The Specialist

The early and mid 90’s were just as ripe for action movies as the 80’s were and should never be dismissed.  This was the era that gave us Face/Off and Terminator 2.  There is another genre though that is often overlooked and also seemed to follow the same timeline as action films.  I’m talking about sexy thrillers.  You know, those movies about bored, obnoxious, rich white people that aren't young exactly but not middle aged either that have to have very passionate sex with each other all the time.  The woman in the story is always looking for some action and seduces a guy into having an affair with her only to find out that she’s a total psycho and that his life is in danger.  Yeah, those movies are pretty good.  Chief among the sexy thrillers, in my opinion, is Basic Instinct.  Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas are perfectly cast and equally mysterious.  Others like Eyes Wide Shut felt more like a totally whacked out dream and not like any of it was truly happening (but I do love this movie and is in contention for my favorite Kubrick film).  Fatal Attraction is great but Glenn Close is not very attractive and found myself questioning why Michael Douglas, arguably the king of sexy thrillers, would be drawn to someone with not that much personality or looks.  I dunno.

Anyway, what this is leading to is that even though sexy thrillers can have action in them I don’t know if there were many films that treated these two genres as equals.  Well, The Specialist just happens to be one.  And boy does it deliver on both accounts.  Ok, maybe the action isn’t on the level of On Deadly Ground or even Surviving the Game (two other movies that came out in ‘94) but it more than makes up for it. And there are lots of shots of pretty explosions.  

Stallone stars as Ray Quick, an “explosives specialist”, who quits whatever government agency he was working for and becomes a freelance bomber.  Ok, so you’re watching a Stallone picture.  You know before you’ve even seen the movie that he’s a tough dude that can kick some ass.  Fine.  The movie’s opening scene also establishes that Stallone can fight a bit.  Everything good so far.  But then the movie has an unnecessary but awesome scene a little later that reinforces that Stallone is not someone to mess with by having him kick some scumbag through a bus window.  I guess he can’t stand assholes taking old ladies seats.

Back to the plot, so Sharron Stone hires him to kill a bunch of mafia guys because they killed her parents when she was a little girl.  The main man they are after is Eric Roberts (Runaway Train) who kind of actually plays it down a bit in this movie.  He does a good job acting tough but never really proves it.  For instance there’s a scene where you think Stallone and Roberts are gonna go at it but instead it leads to a pretty strange and amusing exchange of words (mostly by Roberts). 

What's really surprising is that (spoiler) Roberts gets killed less than half way through the movie.  So it kind of makes you wonder what the next sixty-five minutes are about.  Enter James Woods (Videodrome, Vampires).  Holy shit does this guy make the movie.  You see, Stallone and Woods are old partners, acting as the “rigger” and the “trigger” respectively.  All he wants in this movie is to kill Stallone because Stallone didn’t want to carry through with an operation in Colombia back in the 80’s (I guess?).  Actually Woods needs to take him alive because his mafia boss wants to kill him instead.  Casting Woods was genius because he plays the perfect over the top asshole.  And similarly to Stallone the movie already sets up his character as being pretty crazy from the opening scene but they have another scene later just to demonstrate further how much a loose cannon he is by threatening to blow up a whole bomb squad when they give him a little attitude.

So for the rest of the movie it’s Woods vs. Stallone and Stone.  This was a pretty bold move to suddenly shift the story from one revenge plot to another.  But we’re better for it because this is the superior plot.  It’s almost like the Roberts thing was a warm up for what’s to come.

I’m sure as you can imagine Stallone and Stone fall in love and have sex in the biggest shower I’ve ever seen on film or in real life (not counting prison showers or anything like that ‘cause those are pretty big).  They eventually have a showdown with Woods and you’ll have to watch to see who wins and who loses (Woods loses).  To cap it all off and what is perhaps the strangest thing in this movie is that they play “Turn the Beat Around” over the end credits.  It’s a regular action/sexy thriller soundtrack for the whole movie but then bam, “Turn the Beat Around”.

It’s interesting to see Stallone do his usual under-acting, stoic approach next to someone like James Woods who overacts like crazy (but in the best possible way).  Every character in this movie has a I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude so they’re all tough with each other which, again, makes it really enjoyable because no one wants to back down from any conversation.  

The director is Luis Llosa.  The only other movie of his that I’ve seen is Anaconda and that shit was awful.  But Sniper could be something.  It would be premature to call him a one hit wonder but at the same time I’m sure I don’t have anything to worry about.

So yeah, The Specialist is kind of special.  A movie that’s one part sexy thriller, one part action movie and all greatness.  It’s definitely worth your time.  And if you don’t like it then I don’t know what’s wrong with you.