L'expert

Although I'm not really a Sly-fan I found this movie highly entertaining and it made me laugh quite a lot. I totally agree with the comment of bensonl who, in my opinion understands the value of entertainment. Right you are, mate! I think it's silly to look for a good plot (is there one?) in an action flick like this. Anyway, who cares? If you're in for a plot go see 'Usual Suspects', I'd say.

By the way, if you're being led by all the negative comments, you'll miss the chance of (yet again) seeing Sharon without clothes.....mmmm! 8 out of 10 to push up the score.

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.

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.

People have been saying this is a terrible movie and it does have a few flaws in it, but its a fun, exciting action film with plenty of action for fans and good performances from the cast, especially James Woods, who is a terrific villain. I think it's worth a look and is Sly's best movie in a long time.

Let's face it, Sly Stallone can never be a romantic actor, no matter how hard the poor guy tries. He attempted to be suave and sophisticated in this movie, THE SPECIALIST, but alas, thanks to his rough and

tumble, RAMBO image, Sly fails. Maybe it's just his performance here, or perhaps by the others, especially Sharon Stone, Eric Roberts, and Rod Steiger (Oh God, he was a riot in this movie!). The actors mentioned probably gave their murkiest, most career-ruining roles of their lives, and for what?? The only reason why I found this movie interesting are the action sequences, and my favorite actor of all time, James Woods. Why he decided to be in a cheap flick like THE SPECIALIST is beyond me, but Woods manages to shine as the sleazeball thug who wants Sly's character's head on a platter. Apparently, Woods was the only enthusiastic thespian that walked in this movie's set; about everyone else looked bored. The same goes mostly for the viewer.