The Specialist (1994)

Elevator Pitch: Ray Quick is an ex CIA explosives expert, living off the grid and taking jobs where he can. He has an enemy in Ned Treat with whom he carried out an assassination in South America, accidentally killing a child. Ray is hired by May Munro who wants him to terminate some Mafioso who had killed her parents years ago. Ned is hired by Joe Leon, chief of the gang, to eliminate Ray and May takes up an alias to become the moll of Tomas Leon, Joe’s son so that she can observe the killings taking place. Ray and May are inevitably thrown together but how will it pan out?

Content: There is nudity and implied sex, with Stallone and Stone in what I thought was an excruciatingly misjudged sex scene. Some smoking and I think a bit of drinking. A great many explosions some quite small, but maybe the most impressive that which caused a bit of a Hilton hotel to fall into the sea. Ray spends a lot of time observing May from a distance. May mostly looks pretty vacant, and although we don’t see it, it is implied that she is prepared to have sex with the son of the Mafia boss, just to see the executions take place.

A View: This is Sylvester Stallone scowling a lot and looking as if his muscles are about to burst through his skin. Sharon Stone, still looking pretty slinky, two years after Basic Instinct probably ensured that this terrible film was a box office success. However the critics did not like it much and Stallone and Stone won the Razzie for “Worst Screen Couple”. I really knew what to expect but I stuck with it just so that I could write this review. Unless you are a died in the wool Stallone fan give this a miss.

Additional Info: Sharon Stone was apparently reluctant to do the sex scene until she and Stallone had downed a few shots of expensive vodka.