga at the club goes up to Carlito, having just learned about the drug deal incident that happened a month ago.  So, Pachanga, concerned says "I heard about that shit with your cousin. Why didn't you call me so I could watch your ass?" and Carlito tells him "That happened a month ago.  You just found out?".  Pachanga then complains about Carlito making him watch out for Kleinfeld "You got me chasin' Kleinberg in the daytime and then you got me here..." and Carlito becomes annoyed at Pachanga mispronouncing Kleinfeld's name "Feld!  Kleinfeld! I hope you are doing a better job with him than me!".  Pachanga however then tells Carlito "The guy got a lot of money. He got a safe in the office with stacks of hundreds just waitin'..." and Carlito interrupts and angrily says "Hey!  Kleinfeld is my brother!  Look at me!  He is my brother".  Pachanga then says "Pachanga's only f***** around!" and Carlito tells him "Don't f*** around, just keep your eyes open. Watch the bar.  They're stealin money in here!" and Pachanga complains "I wanna try, but it's so dark in here. What do you want me to do?!".

Then there is the scene where Carlito has his altercation with Benny in the club and knocks him down a flight of stairs.  And Pachanga takes Benny down the stairs outside in a back alley to shoot him and Pachanga excitedly says to Carlito "Let's put him in the trunk of the car and drive him off the pier! It ain't that far. Down the block. It'd be like the old days. Be fun, papi! Be fun!" however Carlito then decides to let Benny go, leaving Pachanga shocked and saying "WHAT?!".

And last of all is the scene near the end where (SPOILER!!!!) Benny shoots Carlito at the train station and he stands over Carlito as he falls down and we see suddenly see Pachanga stand next to him as he has clearly switched sides.  And Pachanga tells Carlito "No hard feelings, Carlito. But I got to think about my future, too. You know, it be's that way sometimes, papi" and he says to Benny "Come on, let's go" however Benny then says "No, you stay here" and shoots Pachanga and runs off.

James Rebhorn is very good as the DA, Bill Norwalk, who is investigating Carlito and also keeps a close eye on Kleinfeld.

And Rebhorn best scene comes when he has Carlito brough to Norwalk's office, who tells him about Kleinfeld's duplicitous activities.  So, Norwalk tells Carlito "David Kleinfeld became a very big fish while you were gone. Even bigger than you. He's dirty. Money laundering, jury tampering, bribery. We've been after him for some time now".  Norwalk then plays a tape recording of Norwalk speaking to Kleinfeld, who tells him that Carlito is back dealing again.  Norwalk after tells Carlito "We don't believe him. Word on the street is you've been clean since you came out of prison. Kleinfeld's the one we're after. He was right. I'd never get an indictment with what I had.  But now, with your help...we can put this filth away for a long time".

Carlito however denies his knowledge of Tony "T" or that he had anything to do with helping Kleinfeld dispose of Tony "T" and Tony's son's bodies in the river.  However, Norwalk refuses to believe him and angrily tells Carlito "All right, here's the deal. If you were on that boat, and I know goddamn well you were...testify against Kleinfeld for first-degree murder. You'll receive complete immunity and a couple airline tickets to the Bahamas. You wanna get even with Kleinfeld? Here it is on a silver platter!".

Carlito however continues to deny any knowledge of what Norwalk has told him.  So, Norwalk stands up from his desk and walks over to Carlito and firmly tells him "Let me tell you somethin', Mr. Convicted Dope Peddler...if we can guess you were on that boat, how long do you think it will be before the Italians figure it out?! What if they get to Kleinfeld? They can twist his arm. You think he won't give you up? Think again!".  Carlito then looks blankly at Norwalk and says "That it?" and Norwalk annoyed at Carlito's continued ignorance tells him "I wanna hear from you by noon tomorrow. You think you're gonna sail off into the sunset, asshole? Think again!".

Joseph Siravo is probably the weak link in the cast here but he does not too badly in his role as the son of the mob boss, Tony "T", Vinnie, who is out for revenge after his father and brother are murdered by Kleinfeld.  Siravo would of course then go on to appear in The Sopranos as Tony Soprano's father, Johnny, who was formerly the boss of the New Jersey crime family before his death. Siravo himself since sadly passed away in 2021 aged 66.

