The Substitute (1996) User Reviews

Always Satisfying To See Punks Get It

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 16 August 2006]

Even though it was kind of a low-class type of story and movie with mostly bad, profane people tossing the f-word around like it was candy, it still was an enjoyable movie in a lot of parts and certainly had a satisfying ending. Perhaps that's why it was successful enough to spurn a sequel (albeit, a weak one.)

Tom Berenger is good to watch. He's convincing as a tough guy substitute teacher "Jonathan Shale" who won't put up with the punks in the classroom. And, boy, you see the worst group of high school students I've ever seen on film. Tough to imagine kids harder to encounter than these slime-balls but satisfying to see them dealt with accordingly.

You have to love it.

Great fun. Just don't take it seriously!

[TOMASBBloodhound · 7/10 · 1 April 2003]

No matter how many times this movie is shown on cable, I still have to pause for at least a few minutes and watch portions of it. This is one of those action films that will entertain you as long as you don't try to apply logic to it or take it seriously.

The story has a professional mercenary (Berenger) and his army pals looking for work after they are cut loose from active duty following a botched mission in Cuba. Berenger doesn't want the group to get involved in running drugs for anyone, but that seems to be the only work that mercs can get these days in Florida. After Berenger's girlfriend is attacked by a ruthless street gang (led by Latin heart-throb Marc Anthony, no less) he and his pals end up trying to weed them out of the high school where she teaches. Berenger poses as her substitute teacher, and once he gets an inside look at the problems at the school, he realizes there may be more than just a gang of punks causing the trouble. It's up to Berenger and his merc pals to try and rid the school of its criminal element, and make things safer for the kids.

You cannot deny the good intentions of the plot, even if it is a bit preposterous. The acting is a little wooden in places, and the soundtrak (particularly the rap song in during the final credits) is laughable. The script has some questionable dialogue, and sometimes it can be downright amatuerish. There are plenty of shoot-outs and explosions to get the viewer's blood pumping, and it's nice to see someone make a stand in a tough environment like an inner-city high school.

This movie has spawned a few sequels which I won't comment on since I have only seen one of them, and they have no connection to the original.

Overall, this film is definitely worth watching if you are into action and revenge type themes. If you are looking for anything deep and insightful about the problems of the inner-cities, you may want to look elsewhere.

So sayeth the Hound.

Tom Berenger's fine performance in "The Substitute" makes the movie worth watching

[sol1218 · 7/10 · 24 June 2004]

****SPOILERS**** "The Substitute" starts off like a solid inner city drama about violence in a high school in Miami with teacher Jane Hetzko, Diane Venora, after being threatened by one of the schools violent thugs Juan Laucas, Marc Anthony, goes to the schools principal Claude Rolle, Ernie Hudson, for help. Only to be told that there's nothing that he can do, how many times have we heard that before. After having it out again with the same Laucas and his gang as she was going home Jane is later attacked while she was jogging by the beach and was crippled with a smashed kneecap.

Jane's boyfriend Shale, Tom Berenger, who happened to be an unemployed mercenary looking for work got a job at the school, in fact the very same class, that Jane worked at as a substitute teacher after a friend of his working in the Miami record office falsified a background check for Shale as a licensed teacher. Shale, calling himself Mr. James Smith, after breaking a number of fingers and wrists got the disruptive students in line in no time at all.

The movie starts to take a turn when Shale/Mr.Smith notices that something just isn't right about the school with students driving around with $50,000.00 BMW's and wearing as much as $100,000.00 gold watches, including principal Rolle. That it's obvious to Shale/Mr.Smith that there's more going on in the school then just readin' ritin' and rithmetic.

Implausible action drama that does have it's moments as Tom Berenger battles school thugs and drugs pushers. With the high school principal Rolle being the #1 drug dealer getting his drug supply from a brutal Indian drug gang, The Glades mob. With the drugs being distributed by Rolle's personal "Deans List" the gang that runs and terrorizes the school, Columbia High, the "Kings of Destruction" or K.O.D. Tom Berenger is quite good as the Soldier of Fortune, Shale, turned concerned citizen and high school teacher,

Mr. Smith, who with the help of his mercenary friends cleans up the school and smashes the K.O.D gang and Glades drug mob in the process just for good measures. Action-packed movie that looks more like a Steven Seagel or Burce Willis slam-bang action flick then a film about school violence like "Blackboard Jungle".

Unlike in most of these type of action movies with Seagal & Willis, especially Seagal, where the hero completely overpowers his opposition with very little or almost no damage to himself the hero in "the Substitute", Mr.Smith/Shale, takes a lot more then he dishes out from his opponents. Which makes him more human and sympathetic to the movies audience who can easily identify with him.

