"The Specialist" proves less than special
Although deliberately paced, movie doesn’t reach fullest
potential
By Michael Horowitz
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Yes, Sharon Stone gets naked and she’s still hot. Yes, Sylvester
Stallone bares his buttocks, has big muscles and he blows up stuff.
And for a die-hard action junkie in search of a fall fix, "The
Specialist" is like getting cheap speed when what you want is some
of Colombia’s finest. Beautifully photographed, deliberately paced
and sometimes entertaining, it’s never the movie the script might
have become.
The question of blame is a complicated one. It might even be the
names of the characters, as Ray Quick (Sly Stallone) and Ned Trent
(James Woods) show up in Bogota circa 1984 to destroy a truck for
the CIA. Quick rigs the explosives, Trent hits the trigger and
melodrama ensues. It’s the first time the film fritters away the
automatic intensity bomb situations create. But it won’t be the
last.
Fast forward to sparkling pink Miami, present-day. The sexy
voice of May Munro (Sharon Stone) over the receiver of a payphone
compels Quick to follow her around the city for days. Munro’s out
for vengeance, in a cheap kind of way. Clumsy flashbacks won’t let
her forget the brutal murder of her parents at the hand of Thomas
Leon (Eric Roberts.) She slinks around the Miami party scene as she
plots her revenge.
Quick is Munro’s weapon. He’s an explosive expert of the highest
caliber and he beats up people in the back of buses. At one point
Munro tells Quick that she can’t shoot Leon. He must be blown sky
high for reasons of accuracy. He declines for the rest of act one
but one can only say no to Sharon Stone for so long. He finally
goes in to kill the bad guys because he is  the
Specialist!
At this point the weakest sections of the film are over because
people stop using the phone for dialogue. Suffice it to say that
Stallone’s acting strengths, stop laughing, are not best employed
standing in a phone booth. Give him bad lines like, "You have no
mercy! And You have no code!" and the scene makes you laugh so hard
you forget what movie you’re watching.
Fortunately, Trent comes back to kill Quick because he has to
because he’s a bad guy. James Woods is a marvelous antidote to
Stallone’s tongue-tied monologues, and if there’s anything he’s got
down pat, it’s being a greaseball villain.
One wonders what Stone was thinking with this career move. In
need of a hit to go with her only other success, "Basic Instinct,"
she succumbed to a weak and exploited role in "The Specialist." At
least she out-acts Stallone.
This is actually a brilliant film selection for Sly. His Quick
gets to brood, wear cool shades and he gets to blow shit up without
consequence. It’s no "Cliffhanger," but they can’t all be directed
by Renny Harlin.
Which brings us to director Luis Llosa, who gets the lion’s
share of the blame. His fondness for slow motion and poor
understanding of dramatic tension reduces Stone and Stallone’s love
scenes to "Color of Night" outtakes: Unintentionally hilarious.
"The Specialist" will do decent business at the box office, but
that’s only a credit to Stallone and Stone’s drawing power.
"Specialist II: The Motivation" can’t be made until Sir LLosa sees
"Basic Direction 101."