CARLITO'S WAY (1993) ** There are two great aspects to this film: (1) Sean Penn's lawyer who wants to be tough so bad that he destroys himself with cocaine, trying to prove it, and (2) Brian De Palma's disjointed action sequences, which are incredible-particularly the opening sequence, but basically every time the danger level starts rising De Palma's right there with it, an eager eye as fascinated with burial as triumph. Appropriately enough. I don't believe that I've ever seen Al Pacino this..."bad" is definitely the wrong word, but "so much less than great" is closer. He's incredibly effective in the same scenes as De Palma, striding through the battlefields of gangland New York, not like an invincible warrior but something far, far worse. Something more akin to a partially repugnant mutation of Achilles. His main problem is that when he starts talking, no matter how clever the lines (a courtroom monologue worthy of comparison to the one in And Justice For All), he doesn't sound at all like a New York City Puerto Rican. Now, if you wanted to tell me that he's a Cajun from New Iberia or Thibodeaux, you might have something that I'd believe there. He also feels too polished for a character who's risen from the streets, too smooth, too elegant, too Corleone. The main problem of the film isn't Pacino, or even a script that insists on lingering in the most boring places, and languishing attention on them to the point where it almost feels like a short decent action flick interrupted by regular and extended intermissions...no, the film's worst problem is Penelope Ann Miller. Every time she gets involved, things just slow to a halt. Not even screeching or grinding, like a train wreck coming on; no, the air just seeps out of it like you know, after the first time, it's going to. Luis Guzman is one of the best wiseguy character actors ever. I don't even want him to start telling me what he's up to. I don't even want to know where his loyalties lie-isn't it a film about loyalties? About how most of us feel like we're doing better than everyone else because we've calibrated our standard of measure to enforce our desires?
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