द स्पेशलिस्ट

This seems like a film tailor-made so Sly & Sharon can 'strut their stuff' in the coupling dept. Sharon vamps, Sly warbles thru his lines. Yea, he's got a deep & sexy voice but you can only pick up on what he's saying to her on the phone if you got close-caption on your set! Anyway, they both look VERY fine in this film. James Woods is the pest you'll love to hate being the back-stabber that he is. "Slime" is the only word to use for Eric Roberts role & Rod Steiger's Hispanic accent is fun! See the edited version of this one. It's got a slick color to it that's quite appealing being that it was shot in Miami where everything's bright pink & green.

* 1/2 out of ****

Arguably Sylvester Stallone's last box office hit (unless you count Cop Land), The Specialist is not the typical Stallone testosterone fest. In fact, it remains a fairly atmospheric thriller revolving around obsession and revenge. But it's not as interesting as it may sound, thanks to the generally lackluster script and mostly unlikeable characters.

Stallone plays Ray Quick, an ex-bomb specialist who works for hire. After the movie's requisite prologue, he's in Miami working for May Munro (Sharon Stone), who wants him to kill three mobsters, especially the head mobster's son, Tomas (Eric Roberts), because they murdered her parents when she was a little girl. Quick contacts her only by phone, they are to never meet, but he's admittedly intrigued by her and vice versa. However, she's actually working for Ned Trent (James Woods), Quick's former colleague who's out for revenge.

Action fans expecting bombastic and over-the-top action sequences should steer clear, this movie will be too sluggish for them. The Specialist has no desire to function as a typical Stallone actioner. There are no large-scale gun battles, fisticuffs, or car chases. In fact, I gather Stallone received the role purely on the basis of his box office clout (and perhaps also his ability to brood and act generally depressed fairly well).

So what is The Specialist, then? Is it a thriller? Yeah, sort of, there are a few suspenseful moments, mostly pertaining to Stallone using his bombs to knock off the mobsters. Surprisingly enough, the twist of having the hero kill the bad guys with explosives (Speed and Blown away came out the same year) works well enough, mostly because the villains' impending doom bears a certain inevitability that plays to the movie's advantage.

But there's little else about the movie worth recommending. The story doesn't make much sense; as soon as it's revealed Roberts' murdered Stone's parents when she was a child, I scratched my head in confusion. He couldn't possibly be more than a year or two older than Stone, meaning he committed the murders when he was about, what, ten or eleven? More likely, it appears the filmmakers are trying to pass off Stone as a twenty-year old bombshell. Sure, Stone looks great (and I do mean great) in this film, but she can't even pass for thirty.

The romance is unsurprisingly perfunctory and generic. As soon as the hero and heroine meet, they almost immediately tear their clothes off and go at it. This is neither romantic nor sexy, even with the undeniably hot Sharon Stone as part of this tryst. I've always kind of liked Stallone, subpar an actor as he may be. He's always had a fairly commandable screen presence, though he has yet to translate that to genuine charisma (which is what puts him considerably behind that other big lug, Arnold Scwarzenegger).

Neither suspenseful nor exciting enough to recommend, The Specialist is of little interest to anyone except for Stallone and Stone fans (and maybe James Wood fans, who will either delight or wince at his maniacally over-the-top performance). I'm still waiting for Stallone to revive his career with a big-budget action blockbuster, but I don't see it happening. Hey, I'm one of the few guys out there who actually liked D-Tox, so I wouldn't necessarily say his career has gone down the drain.

Hey, I enjoy a good revenge movie as well as the next guy, even though I know forgiveness is the better way. Revenge films satisfy base urges in all of us. But, holy smokes, this crosses the line a little bit with the glorification of such....at least with the ending (which I won't give away but involves Sharon Stone's character).

Along the way is a fun ride as the revenge-obsessed Stone hires Sylvester Stallon (The Specialist, a term for his bomb-making talents) to kill all the people responsible for her parents' murder years earlier.

The villains are over-the-top, to say the least. One almost has to laugh out loud at one of them: James Woods. Few people in his era (70s and 80s mainly) were better at playing despicable villains than Woods, and in this film he plays that role to the hilt. He also rattles off the best line in the movie when he tells some tourist to "get a new shirt, too."

The other villains are played by Eric Roberts and Rod Steiger. Roberts is nasty and arrogant all the way and Steiger - as he has so often since the 1970s - appears cartoonish in his over-acting.

The film moves quickly which means it's very entertaining and some of the bombing scenes are quite memorable, such as a chunk of a condo building falling into the ocean.

Even though the villains are really nasty, there are no "good guys" here, either. Everyone is seriously flawed, as is the message of the film. I guess this is one of those "guilty pleasure" movies they talk about, because I still enjoy watching it every five or so years.

The Specialist (1994) is the most underrated bashed hated Stallone action thriller flick from it's fans and critics! I grew up with the film and it is still one of my best favorite action Stallone films! People seriously,simply don't understand what the movie is about. It's an action thriller, revenge Flick! The film is misunderstood and it is different Stallone film than in any other action films he played. The Specialist is not a masterpiece, the greatest or the best action film, but it is solid and good. It is an Entertaining action thriller from the beginning to the end.