Shale/Smith is also very sweet with his girlfriend Jane and does show genuine concern for his students as well as his co-workers in the school so that even with the somewhat unbelievable plot Tom Berenger's acting does make you forget just how ridicules the movie really is. Diane Venora is effective as Berenger's girlfriend as well as Marc Anthony as Juan Laucas the K.O.D gang leader. Ernie Hudson as the corrupt school principal and former corrupt cop Rolle played it a little to much and it made you wonder how he's been getting away with his drug dealing operations. Rolle doesn't seem to be too concerned if anyone knows about them to the point where he has over a hundred kilos of coke hidden in the schools boiler room. He also uses the K.O.D to knock off anyone who's a threat to his drug operation in his high school like when he tried to knock off Shale/Mr.Smith, without success, without any fear of the local police. In regards to his drug dealing Rolle doesn't at all seem to care or be afraid of an FBI or federal investigation.

The final shot-out in the school with Shale and his mercenary friends with the Glade mob & K.O.D gang was as good as anything that you would see in this type of movie. With Shale's on and off again mercenary friend and buddy Hollan, William Forsythe, as a stand out as he more then makes up for all the trouble that he caused Shale all throughout the movie.

Not high art, but you gotta enjoy teachers putting it to the punks!

[TxMike · 4 August 2002]

"The Substitute" is not high art. Ebert reviewed it as a serious film and gave it a very negative review. But as a B-movie where the teachers get revenge, the bad guy dope-peddling punks and principal get their due, it is a virtual "The Patriot" for the high school system. You can't help but smile and root and rejoice when punk after punk gets thrown out the upper floor window by Beringer while the principal relaxes in his office, assuming the punks will prevail.

Beringer plays a mercenary who becomes the substitute when the real teacher is injured by the punks. With his background in covert operations, and his support network, the punks are no match for him. I've seen it several times on network TV, its one of those films I just can't stop watching. Roy Frumkes, who wrote each of the "Substitute" movies wasn't trying to create a classic, just fun entertainment. In a personal communication he said, " Not only did that film surprise everyone by doing as well as it did, but when it came time for the three sequels, my contract was worded so that they couldn't get rid of me!" Thus providing his retirement fund. Hey! Some people win the lottery. His was a different kind of lottery.

I like "The Substitute" a lot. I think Roy Frumkes is a classy guy. It is destined to be one of those cult films that lasts much longer than logic says it should.

Edit AUG 2023: Watching it yet again after 21 years it occurs to me it also hits hard on two issues - fighting drug trafficking and encouraging students to pursue a good education instead of becoming a member of a gang.

Brainless but Highly Entertaining

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 17 May 2017]

After a failed mission in Cuba with three casualties, the mercenary Jonathan Shale (Tom Berenger) and his team composed by Joey Six (Raymond Cruz), Rem (Luis Guzmán), Wellman (Richard Brooks) and Hollan (William Forsythe) return to Miami. Meanwhile, the history teacher at the Columbus High School Jane Hetzko (Diane Venora) is threatened by the gangster Juan Lacas (Marc Anthony), who is the leader of the dangerous street gang Kings of Destruction. She reports the menace with her colleague Darrell Sherman (Glenn Plummer) to the Principal Claude Rolle (Ernie Hudson), but he does not take any attitude. When the scared Jane returns home, she meets he boyfriend Shale that was visiting her and they spend the night together. On the next morning, Shale has a meeting with the rogue lawyer Matt Wolfson (Cliff De Young) that offers a job to protect a shipment of drugs but Shale declines the offer. When he returns to Jane's apartment, he learns that she is jogging at the beach. He walks to meet her and save Jane from the attack of the strong punk Bull (Jim Warne) that breaks her kneecap and flees. She asks him to invite a substitute to replace her and Shale adopts the alias James Smith to replace Jane. Soon he learns that Lacas and Rolle are associated to the drug lord Johnny Glades (Rodney A. Grant) and using the school to store and distribute the drug in Miami. Shale summons his crew and decide to clean the school and eliminate the gangsters.

"The Substitute" is one of those action movies in the style of "Rambo" or "Death Wish" franchises that are brainless but in the same time highly attractive. The cast has Tom Berenger still in good shape in the role of the hero and many great villains. The story uses the violence of "Class of 1984", with a gang of delinquents threatening the teachers. For fans of this type of film, "The Substitute" does not disappoint. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Substituto" ("The Substitute")

"I'm the merciless god of anything that stirs in my universe."

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 2 September 2019]

Tom Berenger stars as Shale, a professional mercenary suddenly out of a job. When he returns home to his girlfriend Jane (Diane Venora), a teacher, he's in time to witness her getting her legs broken by a thug who represents a gang. So Shale sets himself up as "Smith", the substitute teacher for Janes' class. He therefore divides his time between trying to pass himself off as a teacher, and combatting the schools' overwhelming drug problem.

