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Review: The Specialist (1994)
Now that his box office luster has been resored, to an extent, Sylvester Stallone is back to doing projects that give critics a field day. Stallone once again is a demolition man with a name beginning with “r.” He’s Ray Quick, a veteran military operative (though probably not quite as lethal a weapon as Stallone’s cinematic supersoldier John Rambo), The Specialist. While it probably won’t generate any Oscar buzz it does allow for Miami’s famed Fountainebleu Hilton Resort to be onscreen. One may not know whether the celebrated hotel’s owners will be elated or shudder upon seeing the place listed in the credits. Well maybe some are more interested in seeing Sharon Stone.
Ray is quite proficient in building bombs(some might chortle knowing that Stallone has been in a few) which send many away with a bang. May Munro (Stone) contacts ray to help her avenge the murder of her parents. Like Kevin Costner a couple of years ago in The Bodyguard, Ray finds personal and professional matters intertwine. When the protagonist vows that the business and romance will not now or ever mix, it’s a given what the outcome will be.
The task ray embarks on has him up against Cuban mobsters run by Joe Leone (a tired-looking Rod Steiger who does a good job of overacting in something of a hybrid of Brando’s famed role of Vito Corleone in The Godfather and himself in Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dynamite) and his cocky son (Eric Roberts who is clearly no Al Pacino, James Caan, or John Cazale). Aiding the mob is Ray’s former military comrade Ned (James Woods attempting to turn in a performance as undynamic as Stallone). who also is helping the local police investigate a series of deaths due to some unique bombs.
If not for Stallone, Stone, or Woods, The Specialist would probably be just another direct-to-video title gathering dust on rental store shelves or premiering late night on a cable station. Steiger’s appearance might prompt some to recall him essaying the mobster sought by Charles Bronson in Love and Bullets (1979) or as the senator grilling Stallone in F.I.S.T. (1978). Stone makes for a captivating presence and gets to show off some skin in a shower scene with Stallone that is rather unnecessary
Robert Baum is Currently a Bryn Mawr, PA-based film afficanado and pop culture junkie.
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