1/5 Carlito has lost his way
  by Andrew H. Thompson (Bronx, NY)
...It's almost like an extended SNL skit of "Carlito's Way: The Early Years"....horrible script, pacing, atmosphere, acting, and anything else you can think of. Reggie? The acting was as idiotic as the character..The girl's brother? Ditto.....P.Diddy was the best of the 3 and that's saying alot, because he was horrible..Stay away at all costs..

1/5 POOP
  by Sal Magnum (wisconsin nortwoodz)
Yeah it's that good. Seems as though my original review has been lost by the Amazon censors, bless their hearts.

1/5 Doesn't even deserve 1 Star
  by M. Coffey (Houston, TX)
The only resemblance Rise to Power has with the original Carlito's Way film is in name and producer Martin Bregman. The success of the original begs for a vivacious, guns-blazing Carlito Brigante prequel. Unfortunately, Martin Bregman decided to bankroll his son as the director. The result was a train wreck of a movie with horrible casting, acting, writing, directing; you name it, Michael Bregman did it... bad. Topping it all off, the plot fails to lead in to the original movie!

The irony of this Michael Bregman is the similarity between him and a character in the movie - Reggie. Given the chance to inherit his older brother's powerful and profitable position, Reggie, at every turn, makes horrible decisions. At times, these decisions are made, seemingly without any sort of reason. In the same way, Michael Bregman's choices for the film are painfully disgraceful to the original Carlito's Way, and to his father...

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. For the love, stay away...

5/5 Keepin' it Gangsta: '60s style
  by Jonathan Mccorvey
I never got to see the orignal Carlito's way but after seeing rise to power, It's a must that I do. This movie shows how Carlito Brigante rose through the ranks of the mean Harlem streets to become a big-time heroin kingpin. Jay Hernandez did a good job as a young Carlito. He even sounded like how Pacino would have sounded in his younger days.
Even though I don't care for hime to much, P. Diddy did his thing as Hollywood Nicky. Big ups to him on that

1/5 hahaha
  by Josh Turner (austin)
Once again in fantasyland we go with fake "gangstas".P diddo or diddity, pifily poof what ever his name is this week.This movie is not worth the price of the plastic used to make it.the established italian mobsters would not put a black or puerto rican on equel footing.these guys would not share the same area in the joint.ridiculous!!!when it comes to TRUE GANGSTERS there are serious racial/ethnic barriers.That is just the facts.As much as the mass media tries to rewrite history it still doesnt change it.