The Substitute

Maybe, maybe not. But as far as the action flick genre is concerned this might just rank up there as at least one of the best. Sorry FT. Berenger gives the performance of his life here as a mercenary who goes undercover as a teacher at a school run by drug dealing thugs. Additional kudos go to Ernie Hudson who gives a riveting performance as the high school principal on the brink. Even J Lo's present squeeze Marc Anthony gets into the act as the surly gang leading nemisis to Berenger's good guy portrayal. Director Robert Mandel of School Ties fame does a phenomenal job tying up all the loose ends presented throughout Roy Frumkes and Rocco Simonelli's brilliant screenplay and treating the viewer to a climax that is both intensely shocking as well as entertaining. The beach scene where Berenger's girlfriend played by the lovely Diane Verona a perfect example of why this movie is a real standout. Verona is first seen jogging along the beach while the viewer is treated to the soundtrack's Mongo Jerry's "In the Summertime". Then out of the blue, in broad daylight, in front of dozen's of onlookers, a thug runs up and whacks her knee with a lead pipe ala Nancy Kerigan's Olympic ordeal. Tom Berenger then comes (out of the blue) to her aid and carries her off to the hospital. My only complaint was that were not more scenes in the movie like this one.

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 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.

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.

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")