And Siravo still has some good moments too that include the one where, Vinnie turns up at the hospital, dressed as a policeman and he eyes Carlito leaving Kleinfeld's room, so after that he goes up to the policeman on guard outside Kleinfeld's room and tells him "Quittin time!".  And the officer says to Vinnie "You're early" and Vinnie says "Yeah, a few minutes" and he spots the officer's newspaper and says "You finished with your paper?" and the officer hands it over "Its all yours" and Vinnie takes it and says "Thanks" and as the officer leaves he says "Be good".  Vinnie then conceals his silenced gun in the paper and knocks on Kleinfeld's door and he says "Mr Kleinfeld" and he walks in.  And Vinnie says "There's a delivery for you, Mr Kleinfeld" and Kleinfeld cautiously asks "From who?" and Vinnie then produces his gun and says "From my father and my brother!" and as Kleinfeld tries his gun, he discovers it to be empty and Vinnie exacts revenge and shoots Kleinfeld in the head.

Then there is the scene where Vinnie turns up at Carlito's club as they are very suspicious of his involvement with Kleinfeld, so Carlito nervously tries to evade them but he is soon met by Vinnie's mob associates and soon Vinnie.  And one of Vinnie's associates, Pete Amadesso (Richard Foronjy) introduces Vinnie to Carlito and Vinnie says "I heard your jew lawyer met with an accident" and Carlito lies "Well, I haven't seen him lately" and he uses the waiter bringing over cheap champagne as an excuse to escape.  And Vinnie then angrily tries to go for Carlito but Pete stops him ""Ain't seen him lately!" The lyin' f***! - Seen him in the hospital, Pete!". 

And lastly there is the moment where Carlito flees the club through a trap door underneath the bar area and as Vinnie keeps looking out for Carlito to come up again from the bar, he suddenly get's up and rushes over to the bar and sees Carlito is gone and says "That little f***** spic bastard!".  So, Vinnie goes behind the bar and pushes the waiter aside, who tells he can't back there, and Vinnie yells "Get the f*** out of here!".  Vinnie sees the trap door and opens it and looks through it and they then go outside and spot Carlito running away, so Vinnie shouts "There he is!  Come on!" and they begin their lengthy chase of Carlito to Grand central station. 

Jorge Porcel next is also good too as Saso, aka "Ron" from Reinaldo.  Porcel himself actually could not speak English very well, so for his part in the film De Palma had to resort to using a series of written cue cards with Porcel's lines of them. Porcel himself spent most of his career making adult comedy films in Argentina and was widely regarded as one of the country's best comedic actors.

I will mention only a couple of Porcel's scenes starting with the one where Saso reacts in surprise at Carlito turning down Benny's request for champagne.  So, Saso says to Carlito "Please, you can't do this. Benny spends a lot of money here" but Carlito dismissively says "Come on, he's a nicklebagger!".  Saso then tells Carlito "What happened to you? What are you acting like this for? It doesn't make sense you should hate this guy. This guy is you 20 years ago!" but Carlito tells Saso "Never me.  Never me!".

And last of all is the scene where Saso talks with Carlito privately about Pachanga's disgruntlement with Carlito's behaviour.  And Saso talks in Spanish to Carlito "Listen to me carefully, Carlito. Rudy says Pachanga is complaining about being broke; that he doesn't have a single dollar. He's also saying that you're a piece of shit, and that you don't have the balls to take care of the problem; and he's wasted a lot of time without making any money. Besides, I hear he's spying on us for Benny Blanco".  So, Carlito responds in Spanish "Let me deal with Pachanga.  He's my brother" but Saso angrily responds also in Spanish "He's your brother? That son of a bitch would kill his mother for money!".  Carlito then says in English "Most people will!" and he concludes their discussion in Spanish "See you in the morning".  

Viggo Mortensen next up is excellent in his role as the wheelchair bound gangster, Lalin, who was once formerly a suave, handsome guy, who set up Carlito's crew with ladies as well get involved in his deals.  And the role showcases Viggo's talents as an actor and in this role his performance is a far cry from his Legolas from Lord of the Rings. 

And Viggo only has one main scene but its a great one where Lalin shows up at Carlito's club and unbeknownst to Carlito at first, Lalin is wearing a wire as he was sent by Norwalk to feel out Carlito to see if he was dealing again.

So, in the scene Carlito greets Lalin in his office and Lalin tells him why he is in the wheelchair "I took a few in the back.  When the street's mad, she doesn't put you in a box, she puts you in one of these things!".  And Carlito asks Lalin "You wanna a drink?" and Lalin tells him "Like you wouldn't believe!" and Carlito closes the blinds in his office, so they talk privately.

