Let's be realistic.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The first five minutes of this film give the impression that, unlike many other Sylvester Stallone action movies, it might have a bit more depth and a bit of an interesting plot. Talk about false advertising.For a basic plot summary, "The Specialist" focuses on the theme of revenge. When a woman (Sharon Stone) whose parents were killed by a mob broker (Eric Roberts) wants revenge, she draws out a former CIA bomb squad specialist (Stallone) to do the deed. Trying to disarm the conflict (but also holding a personal agenda) is the head of the local police department (James Woods).To put it bluntly, this is a terrible movie in so many different ways:-The plot never finds an identity, trying to switch from thriller to cop drama to mob flick and never succeeding at any of them.-The acting is absolutely terrible. Stallone's character has no depth, James Woods is, well, James Woods, and Eric Roberts is annoying to the point of just wanting to flick the whole TV set off.-Also, we get it that Sharon Stone is hot. But, does that really need to almost completely dominate the second half of the film?Overall, I was originally intrigued by this movie's concept in the early goings, but by about the 30 minute mark is had completely unraveled and never gets wound up again. If you like this fare, watch Assassins or Tango & Cash instead. Those aren't great movies either, but at least they do some things right, which is more than can be said about "The Specialist".

This passable but alternatively forgettable action flick sees bomb expert (getting tired of this one already) Sylvester Stallone getting caught up with a load of femme fatales, revenge, double and triple crosses and a corrupt official, played by James Woods at his manic best. The main trouble with this film is that it relies on dialogue instead of action for impact - which is a shame, because the action, when it comes, is extremely impressive.One stunt sees a man's car explode - and the man, and his chair, fly up to hit the ceiling before falling back to earth, on fire. This is hands down one of the most show-stopping stunts I've ever seen but sadly there are only a handful in the film. Other bits to watch out for are the explosive finale, where just about everything blows up, and the short scene where Stallone takes on a number of bad guys in a kitchen (one guy gets chucked in the deep-fat fryer, I like it!). Or how about Stallone's incredibly over-the-top reaction to a punk sitting in a taken seat on a bus - he beats him up and chucks him outta the window.Stallone himself gets a chance to flex his muscles (and worryingly vein-lined physique) here but not his acting abilities - in fact, he's extremely wooden. Sharon Stone is quite alluring as the female lead, and predictably gets to shed her clothes in a ludicrously laughable sex scene which sees the naked pair romping around in the shower. However, the star of the show is the memorable James Woods, putting in a great psychotic performance in the tradition of Jack Nicholson and Joe Pesci - it's just a shame his role isn't a more interesting one and rather clichéd.There are remarkable moments here - a bomb causes an entire apartment block to fall into the sea - but half an hour could have been shorn off with little impact. There are far too many characters who come and go - Eric Roberts seems to be one of the major players until his sudden death halfway through - and as I said previously, too much plot and not enough on the action side. Still, basically this is a glossy, colourful and exciting thriller which passes the time and is worth watching for Woods alone - he's great!

A woman entices a bomb expert she's involved with into destroying the mafia that killed her family. The Specialist is probably one of Stallone's smartest films because i love how he could make a bomb out of anything and the way he killed some of his targets was pretty cool to say the least and as far as performances go both Stallone and James Woods were really good the same goes for Sharon Stone as well and the rest of the cast does a nice job with the material that was given to them. Although if you expect the typical punches and gun fights from previous Stallone movies you will be disappointed i mean they are there but not as much as maybe you would hope. Another problem i found was the lack of a great villain because if you see previous Stallone films such as Demolition Man or even Rocky IV you will see that the villains were very dangerous and ruthless in here both James Woods and Eric Roberts are just there to throw threats that's all and some of the dialogue was pretty meh at times like that moment when Roberts came face to face with Stallone and threat him or even when Woods treated like garbage to pretty much everyone he came across to, also there's a scene where the green screen is pretty easy to spot and it kinda ruins the scene and at times the whole thing with the explosions gets a bit over the top but if you sit back and watch this and be open minded you will definitely enjoy it it's a really cool and sexy action thriller with some pretty clever directed action sequences and even funny at times and in my opinion the Rotten Tomatoes score about 'The Specialist' is simply a joke i mean common a 4% and Batman & Robin has a 11% or Fan4stic with a 9% are you seriously telling me that this movie is worse than those 2 films that i just told you about? No absolutely no if you watch the audience reviews you will see a far better response, never trust the critics always trust your opinion and if you hated it that's alright besides Stallone made far better films after this one such as Cop Land and Assassins. Anyways to wrap this up if you can pass on the problems that the film has you will not be disappointed it's smart, it's funny and it has some pretty good action here and there my final rating is an 8/10.

With a few tweaks, THE SPECIALIST could've been a jewel in the "so bad it's good" category. But in this sullen and sweaty snoozefest, it's James Woods who walks off with the whole thing. He seemed to know what kind of trainwreck he signed up for because it's a shamelessly unhinged performance. He's letting it all hang out, gnashing up the scenery. It's really out of place in (I'm guessing what was supposed to be) a sultry noir flick, but he makes the whole morose thing (almost) watchable. What's hard to fathom is how they set a movie in Miami, feature a toned and nude Stallone and Stone, and came up with a spectacularly unsexy affair.It's not offensively bad, just kind of a waste.4/10