The Specialist
| The Specialist | |
|---|---|
 Promotional film poster | |
| Directed by | Luis Llosa |
| Written by | Alexandra Seros |
| Produced by | Jerry Weintraub |
| Starring | Sylvester Stallone Sharon Stone James Woods Eric Roberts Rod Steiger |
| Cinematography | Jeffrey L. Kimball |
| Edited by | Jack Hofstra |
| Music by | John Barry Emilio Estefan, Jr. (music supervisor) |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 110 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$45 million |
| Box office | $170,362,582 (international)[1] |
The Specialist is a 1994 American action film directed by Luis Llosa, starring Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, James Woods, Eric Roberts and Rod Steiger.[2]
Plot
In 1984, explosives experts working for the CIA, Captain Ray Quick and Colonel Ned Trent, are on a mission to blow up a car transporting a South American drug dealer. But when the dealer's car appears, a little girl is inside. Ray insists they abort the mission but Ned intends to see it through and allows the explosion to happen. Angered by the girl's wrongful death, Ray beats Ned up savagely and their partnership ends.
Years later, in Miami, Ray is now available for hire as a freelance hit man. Desperate people contact him via the Internet and he only takes the cases that interest him. Ray specializes in "shaping" his explosions, building and planting bombs that blow up only the intended target, leaving innocent bystanders unharmed.
He answers ads placed by May Munro and speaks to her often to decide if he should take the job or not. During the talks he becomes intrigued by her story coupled with the fact that he sees how attractive she is while following her. She is the only child of parents who were killed by Tomas Leon and his men. Against his better judgment and pushed by her insistence that she will infiltrate the gang with or without him, Ray is persuaded to do the job for her. Even though he has agreed, May ingratiates herself into Tomas' world as Adrian Hastings.
Ned now works for Joe Leon, Tomas' father and head of their crime organization. Once the hits on their lower level guys begin, they contact the chief of police to place Ned in their bomb squad. May tolerates Tomas and plays along as his girlfriend so she can watch the hits one by one. It is revealed after the second target is killed that May has actually been forced into a partnership with Ned, whose goal was to coax Ray out of hiding. After the job in South America went wrong, Ned lost his job with the CIA.
When the trap for Tomas is set, May is in the room. When Tomas is killed, it appears that May was killed as well. When Ned goes to Joe to pay his respects, he is left alive only so he can find Ray and bring him to Joe before Tomas is buried. Both Ray and Ned believe that May is dead, yet Ray still responds to the bulletin board messages. Once he responds to one, he finds is the one set up by Ned and the bomb squad. When Ray realizes it, he taunts Ned.
When he goes to the funeral of Adrian Hastings, Ray finds that May is alive. She went to the funeral to see if Ray would attend. They go to the Fontainebleau Hotel where they have intense sex. In the shower, she reveals that she wanted to look at Tomas' face while he died. Meanwhile, Ned has gone to the church and learns that the person in the casket is not May. She runs into Ned in the hotel lobby and makes an excuse as to why she did not tell him that she as alive. A henchman is ordered to take her to the car and on the way she asks to use the restroom. Once there, she uses a cell phone to warn Ray. He rigs the hotel room to explode, and when Ned's henchmen enter the room, it detonates, breaking the entire room off into the ocean.
In a final showdown, Ray and May are cornered in his own booby trapped warehouse. Ned pursues them, but is done in by his own hubris when he steps on a bomb. After the entire warehouse goes up due to the chain of bombs exploding, it appears that all inside have been killed.
The next day Joe reads about the incident at the warehouse. He then opens the mail brought to him and finds a necklace. It contains a picture of May's parents and then explodes. After hearing the blast and knowing all responsible for her parents' death are dead, Ray asks how she feels. To which she responds, "Better."
Cast
- Sylvester Stallone as Ray Quick
- Sharon Stone as May Munro
- James Woods as Ned Trent
- Eric Roberts as Tomas Leon
- Rod Steiger as Joe Leon
- Mario Ernesto Sánchez as Charlie
- Sergio Doré Jr. as Strongarm
- Chase Randolph as Stan Munro
- Jeana Bell as Alice Munro
- Brittany Paige Bouck as Young May
- Emilio Estefan, Jr. as Piano Player
- LaGaylia Frazier as Singer
- Ramón González Cuevas as Priest at Cemetery
- Tony Munafo as Tony
- Cheito Quinonez as Singer at Party
Release
Critical reception
Despite being a box office hit, critical reception was overwhelmingly negative as it has a 4% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[3] Based on 23 reviews, The Specialist gathered a 3/10 on average.
Roger Ebert gave it 2 stars out of 4, stating that "The Specialist is one of those films that forces the characters through torturous mazes of dialogue and action, to explain a plot that is so unlikely it's not worth the effort. You know a movie's in trouble when the people in line at the parking garage afterward are trying to figure out what the heroine's motivations were.[4] Gene Siskel did not care for the movie either, citing Stallone's performance as "So solemn, it's laughable."
James Berardinelli gave it 1½ out of 4, claiming that "The Specialist attempts to be an atmospheric, dramatic thriller. On the other hand, if I wanted to be truthful, I could note that this film has two obvious assets (both of which are used to maximum advantage): Sylvester Stallone's biceps and Sharon Stone's breasts. Everything else, ultimately, is superfluous, as becomes apparent the moment you actually start to think about the story line".
Despite poor reviews, James Woods' performance was praised.
Box office performance
The Specialist opened in the U.S. on October 7, 1994 and was one of Stallone's few box office hits in the 1990s. It opened to $14,317,765 in its opening weekend and ended up making back its budget with $57,362,582 at the box office while making another $113,000,000 overseas, giving it a worldwide gross of $170,362,582. It was Stallone's third highest grossing movie at the box office in the 1990s and the second highest overall gross next to Cliffhanger.[5]
Accolades
At the 15th Golden Raspberry Awards, the film was nominated in five categories and won two of them.
- Worst Picture - Nominated
- Worst Actor (Sylvester Stallone) - Nominated
- Worst Actress (Sharon Stone, also for Intersection) - Winner
- Worst Supporting Actor (Rod Steiger) - Nominated
- Worst Screen Couple (Stallone and Stone) - Winner (tied with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt for Interview with the Vampire)
References
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=specialist.htm
- ^ Clary, Mike (1994-06-18). "Call in the Specialist Series: On the Job. Spotlighting the Workaday World. One in a Series". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-25.
- ^ "Movie Review : Plenty of Explosions, but Few Fireworks in 'The Specialist' : PETER RAINER". The Los Angeles Times. 1994-10-08. Retrieved 2010-12-25.
- ^ "The Specialist". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved 2010-12-25.
- ^ Fox, David J. (1994-10-11). "Weekend Box Office Stallone and Stone Draw In the Fans". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-25.