So, after a bit, Lalin then starts to try and feel out if Carlito is back dealing and he says "Listen, I'm in with some new people now. Unos italianos, t sabes. They trust you. They think you're a f***** guinea".  Carlito then briefly plays along and asks "Where they from?  Plesant avenue?" and Laleen tells him "No, downtown.  Anyway, they got the money. They got a lot of money. Some heavy paper. They go up to $25,000 for a key, if it's good shit, you know. They want regular street people, gente del barrio. Old school all the way!".

However, Carlito then tells Lalin that he isn't connected anymore, but Carlito now suspecious, pulls back the top of his shirt and sees a wear taped inside his shirt and he pulls it off Laleen, disgusted.  Carlito then says "This how you beat your 30 years, you piece of shit?!  I oughta kill you!" and Pachanga then comes in and finds out what's going on and attempts to shoot Lalin but Carlito shoves him out the office.

Lalin then explains to Carlito tearfully "Look what I got! I mean look at me! You got everything, man! Come on! Look what I got to f****** go around with, f****** diapers! I shit my pants everyday! I can't walk, I can't hump... you know? Go ahead and kill me, you bastard!".  Carlito then goes up to Laleen and asks him "Who sent you?!  Who sent you, motherf*****?!  Answer me!" and Lalin tells him "The DA.  The DA!  He's got a hardon for you, man.  He got a tip that you were dealin again, big time!".

And last of all is Frank Minucci as the mob boss, Tony "T" who threatens Kleinfeld with his life if he doesn't bust him out of prison barge he is held at.

And Minucci only has two scenes but I will mention his main one (as the other is just him bobbing in the water waiting to be picked up Kleinfeld) where Tony meets with Kleinfeld at the prison barge and he is apparently unwell as he is coughing constantly.

So, in the scene Tony "T" says to Kleinfeld "I never liked you, Kleinfeld. Not 'cause you're a Jew. I know plenty of Jews. It's 'cause you're a lyin' piece of shit. Now, I give you a million bucks to make a simple payoff and nothin' happens!".  Kleinfeld however tries to bluff Tony "T" who is having none of it and he interrupts Kleinfeld saying "You look at my hands! Now, you make me raise my voice and I'll snap your neck like a bread stick! You f***** phony! What do you take me for? Nicky never saw dollar one of my money. My million bucks went straight into your pockets!".  So, Kleinfeld tries to deny this and says "I personally..." but this makes Tony "T" even angrier, who says "Don't f***** lie to me, you scumbag. You lie to me again, you're gonna end up in that river out there. You think about this when you go out, and you'll take a look down and imagine what it'll feel like, slidin' around down the bottom with eels and crabs crawlin' outta your eyeballs!".

Then after this Tony "T" tells Kleinfeld he wants him to bust him out of the prison by using Kleinfeld's boat to pick him up and he is to be watched by Tony's son, Frank (Adrian Pasdar) on the night of the breakout.  However as Kleinfeld is reluctant to help out, Tony "T" lays down a brutal ultimatum to him and says "The contract's already down on you, pal. The guys, the guns, the LIME pit's already dug. You understand? And from in here, just one button I push!".

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

Finally moving onto the director of the film, Brian De Palma does an excellent job here as he is an expert at cranking up tension and creating thrillers in general.  And the aforementioned scenes of Carlito tensely waiting out what to do during the botched drug deal near the start and the Grand Central station chase scene with the mob are both great examples of De Palma's ability to create suspensful sequences.

De Palma also employs his usual great visual sense here too in the film with his excellent use of composition of placing his actors within the frame and also using Dutch camera angles (i.e. slanted angles) in certain scenes to give them a unique look.  So, overall this remains one of De Palma's best directorial efforts in his career.

As for the original music score by Scottish composer, Patrick Doyle, its excellent and its a very impressively orchestrated soundtrack, which perfectly suits the tone of the film and it also features its share of suspenseful sequences.  In short this is one of Doyle's best scores out of his impressive career which also has seen him score films such as Donnie Brasco (another Pacino movie) Henry V, Hamlet and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!) 

As for flaws....yeah OK, Carlito's Way still has a few.

And I would have to say one of its main flaws is to with Carlito's almost naive trust in those around him, particularly with Kleinfed, who despite getting him released from prison, betrays him to the DA and nearly gets him killed by the mafia.  Yet throughout we can see how blatantly devious he is, and Carlito must be putting on some serious blinders to it, either or that or just maybe he's not too bright when it comes to putting faith into his unreliable friends.  Also as the film progresses we see that Carlito's attitude towards Kleinfeld does change from overawed respect to cynicism, and by the time he gets to the boat ride, he has almost gone off him entirely, which at that point makes you wonder why he even did it!

