The Specialist (1994)
Director: Louis Llosa
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, James Woods, Eric Roberts
Primary genre: Action
Secondary genre: Thriller
In the mid-90s a wave of bomb-related flicks … exploded on the big screen. Live Wire (1992), Blown Away (1994), Speed (1994), Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995) and Louis Llosa’s The Specialist (1994). Although all of them took their material (way too) seriously, only The Specialist adopted a cheesy, OTT tone that does not fit well with the film’s serious setting.
“You know, the next time you order a hit you might want to consider taking out your decorator.”
Llosa is capable of capturing a lively Miami - a far more compelling cinematic attraction than L.A. or New York, due to its vibrant nightlife and Latin American vibes, but the script is a mess. Stitching together scenes that are accompanied by voice-over messages between Stallone’s explosives expert and Stone’s enigmatic Hastings, the plot is not compelling enough to keep you invested. Hastings desires revenge, but Stone does not seem certain in her portrayal. In one shot she is femme fatale, in another a quivering mess. Although superficially tough yet vulnerable characters are not - see for example the depth and acting range that Eva Green brought to Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale (2006), Stone lacks the necessary chops to pull it off. It makes you wonder why Roberts’s villain falls for her.
The movie fares even worse because it is her character that acts as the catalyst for all the explosive action. Despite Llosa’s admirable attempts to frame her gorgeous physique in several shots, it all feels forced culminating in a hilarious, OTT shower/sex scene with co-star Stallone, perhaps the most memorable thing in the movie by a mile. Sly is Sly, offering nothing you have not seen in his filmography (First Blood (1982), Cliffhanger (1993)). So it falls to the antagonists to liven up the proceedings; Rod Steiger hams it up with his fake Cuban accent and Eric Roberts is somewhat menacing as the ultimate rich sleazoid trying to woo Stone’s Hastings. Yet, it is an energetic James Woods who emerges victorious in this snooze fest; his quick-witted, ex-CIA assassin does not take shit from anyone devouring the scenery so much that Sly reportedly worried he would be overshadowed by him and had Woods’s screentime reduced.
For all its dazzling pyrotechnics, exotic cinematography and pointless plot turns, no one seems to care about Hasting’s plan or Stallone’s redemption arc. The characters remain human enigmas to an audience that is being hammered with information they already know, leaving out moments and key interactions which could have shown growth. For example, what does Hastings do for a living? How did she know Stallone’s specialist? It is all too vague, making the film way longer than it has any right to be, and amidst the explosive sequences, there is not much to root for.
Even John Barry’s score is ill-fitted for The Specialist, its underlying string orchestration hinting at a much better movie than the one we got. Besides Sly’s physical charisma and Woods’s entertaining delivery, The Specialist is a forgettable actioner.
Sluggish 90s actioner
+Stallone’s cinematic presence
+Vibrant direction
+Woods steals the show
+Some good pyrotechnics
-Boring
-Sly/Stone have zero chemistry
-One dimensional characters with no clear arcs