The Specialist

Summary

“I believe there’s a vacancy.”’

Warner Bros. has given the 1994 action movie The Specialist a re-release on Blu-ray. I had owned the film on its initial release, but despite being a big fan of some of the actors involved with the picture, I had not seen it until now. The Specialist was a vehicle for Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone after they had come off of the theatrical successes of Demolition Man and Basic Instinct. The hope was that the mixture of their star power would lead to good onscreen chemistry and a satisfying summer blockbuster. The film’s backers must have been pleased, because the picture did $170 million worldwide against a $45 million budget, despite the fact that critics were largely nonplussed by the film. I watched the picture the other night, and I can fully understand why it never reached the classic status of some of Stallone’s other efforts.

Bogota, Colombia – 1984

Ray Quick (Stallone) and Colonel Ned Trent (James Woods) traverse a bridge in their camo gear. They apply explosives to the bridge and they set the timer for less a minute. A druglord is about to traverse the bridge, but there is a child in the car. Ray attempts to save the girl against the wishes of Colonel Trent, but his attempt is a failure. Ray survives the ensuing bomb blast by falling into the dam’s waters below. His partner greets him with a pointed gun. They fight. Ray beats Ned up and leaves the CIA after reporting the actions of his partner.

Miami – Present Day

Ray now works as a hit man. He hops onto his computer and sees a job. From a payphone he calls the contractor. It is a woman. She doesn’t want bullets, she wants blasts. He debates the merits of taking this gig, but ultimately he accepts. He watches from afar as May Munro (Sharon Stone) places flowers on her father’s grave. She was a child when her mother was tortured, and her father was killed for something he had seen. She saw it happen from a closet. She wants revenge. The mobster who performed the killing was Tomas Leon (Eric Roberts.) His father Joe Leon (Rod Steiger) had ordered the murder. The Leon crime family have hired Ned Trent to update their security operations and for protection. May shows up at one of their parties under the alias of Adrian Hastings. She has put some funds in the bank owned by the Leons, and Tomas is drawn to her. They dance. As Tomas continues to approach the woman whose father she killed, Ray watches on. He chooses to help May, but it will be a game of cat and mouse. With explosions.

The Specialist is a film that is a great example of the sum adding up to less than its parts. I mean, there are so many elements of this that I love on their own: Stallone and Stone in their commercial heyday; James Woods, Rod Steiger, and Eric Roberts as the supporting cast; Miami in the Nineties as the setting; A grab bag of neo-noir and thriller elements mashed together. Somehow – it simply does not come together. First off, Stallone and Stone only occasionally appear onscreen together, because he is either phoning her or watching her from afar for large portions of the picture. Their onscreen chemistry is strangely flat. They both are physical specimens, but there is simply no heat here. Secondly, there are some moments of the film that feel strangely out of place – most notably the bus fight. Apparently, some moments were reshoots added by Stallone to try to give the film a little more juice. That scene in particular interrupts some of the neo-noir mood the picture was accomplishing, and does nothing of consequence to improve the picture. If you take that scene out, the film may actually play better! By far, the biggest issue with the film, is that Sharon Stone is meant to be seeking revenge on Eric Roberts and Rod Steiger, but the girl that plays her in the flashbacks is very young. Sharon Stone doesn’t look three days younger than Eric Roberts (He is two years older than her in actuality.) Why didn’t the filmmakers just cast an older girl for the flashback?  I guess teenagers can’t hide in a closet? Only little girls? This one fix would legitimately have gone a long way towards fixing the whole movie. The rest of the movie is somewhat entertaining and interesting, but that scene throws everything else out. On top of that, you have the movie’s obsession with explosions because these people are specialist in that arena. The fact that everyone who needs to be killed should be killed with an explosion rather than a gunshot, just felt sort of silly. As the explosions continue, the film feels like it is unraveling.

In terms of acting, James Woods is so much fun to watch in this movie. He is allowed to truly be a dick in this movie, and he seems to relish that in every moment. As many people have commented, he is one of the most redeeming aspects of the picture. Eric Roberts is also well cast. He may be underutilized in the film, but it isn’t because he doesn’t do a good job. Eric Roberts deserved a bigger career than he had, but at least he has had steady work as a character actor since the early Eighties. If you haven’t seen Runaway Train, you should definitely do that. Rod Steiger is inexplicably terrible in this film. I love Rod Steiger but he is stretched well beyond his best intentions here. He plays his role as a caricature and it should have never been okayed. In terms of gonzo performances, I sort of love it, but it ultimately hurts the picture. Luis Llosa doesn’t prove to be a capable director of actors here, but the cinematography by Jeffrey L. Kimball is above reproach. The music by the legendary John Barry is also well composed.

Overall – this picture is just sort of a mess. Unlike the catchy Gloria Estefan song “Turn the Beat Around” featured in the film (which was a huge hit and dominated the radio that summer,) The Specialist fails to generate any heat.

Video

Presented in 1.78:1 aspect ratio in 1080p with an MPEG-4 AVC encode, The Specialist has a good looking transfer despite its age. It may not scream 4K quality, but I can’t believe that any fan or the picture would be disappointed with how it looks. There is some softness, but that is normal for that era. The picture was shot by Jeffrey L. Kimball.  There are parts of the movie that are very colorful, which makes sense considering that was filmed in Miami. When the movie leans into neon moments, it really shines. Sometimes the film looks a little bit less refined, particularly during some of the action sequences. Regardless, this isn’t a terrible transfer or anything and it’s indicative of what the filmmakers intent was. This is the same transfer and disc as was first released in 2011.

Audio

Like the video transfer, this is a pretty decent DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. John Barry’s score is well orchestrated and above reproach. This track was from the early days of the 5.1 format, so rear activity is limited. Fans should be happy with the track overall.

Supplements:

Theatrical Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4/5

Audio – 4/5

Supplements – .5/5

Overall – 3/5

The Specialist ultimately fails to live up to the sum of its parts. I can’t blame cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball or composer John Barry, but Luis Llosa completely fails to generate chemistry between Stallone and Stone. The plot has its moments, but the film ultimately fails because it has Sharon Stone playing a young woman who saw her parents executed as a young girl by….wait for it… Eric Roberts? Are you freaking kidding me? They could’ve fixed this flashback and cast an older girl and maybe then this film could have been redeemed. I’m not saying that The Specialist would’ve been perfect, but within thirty minutes of starting the film, the audience has totally lost the thread. On top of that, Stallone did some reshoots to try to give the film more entertainment value that may have caused more harm than good. As it stands, The Specialist is not one of Stallone’s best. It’s too bad, because there are elements that I enjoyed (namely James Woods and Eric Roberts’ contributions to the film.) The Warner Blu-ray looks and sounds pretty good overall, even though the transfer and disc is the exact same as it was in 2011. I can’t imagine fans will be disappointed with this release if they failed to pick up the film originally or in the couple multi-packs that featured it. I would strongly advise a rental prior to considering a purchase.

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.