The Substitute 3: Winner Takes All

I really like Treat Williams and I think he did very well in The Substitute 3. The movie itself was B-grade but that didnt matter it was still a very good film and I would suggest it to anyone, If you havent already seen it then hurry up and rent it on video, its worth it.

8/10

The Substitute trilogy adopts a noble cause. All three films endeavour to teach their audience the great value of violence. The technique is very subtle. The films begin with a school where it seems that humourless criminal thugs have taken control. They bully students and even the teachers, to the point of making their lives a living hell.

Substitute 3 sticks to the formula. That's where Treat Wiliams steps in, fresh from serving as an honourable mercenary on the good side, of course, in some war. (His salary is never mentioned. Perhaps he just does it for the satisfaction of knowing that he is killing bad people. I always feel satisfied when I kill bad people, so it would make sense.)

His problem is not the bad thugs in the school. He can smash them to a pulp with very little effort, and he takes every opportunity to do so. The trouble is that the pretty blond English professor isn't yet convinced that the solution to violence is more brutal violence. It's probably all those arty books she's read. Therefore Treat has to demonstrate by punching, kicking, knifing and shooting as many of the bad guys as possible.

I won't spoil the ending. You'll have to watch the film yourself to find out whether the prof sees how misguided she was.

If you've seen any action film, then you've seen "The Substitute 3: Winner Takes All", the second sequel to the original 1996 film. Treat Williams (The Phantom, Deep Rising) reprises his role from "The Substitute 2" as Carl Thomason, a hired mercenary-turned-teacher. The plot of this movie revolves around Thomason trying to find the people who attacked an old war buddy's daughter. This movie basically goes for mindless action at the expense of logic. All in all, it's a decent movie if your in the mood for some mind-numbing action.

This film was ok, but not quite as good as #2. Still worth a look though. Treat Williams does quite nicely in his role. And Claudia Christian does great as a back-up.

I'm a fan of Substitute and Substitute 2, but this one left me a little lukewarm. I hope they keep the series going, because this installment needs some redeeming. I felt that the ending was too quick and sudden, and there wasn't really enough establishing of all the characters to give us a feeling of if we should care.