And further to this point when Carlito is taken to Norwalk's office, he is played the tape of Kleinfeld lying to Norwalk about Carlito dealing again, and at this stage he knows Kleinfeld is a devious, dirty guy yet he STILL insists on going to confront Kleinfeld at the hospital to confirm it!  I mean at this stage does he really need to do that???!  Carlito already knows that Kleinfeld betrayed him, so why bother go to the hospital as all it does is put his life in immediate danger as he is spotted by Vinnie, who later catches him out lying at the club about him not seeing Kleinfeld lately. 

Carlito also has the same blind loyalty to his bodyguard Pachanga, who at the end of the film (SPOILER!!) is revealed to have betrayed him as well to Benny Blanco, in promise for getting rich off the young gangster, who instead just kills Pachanga and runs off.  I guess Pachanga shouldn't have tried to kill Benny at the club that night Carlito ejected him from the club, eh?!  
 
I would also have to say that the majority of Carlito's scenes where he tries to rekindle his relationship with Gail are also a bit tedious and slow the film down a bit although their big argument scene over Klenfield is still one of the best in the film.  This probably boils down to the fact that Gail's character is somewhat underwritten and she acts basically as love interest to Carlito and is given little to do other than that.

The film also has some unintentionally funny moments in it such as the one where Vinnie and his mob associates chase down Carlito at Grand central station.  And there is that cheesy moment where they lose sight of Carlito as he tries to evade them going down a flight of stairs.  However, Vinnie with his eagle eyes suddenly spots him and shouts out "There he is!" as the man start to chase him again.  Its certainly one of the silliest moments in the film.

I also have to say that I found the idea of Carlito deftly emptying Kleinfeld's gun of bullets a bit daft also as surely that is something that would be incredibly hard to conceal from someone and the film doesn't exactly do a good job of convincing you of it either. However of course Carlito earlier on in the film boasts how he is a great at pool trick shots, so I guess by that same rationale, he can stealthily unload a six shooter without Kleinfeld guessing! However it still doesn't sit right for me personally as surely Kleinfeld should have noticed something when Carlito would have unloaded the bullets.

I also have to say I found it incredibly naive and stupid of Kleinfeld that he could possibly have thought that killing Tony T and his son, wouldn't come back to him! I mean the Mafia know who this guy is and they know that he ripped them off, which already has put him in a bad spot but he then decides to commit a cardinal sin by murdering a mob boss and his son to get out of it and think there would be no direct repurcusions?!

And to top it all off, the following morning, all Kleinfeld does is go back to work and yeah OK, he does hire a bodyguard I will give him that but was it really a good idea for him to go back to his work??!! I mean surely to God, he should have fled the country and made for the hills (so to speak) to try and get as far away from the mob as he could but nope, he stupidly goes back to work where he is an open target! Kleinfeld might aswell have painted a bullseye on his forehead so the Mafia could figure out just where to place the bullet! So, for all his devious dealings in the end, Kleinfeld really isn't that bright!

Last of all, I think the way the film frame's the narrative of Carlito's chances of surviving at the end (or beginning) of the film is pretty misleading because at the start of the film Carlito narrates "Don't worry, my heart it never quit". However at the end of the film, we see that Carlito is now mortally wounded and he is resigned to his inevitable demise and narrates "Sorry boys, not even all the kings men can put me back together again!". So, the film is definitely sending out a mixed message to Carlito's survival at the end, although I guess the filmmakers didn't want the audience to have no hope going right in from the beginning and instead Carlito might have a chance of living but in the end De Palma just pulls the rug out from under the audience's feet.  

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, in summing up, Carlito's Way after 31 years is still an excellent crime thriller and its funny to think that it wasn't that well received on its initial release given how solid the film's cast, direction and script are. However over time, this film is finally now getting the recognition that it deserves and that of course can often be the case with certain films with The Shawshank Redemption being another, which was not well received on its release either but then came onto being realised as a classic. 

And I would definitely say if you like crime thrillers then Carlito's Way still remains a very solid one and one of the best of its time.

So, I will rate Carlito's Way:

9 out of 10 

Right, that's it for now and I will be back hopefully a bit sooner with another post.

Until then, its bye for now!