As others have said, this movie was never meant to come off as "high art". It's just straightforward action entertainment. And it serves its purpose well, offering plenty of violence - gunshots, explosions, etc. The protagonists are generally worth rooting for, and the villains are all despicable scum who can't die soon enough. Yes, this is very much formula filmmaking, but it works, thanks to efficient direction by Robert Mandel, decent action sequences, and a pretty good cast for this kind of exploitation fodder.

Berenger is engaging in the lead, receiving strong support from the appealing and under-rated Venora, and Ernie Hudson, the latter cast as the principal of the school. Raymond Cruz, Luis Guzman, Richard Brooks, and William Forsythe play the various members of Shales' team of mercs, and singer Marc Anthony and Rodney A. Grant are among the assorted bad guys. Glenn Plummer plays a teacher, Shar-Ron Corley and Maria Celedonio two of the students in Janes' class. Cliff De Young (with whom Mandel previously worked on "Independence Day" (1983) and "F/X") has one of his typically weaselly roles as a lawyer whose farts are a running gag.

All in all, good fun. The writers (Roy Frumkes, Rocco Simonelli, and Alan Ormsby) know that you don't have to reinvent the wheel to show an audience a good time, and "The Substitute" entertains sufficiently even as it runs close to two hours long. It does have a sense of humour, which helps: the scene where Shale throws punk after punk out a second story window is priceless.

Followed by three direct-to-home-video sequels, each starring Treat Williams.

Seven out of 10.

Tremendously satisfying!

[HaemovoreRex · 6/10 · 1 June 2009]

Here's one of those immensely satisfying albeit somewhat unlikely flicks in which the scumbags really get their just deserts. Think Dangerous Minds crossed with Death Wish and you'll have a pretty good gist of things here.

The ever excellent Tom Berenger stars as a tough as nails mercenary who seeks retribution after his teacher girlfriend is viciously assaulted on the orders of a high school gang calling themselves the Kings Of Destruction. And what better way for our hero to get up close and personal with his quarry than to take the now vacant teaching position his girl friend has left at school and to pose as a substitute. In this assumed role our man quickly weeds out the problem students with some no nonsense discipline which will be sure to raise a smile on most viewers faces. Matters turn out to be a bit more complex however when it is revealed that the school principle is not quite such a genial chap as he at first appears.....in fact far from it as he is orchestrating the gang within his school and trafficking drugs via them. Subsequently our hero enlists the aid of his mercenary buddies to lend a hand and all merry hell subsequently breaks out including in one hilarious scene, one of our boys firing off a rocket launcher down a school corridor(!!!!!) Yes, whilst realism this may be woefully lacking, in fun it more than makes up for!

Go on, treat yourself to this wonderful slice of carefree and highly satisfying escapism - you know you want to.

Class movie.

[tenten76 · 7/10 · 26 November 2002]

Although a b-movie, I thoroughly enjoyed this. You know when you're just about to roll over and go to sleep, and a late movie catches your eye.. and 90 minutes later you know you're gonna be tired tomorrow, but that's okay because you got to see a cool movie?

It's a pretty 'A-Team' sort of plot - a MERC becomes a substitute teacher to crack a drug-distribution ring (and there was some sort of personal vendetta too, involving an attack on his teacher girlfriend - but I missed the beginning). You can imagine Patrick Swayze, even Steven Segal in this sort of "quiet, big-hearted, kicker-of-ass" role - but they wouldn't be as good. You can't help but grin in anticipation when he calls in his MERC buddies for help (including a nicely deranged turn from William Forsyth, who is the detective in Deuce Bigalow).

Very enjoyable, with a slightly harder edge than you'd expect from a movie of this type.

Rambo teacher

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 15 May 2016]

Jonathan Shale (Tom Berenger) is a Vietnam vet and mercenary. His mission to destroy a Cuban drug facility fails and his crew is disavowed. He returns to Miami where his girlfriend Jane Hetzko teaches history in a rough school. She confronts a gang led by student Juan Lacas (Marc Anthony). She's attacked by a big Seminole and rescued by Shale. Shale goes undercover as substitute teacher James Smith. Claude Rolle (Ernie Hudson) is the corrupt principal.

This is another one from the genre of white teacher saves gang-ridden school. The difference here is that the teacher is freaking Rambo. The violence is dialed up to body-count territories. It can't be taken seriously. It also can't be completely taken as action fun. Some may see this as camp. I see this as something that struggles in between.

A GOOD URBAN ACTION THRILLER WITH A CLASS CAST

[lukem-52760 · 7/10 · 13 February 2020]

"The Substitute" is a pure 90's Action Thriller with a dangerous urban setting like alot of Thriller films had back in the 90's, as there was abit of a sub-genre about Urban dangers, films like Judgment Night, Falling Down, Dangerous Minds, Trespass, Unlawful Entry, Out For Justice, Marked For Death amongst others, the fear of the street gangs & the thugs & the drug dealers was everywhere during the 90's & fed into the movies!!!

