Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Uriah43 This movie begins in Colombia with two men named "Ray Quick" (Sylvester Stallone) and "Ned Trent" (James Woods) getting ready to blow up a car being driven by a drug lord when Ray spots a child in the backseat and tells Ned to abort the mission. But when his partner refuses--and the bomb subsequently explodes and kills both passengers—a fight ensues which results in extremely bad feelings between them afterward. The scene then shifts to Miami where a beautiful woman named "May Munro" (Sharon Stone) has request that Ray kill three men who murdered her parents when she was a child. The problem is that Ray is an explosives expert and doesn't feel comfortable with the job at hand. But after following May in order to gather more information concerning the task at hand he reluctantly agrees. Yet, even though his assignment is certainly difficult, what he doesn't know is that Ned has formed an uneasy business partnership with these men and he has been forewarned that Ray might be coming after them. Needless to say, Ned would love another opportunity to get back at Ray for what happened earlier. At any rate, having reviewed the basic plot I must admit that, in spite of the solid cast, this film turned out to be more than a little disappointing. For starters, it appeared that neither Sylverster Stallone nor Sharon Stone really cared that much about this film and simply went through the motions. Be that as it may, while those who like pyrotechnics might enjoy this film, I must say that—given the quality cast--I don't think it lived up to its potential and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

Predrag The story of the movie has Stallone stars as Ray Quick, a former CIA bomb expert now retired in Miami after an operation against a South American drug lord went horribly wrong, resulting in the death of a child. Ray is coaxed out of retirement by May Munro,played by Stone, to help her get revenge on the powerful organized crime family -- headed up by Joe Leon and his son Tomas -- that killed her parents years before. In the meantime, Ray's former partner Ned Trent is on the Leon family payroll and is seeking his own kind of revenge on Ray. As Ray executes Leon's soldiers one by one, his attraction to May boils over into a steamy encounter in the shower - which the primary reason why one may view the movie, a prelude to an explosive finale.What keeps the film going is a balance between the incredible explosions (one of which allows a hotel floor to disengage itself from its structural base) and the superb acting of James Woods, who seems to be working as some kind of CIA spook with authority over the local police but is really on the pad of a crime boss, played shrilly by a balding Rod Steiger, who is guilty of badly overacting. Woods does what he can to keep the disparate elements of an off-balanced movie like this one on track. To his credit, he manages to give more than a note of authenticity even to the scenes that defy logic and analysis. The relationship between Woods and Stallone on a reverse-buddy level is far more of note that the hoped for sexual sizzle between Stallone and Stone.Overall rating: 7 out 10.

markok56 Stallone,Stone,Woods,Roberts and Steiger.This movie can't be bad.It was way better than 5.4 rating. Good story, nice characters, OK acting, and nice ending.Guilty pleasure movie.See it,you wan't regret.Stallone is pretty much ultimate badass. Anti hero with some tragic past, Stone is beautiful heroine, Roberts is absolutely creepy ,Steiger as usual. But best performance is easily from Woods.And hell yeah this is movie where Sharon Stone looks best.By far.

The Grand Master I'm surprised that The Specialist was a box office hit, despite all the negative reviews. The Specialist is a movie to forget for all the cast involved, particularly Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, James Woods, and Eric Roberts.Sylvester Stallone is former CIA bomb expert Ray Quick (a laughable name for a character) troubled by a past mission from 1984 which involved the bombing of a South American drug dealer. In the bomb blast a young girl is killed, but his partner Ned Trent (James Woods the only film's saving grace as the villain) is determined to see the mission through. Following a violent confrontation between Ray and Ned, Ray vows to end Ned Trent's career in the CIA. Ray makes good on his promise to have Ned dismissed from the CIA, and Ray later resigns and disappears.Fast forward to Miami 1994, where a mysterious woman named May Munro (Sharon Stone) hires Ray who is now a explosives hit man to kill Tomas Leon (Eric Roberts), his father Joe Leon (Rod Steiger) and other members who murdered her parents years ago. Ray reluctantly agrees but finds himself attracted to May. After Ray kills one member of the Leon family, Ned Trent resurfaces to help Tomas Leon in tracking down his former CIA partner Ray.The Specialist is one of Sylvester Stallone's disappointing movies. He is very wooden in this movie. Sharon Stone seems to be replicating her past roles from Total Recall (1990), Basic Instinct (1992), and Sliver (1993) as the mysterious but sexually charged woman but here she wasn't anything special. James Woods was the movie's only saving grace as the unhinged ex-CIA bomb expert looking to seek revenge on Ray. James Woods' Ned Trent oozes nastiness at every turn, aggressively threatening people at gunpoint and being extremely rude and abrasive. Eric Roberts did a decent job as the creepy mafia thug Tomas Leon.Considering this movie was a box office hit, I ignored the negative reviews and still decided to give The Specialist a go. The reviews were spot on, this movie was a dud. Save for a few good scenes here and there, this movie was nothing special.4/10.