Stallone plays an trained Ex CIA agent who kills accidentally in Bogota, Colombia a wife and a kid and the bombing goes awry. I loved it how a CIA agent went trough hell, than he leaves the business and becomes a gun for hire. I love the character Ray Quick, I even memorize Stallone's Character! He is a trained henchman an Ex Special Forces The Bomb Specialist expert and Ex CiA Agent turned mercenary for hire, I love that! In this movie Stallone doesn't use a hand gun or any machine guns trough whole film, but he uses his expatriate, high explosives and hand to hand combat to kill a mobster and corrupted cop who was once a promising CIA agent but killed an innocent people and set up Ray!

Stallone's character is well done written, he has a heart. He refused to kill innocent people, women and children, when he set up the bomb in Miami to kill Tomas Leon, inside was May and the bomb explodes, Ray cared and run to stop the bomb but he was too late. Stallone goes to the funeral of the woman identified as May Munro, he mourns and he is filed with quilt with killing an innocent person again. On a bus ride, Ray gets out of his seat and offers it to a pregnant woman. The people haven't see that or noticed, how a good hearted person the character is. He even took a cat under his wing. I love Ray Quick I don't care what anyone says! This movie has always been flawed with it's screenplay, a powerful score, lush cinematography and a solid cast. It has plot holes, but I still love it.

I love the twists, the action sequences, the erotic's sex scenes in the hot tub, this scene really never bothered me. The special effects were great, the bomb explosions. I absolutely love this movie. It is very stylish, sexy and explosive. Stallone and Stone were perfect together. The Miami scenery was awesome. The music score was amazing. And the action was intense. Sylvester Stallone is truly an amazing actor and a truly a great talent. Also James Woods gave a powerful performance as Ned Trent a vengeful a hired assassin and a corrupt cop! Sharon Stone did a wonderful performance as a drop-dead beauty! I love the bus ride scene! Ray Quick gets out of his seat and offers it to a pregnant woman, only to have a young hoodlum take the seat instead. Quick calmly beats the crap out of the hoodlum and all his friends, throwing one of them out a window (not open), and then re-offers the seat to the woman. This scene has no bearing on the plot, but helps us get to know Quick. It is awesome powerful scene!

Why I love this movie? I love it because in this movie Stallone doesn't use gun or machine guns but he uses his expatriate, high explosives and hand to hand combat. The Specialist is the most Underrated Action Thriller. I love Sharon Stone from Basic Instinct to another action thriller The Specialist and I love James Woods playing a villain in this movie. This was the only action movie that Stallone made in 1994 it was success but it turned in to one of very underrated movie and honestly I don't care.

This movie is, apart from the film music, as a whole a must-see for action movie lovers with erotic scenes, built in smoothly. The double role of May makes the movie richer: there IS a plot possible in these kind of movies!. Action abound and well distributed over the time. Eric Roberts and James Woods play their roles at the same high level as Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone. I see originality, in the sense of action: the highly developed explosive devices-do hey really exist? CIA will know.. A flaw ,which I do not understand up to now, is that the getaway boat from M&M seafood seemed to be so readily available. The goofy trick with the telephone in the Fontainebleau Hotel as well, but those are not disturbing details. The movie has a steady pace and ends with the Miami Sound Machine!. Best scene is of course , the intimate scene in the hotel. Superb entertainment!

Two of Hollywood's biggest stars combine fiery action with steamy sensuality in The Specialist. Sharon Stone, a drop-dead beauty with a fatal past. She's sworn death to the mobsters who murdered her parents and she's decided the method of their disposal: blast 'em- one by one- to kingdom come. She also knows the right man for the job: cool-fire ex-CIA explosives expert Ray Quick (Sylvester Stallone). That is your basic plot!

I am giving this film a 8, because what the hell, this film deserves it! I love this film it is my best Stallone fifth favorite film!

The Specialist is a 1994 American action film directed by Luis Llosa, starring Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone and James Woods.

8/10 Grade: B Studio: Warner Bros Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, James Woods, Rod Steiger, Eric Roberts Director: Luis Llosa Producer: Jerry Weintraub Screenplay: Alexandra Seros Based on The Specialist novels by John Shirley Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 50 Mins. Budget: $57.000.000 Box Office: $159,055,768

This movie makes very little sense, with it's brainless script. The revenge plot has been seen a thousand times and then some. The big difference is instead of guns to bring down the bad guys, here we have cartoon like explosions. If it weren't for James Woods, Eric Roberts, and Rod Steiger, "The Specialist" would be complete refuse. Woods especially, carries the film, as the smarmy evil enemy of Stallone. Speaking of Stallone, both he and Sharon Stone have a believability factor deficiency of monumental proportions. In fact the entire movie has a believability factor of less than zero. I've seen cartoons that made me think more than this does. Push button, blow it up, push button, blow it up. That's all there is to this "bomb". - MERK