"The Substitute" is about a tough lawless School where gangs rule & teachers are threatened until a new kind of "Substitute" teacher comes to the tough Miami School to sort out the Drugs & the Gangs. Tom Berenger plays tough mercenary Jonathan Shale who comes to the violent inner-city Miami School when his girlfriend & teacher there Jane (Diane Venora) is injured by the local thugs & the corrupted head of the school, played very slimy by Ernie Hudson doesn't seem to want to help.

Now what really surprised me about this little B-movie Gem was the excellent cast & the gritty urban setting, i love these Action Thriller's set in the decaying Urban settings as there's a sense of realism & an atmosphere of fear because it can happen & does. Tom Berenger's Shale is a mercenary with a Cool team of Awesome actors such as the excellent William Forsythe as Hollan, the great Raymond Cruz as Joey Six, the funny Luis Guzman as Rem & the Cool Richard Brooks as Wellman, now this Awesome team come more into the film later on as Shale calls on his old team for help as he uncovers a big Drugs operation within the School & each Cool member of Mercenary team gets to do some great Action with shootouts & fighting & it's Awesome!!! The sequence where the School becomes under siege is just excellent & full of great Action, i was so impressed & i loved the team of mercenaries against the local Drugs gang. "The Principle" may be a typical B-movie action film like many that came out during the 90's but it's Excellent Cast of B-movie faves & gritty exciting action scenes make this a great one from the glory days of straight to video Action films!!! Raymond Cruz & William Forsythe are the best Characters here & i always have loved these guys in movies, both underrated but great.

Gritty but overlong, and not all that exciting to be frank with you

[callanvass · 4/10 · 15 September 2013]

(Plot) A mercenary is reunited with his fiancé after a failed mission in Cuba. The kids have a habit of terrorizing Jane and she ends up succumbing to injury. Tom Berenger is forced to take over her responsibilities and become the substitute teacher. He may have gotten a little more than he bargained for.

Maybe it was Tom Berenger's stone faced performance, maybe it was the dullness that permeated for the whole movie, or maybe it was because I had nobody to root for. The answer? all of the above. It does have some scenes that are quite intense and gritty, but it's not nearly as powerful as it likes to believe. It does have a nice little twist near the end, but that's about it. Tom Berenger is pretty wooden here in my opinion. His stone faced performance got on my nerves. Diane Venora is fitfully sassy as the fiancée. She did well. William Forsythe, Luis Guzman and others add good support

Final Thoughts: I don't remember a whole lot about this movie. It wasn't terrible, just mundane and not very interesting. I'd check out other films if I were you. Followed by three DTV sequels which I have yet to see.

4.3/10

No-nonsense action with a bit of social input

[ODDBear · 8/10 · 26 December 2005]

These no-nonsense action films that try to convey some social statements have a soft spot in my books and therefore I sometimes rate these movies higher than they actually deserve. The Substitute is a late bloomer in this department since it actually received a theatrical release and did fairly well. Nowadays films like these go directly to video or television and the ambition that was invested in these films is today nonexistent.

The terribly underrated Tom Berenger plays a mercenary whose girlfriend is a teacher at a lower class high school. When she's attacked by a thug Berenger creates his own resumé and teacher credentials and assumes her position at the school and becomes the substitute teacher. Once there he discovers the school is run by a corrupt drug dealing principal who's using some students there to help him run his operation. Naturally Berenger, along with some of his mercenary friends, take action and attempt to stop this operation which culminates in a massive shoot out on school grounds.

While this is an action movie at heart, it also tries to relate some well meaning messages about today's youth. The way lower class kids are living, which is dangerously on the edge, their way of thinking and looking at the world around them. In a particularly nice scene, one character doesn't admit to being ashamed of how her life is but when asked if she wanted her child to replicate her life, well, that's another matter indeed. That one scene explains a lot and it's moments like these that actually make The Substitute a little bit more interesting than many other films of similar nature.

But the film doesn't go too far into social matters and quickly gets down and dirty with the action, which is well served and the film never slows down too much. All the cast are willing and able to entertain, some real quality actors here and they all fare well.

The Substitute in many ways represents a dying breed of movie-making and it will probably give movie fanatics a feeling of nostalgia in years to come.

The Substitute

[phubbs · 7/10 · 5 December 2013]

Coming along some five years after the similar themed 'Toy Soldiers', two films about schools under fire from criminals. I guess that's about as far as the similarities go though as this is an undercover mission for some mercs/Nam vets where as the other film was terrorists taking over the school.

