Arrow 4K Ultra HD Film Review

Carlito’s Way (1993) • Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray [Arrow Video]

A Puerto Rican former convict, just released from prison, pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him…

For Brian De Palma, Carlito’s Way came at a time when the director was moving in a more commercial direction, from Scarface (1983) through to Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), onto this film, and then the unabashedly crowd-pleasing Mission: Impossible (1996). De Palma was always a visual and clever (some would say clever-clever) filmmaker, so these characteristics didn’t disappear, but they were put in the service of bigger and more conventional human stories which didn’t eschew formula, even if it was formula filtered through De Palma’s own stylised vision.

Three of his finest films (Carlito’s Way, Scarface, and 1987’s The Untouchables) come from this period, and though De Palma conceals formula quite effectively, at least moment-to-moment, they all adhere ultimately to an old storyline: the character who has to choose between…