Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, James Woods, Rod Steiger, Eric Roberts Directed By: Luis Llosa Average Rating: Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: VHS Tape Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 1 Release Date: September 26, 1995 Running Time: 110 minutes Theatrical Release Date: October 07, 1994
Amazon.com: Just awful enough to qualify as someone's guilty pleasure, this convoluted thriller was supposed to cash in on the supposedly sexy teaming of Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone (then hot from her ample exposure in Basic Instinct), but their naked groping in a shower provides one of the film's unintentionally funny highlights. Ray Quick (Stallone) is a former CIA bomb expert whose former colleague (James Woods) is now in cahoots with a Miami drug cartel led by kingpin Joe Leon (Rod Steiger), who chews the scenery while his son Tomas (Eric Roberts) proceeds with a greedy hidden agenda. May Munro (Stone) hires Quick to kill off Roberts. The Specialist, featuring lots of explosions and redeemed by a dandy role for James Woods, is best suited for ardent Stallone and Stone fans. --Jeff Shannon
Stallone Can Make Anything Bad This movie should be better than what it is. You have Rod Steiger, Eric Roberts and James Woods. These are three very good actors. You have Sharon Stone looking incredibly hot and at her peak of sexiness. And then you have... STALLONE. This peice of wood is the only person I know that can make a nude sex scene with Sharon Stone boring. He is so gassed up and that his lack of body fat has his face looking like a skeleton. The guy is a horrible actor. He was good in the first Rocky and man... he sucks in everything he is in (and don't tell me about Copland. He was horrible in that too).
Watch Basic Instinct, Star 80, Pope of Greenwhich Village, or Runaway Train, Salvador and The Pawnbroker or Capone. This movie is just really bad. Why? Two words... STA LLONE.
What I wouldnt give to have been Sharon Stone! As a woman, I find it hilarious how often Stallone is panned by fellow men. I have to wonder why?? Personally, I like his style and he's very VERY easy on the eyes as well. I read that Stone had a crush on Stallone and was anxious to work with him. (another beautiful actress, Madeline Stowe, said the same thing about her screen time with him). Perhaps some folks think that by trashing Stallone's acting, they can somehow feel superior? Trust me, it aint working. The man is hawt, the chemistry sizzles, and you get one guess who I fantasize about...the action scenes are good too, but I expect that in a Stallone film.
Unexceptional Thriller The much-anticipated teaming of Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone in 1994's "The Specialist" features a pulpy revenge storyline, plenty of explosions, and the two leads in a steamy shower scene, but never achieves any real momentum.
Stallone is a former special operations type turned contract hitman, who specializes in very small, very precise, and very lethal explosive devices. His current employer is Sharon Stone, out for revenge against the Miami mob family who murdered her father and by turns emotionally raw and duplicitiously smooth. Rod Stieger and Eric Roberts play the Mob family leader and his greedy son.
The movie is stolen by James Woods as Stallone's former special operations boss, now working for the mob on the side. His over-the-top vendetta against Stallone for a career-killing incident in Central America is much more entertaining than Stallone's rather wooden relationship with the Sharon Stone character. The movie features plenty of action sequences, as Stallone races to complete his assignment for his new and very possibly untruthworthy love interest before Woods can track down and kill his former pupil.
This movie is a moderately entertaining action thriller, if light on content and real movie chemistry.
Decent Stallone Action Drama A little less over the top than most of Stalione's films and I prefer the over the top efforts (such as Demolition Man). This one rates 'pretty good' for story, action, pace, characters. It makes an effort to blur the line between good and bad but doesn't come off as serious as it seems to want to be.
A Modern Classic I had never been a Stallone fan, but a Stone one. Based on this, Ray Quick is necesary for the plot though Stallone brings out a flat performance to his character, maybe that's the way its suppoussed to be. Woods and Steiger are the best actors in this film, but what i really liked was Stone's character, full of mystery, hidden agendas, surprises -she's weak and strong- unexpected switches and in basically control of the rest of the personages (plays Trent to catch Quick, but she's playing Trent too, to forfill her revenge- and control and kill Thomas, ultimatelly falls for the "heroe" ) there are parts that were blury (how did she really got out of Leons men to go and meet Ray at church, what was the connection with the old lady at the funeral?) and i believe Sharon Stone as an actress into her character has her moments (the way she looks at Erick Roberts in the bar when he implies they're going to spend the night together, the intriguing church scene, the punch she gives Woods) the dvd version is a clear nice to watch product and its features are good and entertaining, the score is just mesmerazing, hope to get it soon. The film can easly be a classic if it wasn't clashed by critics, though more darkness and suspense could had been added. A very worth item on your "new classic" dvd collection, all and all i think this film deserves more than it's been shot at.
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