So a nasty messed up city high school is plagued by drugs, weapons and bad eggs, what is the Principle to do??. Hire a badass killer merc of course, but the thing is he doesn't know the sub is a badass killer merc. So both the yobbish kids and the staff have no clue this guy is an ex-Nam hardass. As things progress for the Berenger the merc he finds out all is not what it seems.

A perfect role for the stoic butch looking Berenger who can play military types till the cows come home. Not much is required of him really, beating the kids down, killing drug dealers, being a smartass...all in a days work. His little tight nit group of mercs are a cool bunch, a young Luis Guzman, the insane William Forsythe, military action flick regular Ray Cruz and Richard Brooks. A really good team of character actors that are great fun to watch, its just a shame we don't more of them in action together.

Most of the film is a huge stereotypical montage of standard scenarios you can see coming a mile away. Its all very predictable and you know Berenger will never get hurt. Its undeniably fun to watch these sequences where the youths are acting up with their gangland dialect, waving their hands around making gang signs, virtually behaving like cartoon characters whilst being dressed like bums. At the same time all the girls looks greasy, sweaty and thoroughly unwashed haha need I say almost all the youths are black, Latino or Hispanic. Yep this film doesn't beat around the bush with racial attitudes towards suburban inner city schools in the US.

So yes you could say its racist and a bad image on certain groups of young people but dare I say could it also be the truth?. That aside its still a rush to see Berenger humiliate the posers and stamp his authority on the class. I must also say Marc Anthony is really well cast as the slimy skinny gangland leader within the class, a simmering undertone ready to pop. You really do dislike this guy as the plot builds, you know Berenger could kick his ass but he still has that ominous presence, plus the fact he's only suppose to be a teen makes him even more annoying when he gets all mouthy.

The whole thing is pretty hokey and like I said before it is very predictable. The finale shoot out within the school is cool though no doubt about that, although I would have preferred if the bad guys had brought lots of gang thugs to the battle instead of their special ops guys. That kinda dismisses the fact the good guys are a special ops team, its suppose to be mercs vs drug dealing thugs.

Still its very cool to see all of Berenger's mercs kick ass in their own unique way. A final kudos to Ernie Hudson as the shifty principle of the school, his performance isn't much better than his hammy role in 'Congo' but that's why its so good. Definitely a bit of an adrenaline rush at times with this one, I think everyone has had fantasies about kicking the crap out of their old school bullies at some point. This would probably be a step too far but I'm sure being a badass merc teaching out of control youths a lesson would still be right up there.

7/10

Very Silly

[Theo Robertson · 4/10 · 20 September 2003]

Anyone remember Tom Berenger ? He was quite a prolific actor in the late 1980s fresh from his success as the bad guy in PLATOON , and was in my humble opinion one of the more convincing tough actors of that era , but for some inexplicable reason soon find himself starring in more and more low budget , low quality projects . Worse he now finds himself playing supporting roles in low budget , low quality straight to video projects

THE SUBSTITUTE was made when Berenger`s career was in free fall and as you`d expect it`s hardly impressive material . Some of my disappointment might be down to how the story plays out , seeing as it`s about a former merc becoming a teacher in an inner city ghetto school in Miami I was expecting something along the lines of DANGEROUS MINDS , but this movie plays out totally different . In many ways it`s like a revenge thriller produced by Cannon from the 1980s with some absolutely ridiculous plot twists and bizarre scenes which is unforgivable because THE SUBSTITUTE is a good film in parts , namely when Mr Smith talks about his experiences in `Nam . This would have worked far , far better as a drama rather than a thriller

Better than "Dangerous Minds"!

[DJ Inferno · 23 June 2001]

On a Friday, some weeks ago: the so-called television highlight for this evening was the "The Substitute", a film that got nothing but bad reviews by the TV guides. Nevertheless I decided to watch this flick - and after all it was really better than I had expected, because this movie contains enough action and suspense to keep you awake! The story is quite far-fetched but interesting in any case and actors like Tom Berenger, Diane Venora or Ernie Hudson do a solid job. Not as demanding as the brilliant "One Eight Seven" starring Samuel L. Jackson but definitely good entertainment!

6/10

Platoon part 2

[djfrost-46786 · 6/10 · 13 May 2018]

Fun movie. Watched it as a kid. Never even thought bout it being a spin off of Platoon tell I just rewatched it. Not a bad movie very entertaining.

Surprisingly Fun and Enjoyable

[monkeysgalore · 7/10 · 11 April 2020]

A total 90s B action movie, The Substitute coasts on its interesting premise, and manages to be an entertaining action flick overall.

Tom Berenger is ok. He has charisma here, but his fight scenes are just ok. He does carry the movie though. I really liked the guy who played the villain though. Psych fans will recognize him as Gus' dad. He's a caricature and one of the best parts of the movie I think.

The school premise is cool and interesting, and the movie runs with it for the first act and a half or so, before it sort of abandons the originality of the plot for a standard action movie plot involving guns, drugs, and mercenaries.

The action sequences are fun enough. The beach fight, the class fight scene, the library fight, the docks fight, the apartment scene, and the final battle were all good. The final battle is the best part, in which the school becomes a war zone for two mercenary groups who kill the crap out of each other. There's enough violence to satisfy, and Berenger's attempts at martial arts are a high point while being sort of unintentionally funny. There's a part where one of his team members forces him to fight a bad guy at gunpoint without using his kung fu. It's weird.

If you want a fun diversion, and a brainless but weirdly entertaining action movie, you can't do much better than The Substitute. I'm not planning on watching the sequels, though.

One of Berenger's Better Thrillers

[zardoz-13 · 7/10 · 5 July 2010]

"FX" director Robert Mandel's urban crime thriller "The Substitute" fuses elements of "Blackboard Jungle" with "The Equalizer." In "Blackboard Jungle," a teacher (Glenn Ford) tangled with savage, inner-city youth. In the CBS-TV thriller series "The Equalizer," an urban security expert allowed his clients to resume life without fear from assailants.

Tom Berenger stars as a covert operations specialist on holiday who finds himself back into the classroom to rumble with a drug czar and his killers. The action is as fast and as furious as one of the submachine guns fired in this larger-than-life, but exciting exercise in educational reform. Mandel and "Street Trash" scenarist Roy Frumkes, "Substitute 2" scribe Rocco Simonelli, and "Cat People" writer Alan Ormsby have created an entertaining, suspenseful, sometimes amusing, melodrama with a minor surprise or two. "Ghost Busters" star Ernie Hudson registers splendidly as a corrupt high school principal who abuses his authority by allowing sales of narcotics on his premises.

An earnest, forthright teacher Jane Hetzko (Diane Venora of "True Crime") confronts high-ranking gang-banger Juan Lacas (Marc Anthony of "Hackers") during a campus brawl, and he doesn't like the way that she talks to him so he threatens her. Later, as Jane is jogging by herself along the beach, a thuggish Seminole confronts her and cracks one of her knee caps with a bat. Jane's off-again, on-again boyfriend Jonathan Shale (Tom Berenger of the "Sniper" movies)tangles briefly with the brute before the brute escapes. Jane lands in the hospital and Shale takes care of her. Shale calls for Jane's usual substitute, but the man isn't available. Instead, Shale gets one of his mercenary buddies, Rem (Luis Guzmán of "Anger Management"), to put him into the school's computer system as James Smith with three diplomas from prestigious Ivy League universities.

Shale has the time to devote to Jane's problem, because his men and he have completed a mission that attracted too much international attention and he has to cool it for a while. Meantime, he keeps his surviving commandos in line and out of harm's way. A job to guard drug shipments comes up, but once our virtuous hero learns that he would be killing to ensure the safe passage of narcotics, he turns the job down cold and reprimands his comrade, Joey 6 (Raymond Cruz of "The Rock") for setting up the interview.

Instead, Shale masquerades as a substitute school teacher when he cannot get an actual substitute for Jane. He assembles his team and tells them that where drugs are concerned, money can be found in large quantities. This serves as their inducement to mobilize their special skills. Along the way, another caring teacher, Mr. Darrell Sherman (Glenn Plummer of "Saw 2") gets in the way of the villains, particularly Claude Rolle (Ernie Hudson of "Ghost Busters") and pays the ultimate price. The heroes and the villains turn the high school into a battlefield. The villains have stashed a lifetime's worth of cocaine in the school's maintenance garage and Hollan (William Forsythe of "Once Upon A Time in America") rigs it up with explosives so when the bad guys go to retrieve it, they are blown up. Not all of the good guys survive this bullet-riddled shoot'em up. "The Substitute" ranks as an above-average thriller.

A School Reform Movie With Muscle

[view_and_review · 7/10 · 15 September 2020]

In 1995 there was "Dangerous Minds." In April of 1996 there was "To Sir, with Love II." This same but different movie also takes place in a school.

"The Substitute" takes place in Columbus High School in Miami. When teacher, Jane Hetzko (Diane Venora), is knee capped by a drug dealer her boyfriend, Shale (Tom Berenger), decides to take over her class and find out who's the thug that's been harassing her. Shale is just the man for the job too; he's an unemployed mercenary looking for something to do.

His very first day as a substitute is "Dangerous Minds," "To Sir, with Love II," and many others: it's a class full of rowdy unruly Black and Brown teens who are on the track to Nowheresville. It's too cliché. The only difference this time is that the teacher is not there to love them into submission, he will beat them into submission if necessary. For those of you who are fans of tough love, then you'll see it here. I have to say that it was refreshing to see him manhandle the young ruffians who thought they ran things. The other movies with the win-them-over-with-love theme are OK, but I admit that I don't have the patience for such idealism. Sometimes, the quickest way to get a bully to respect you is by fighting back.

So Shale isn't there to mold young minds, he's there to find bad guys, and that he does. This is not a movie about reforming wayward souls, this is about bringing down a criminal enterprise. If some students happen to learn in the meantime, then that's a plus.

Completely Over The Top But Certainly Watchable

[sddavis63 · 5/10 · 13 July 2019]

No one is ever going to mistake this for a great movie. But, then again, it doesn't have to be great, it just has to do what it sets out to do and it does that reasonably well. From the basic plot you expect another of those movies about a gang and drug infested high school being turned around by a no-nonsense newcomer. Admittedly, that would be pretty ho-hum; it's been done a lot. There's some of that in "The Substitute," but there's a lot more than that - which both helps and hurts the movie. Essentially, the guy who sets out to deal with the troublemakers (Shale, played by Tom Berenger) is actually a mercenary soldier who decides to stick it to the gangs after his teacher girlfriend gets hurt by them. So he poses as a teacher and gets into the school (unbeknownst to anyone there) as her substitute, where he starts to take stock of the situation.

On the plus side, that gives a bit of a fresh feel to the story, and Berenger was OK in the role. It starts off a little bit slow but picks up the pace and the final confrontation between Shale and his men and the gang is a pretty good battle. It's quite violent, but there is a lot of action and the story never gets boring. Shale is a hero you can relate to. He's no superman; he definitely has vulnerabilities. On the minus side, the movie really is over the top - especially that last confrontation, coming replete with hand grenades and rocket launchers - and it has a bit of a cheap feel to it.

Overall, it's a time waster - and an effective one. It holds your attention in a mindless sort of way. There's not a single thing about it that's believable, but that's OK. It passes the time. (5/10)

Better than I expected

[Lunaroseice · 7/10 · 24 December 2010]

While this movie isn't the greatest example of it's genre, it is a very fun film.

I started out with fairly low expectations. But the story concept sounded good so I thought I would give it a try. A few actors were too stiff, and one was too much of a ham, the rest of the cast gave fairly to very solid performances.

I know some viewers liked the idea of teachers finally getting back at the bad students. That was only a minor concern to me. What I liked was the military assault specialist that discovers that he has a taste for teaching. I also like the idea that everyone is trying to figure out whom he is working for when he is working for himself. I didn't like the way most of his team dies in the final engagement.

On the whole, it was much better than I was expecting and I would recommend it for people who want an interesting action movie with some funny moments but don't want to have to think much while watching it.

The Substitute has attained "Video Store Classic" status

[tarbosh22000 · 5/10 · 31 January 2018]

Shale (Berenger) is a Vietnam vet and mercenary. He has a team of mercenary buddies that he does missions with - Rem (Guzman), Wellman (Brooks), the reliable Joey (Cruz), and the unhinged Hollan (Forsythe). After having gone through hell and back during numerous wars and dangerous escapades, nothing can prepare them for the most threatening and perilous mission yet - high school!



When Shale's love interest Jane (Venora) is attacked in true Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding fashion, Shale does the only logical thing - he goes undercover as her substitute while she's out convalescing. Unfortunately for Shale, the school is a chaotic jungle of drugs, gangs, bad language and tardiness. Principal Claude Rolle (Hudson) seems to be doing his best, but a gang called the Kings of Destruction rule the school. KOD (not to be confused with "Youth of the Nation" band POD) is led by Juan Lacas (Anthony), so Shale, now teaming up with not just his merc buddies but also some teachers and a few of the better students, try to get to the bottom of all the criminality going on at that particular Miami high school. Will the baddies succeed, or will they graduate from SHALE University? Find out today...

The Substitute is a movie that was a popular enough rental on VHS that it spawned three sequels to date, and in our minds remains tied to the video store era. It almost feels like cheating for us to re-watch it on DVD (never mind Blu-Ray), but it's hard to resist the inexpensive DVD collection that compiles all four Substitute movies for one low price. It has a junkier, grainier look than we remembered from those golden days when we chose it from among the many options at our local video store. It's also significantly longer than we remembered - at almost two hours, it's unnecessarily lengthy. But, then again, it did play in theaters, and "theater movies" always think they have to be longer than they need to be. Needless to say, this would never make it to the theater today.





If you take all the "bad school" movies that have been with us for such a long time - everything from Blackboard Jungle (1955), to The Principal (1987), Class of 1984 (1982), Class of 1999 (1990), Dangerous Minds (1995), Detention (2003), and, of course Class of 1999 II: The Substitute (1994), not forgetting the parody of such films, High School High (1996), and amalgamate them, and add some "Mercenary Humor", you get The Substitute. One thing the aforementioned movies don't have, of course, are Tom Berenger's stunning purple shorts. Or Raymond Cruz's man bun. He was quite ahead of the current man bun trend. We think that's what The Substitute will really be remembered for.

Sure, there's a lot of silly dialogue, a couple of brain-numbing action scenes, and your typical 35-year-old teenagers, and that's all well and good, but sadly there's some bathroom humor, mostly typified by the character of Wolfson (De Young). Just why an overlong movie felt it had the time to include bathroom-humor scenes remains a frustrating question. That aside, the library scene is a winner, even though you have to wait almost an hour to get there. The presence of Marc Anthony as Lacas makes you understand why J. Lo fell so madly in love with him. One thing you have to give The Substitute is that the cast is really strong, with plenty of names/faces we all know and love. Although, not to be mean, Berenger looks a little chunky to be a mercenary in fighting-fit shape. Maybe that's why he didn't return for the sequels and the great Treat Williams took his place. Or perhaps we should say substituted for him. Sorry about that, but I guess we have substitutions on the brain, as this movie teaches us that the practice of substituting solves all of life's problems.



Finally, special mention should go out to one Willis Sparks as the character of John Janus. He was a competing mercenary who even had a truly awesome "mercenary demo reel", which was unquestionably a movie highlight. (It ought to be; Janus informed us that it was created by a guy who normally does "rock videos"). Janus's demo reel should have been this movie. Or it at least should have spun off into a movie of its own. It would have done in the 80's, but by this point we were firmly entrenched in the 90's, so, consequently there was no John Janus spinoff movie. Too bad.

At this point in our nation's history, The Substitute has attained "Video Store Classic" status, so anyone who remembers it from that time will appreciate it still, but to be honest it's not without some significant flaws. In other words, it's no Substitute 3: Winner Takes All (1999), that much we can tell you.

Realistic 90's High School Action without any cheap clichés.

[atlantismedia · 8/10 · 19 May 2005]

This movie, set in South Florida, incorporates history and realistic action to weave an entertaining story of South Florida crime. Tom Berringer is believable as a mercenary who seeks to find out why his girlfriend is attacked by a high school gang by becoming a substitute teacher. The acting, across the board, is excellent. The school principal, Glenn Plummer, provides a believable ringleader of the school gang with a powerful acting role. Mark Anthony is outstanding as his top henchman and provides one of the best acting jobs of any singing entertainer since Mark Walberg. MA is a natural! The action is never static, the fights are believable in comparison to standard Hollywood fare, the locations are real and the overall dialog and cinematography is outstanding. No cheap tricks like unnecessary explosions or animation matting needed to cement this action in reality. I highly recommend this movie (even on standard TV having to wait through the ads is not a problem). It is entertaining, credible and keeps you hooked to see how they wrap it up. If you like gritty, real, down-to-earth action with high school kids who are more than cardboard characters, this is a movie you'll love. If you're from South Florida, it is a major bonus seeing SF locations although jumping from Fort Lauderdale to Miami stretches the reality of living in this area. Rent it, buy it, love it.

Who Needs Cops In Schools When You've Got Tom Berenger?

[boblipton · 6/10 · 13 January 2024]

The assault on a Cuban drug lab have gone very noisy, Tom Berenger and his covert team are retired. There are opportunities in the mercenary gig, and he's offered a job by a drug dealer for 'security', but for Berenger, it's not about the money. Then girlfriend Diane Venora is attacked and kneecapped. So Berenger presents himself as the substitute teacher for her history class.

At first I thought this was going to be something like Dangerous Minds, but even as Berenger gains the trust of soe of his students, it becomes clear that something wrong is going on at the school run by principal Ernie Hudson. The man has too nice a watch.

This extended high school episode of Miami Vice has some of the problems of modern action movies, in which Our Hero gets knocked down and bounces back up after catching his breath. Even so, there are some real moments before the big battle at the urban high school, full of gunfire and explosions which no one seems to notice until it's all over.

About as much fun as a basket of dead bunnies ...........

[merklekranz · 3/10 · 10 November 2013]

Tom Berenger leads a group of mercenaries with questionable motives, on a search and destroy mission. Only problem is that this is not played out in some South American jungle, but in a Miami high school. This movie is about as much fun as a basket of dead bunnies. It is also so ridiculous that I have seen cartoons with more meaning. It's got an anti drug message all mixed up with Beringer's team looting the drug money to ( are you ready for this?) buy the underprivileged high school students electronic equipment and books. This is the point where I should have hit the stop eject button, but no I hung around for the final showdown where the high school is blown to smithereens. This is a movie to avoid, even for Tom Berenger fans. - MERK