The Substitute 4K review by Bobby Blakey
It is surprising how many films have spawned franchises good and bad. Some may not even realize that Tom Berenger has been involved with a couple of different ones. In 1996 he starred in the film The Substitute that went on to multiple sequels with the late Treat Williams taking over the franchise. The one that started it all though was the only one to get a theatrical release and co-stars Raymond Cruz, William Forsythe, Luis Guzmán, Richard Brooks, Ana Azcuy, Diane Venora, Glenn Plummer, Sharron Corley, Vincent Laresca, Maurice Compte, Marc Anthony, Ernie Hudson, Beau Weaver, Cliff De Young from School Ties director Robert Mandel. Now the film is getting the 4K treatment, but does it hold up or not worth teaching the class about?
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The Substitute follows a mercenary who faces off against one of his most formidable enemies: a high school gang. Shale is an ex-Vietnam vet reeling from a botched covert operation. Returning home, he reunites with his girlfriend, Jane, a high school teacher who’s hospitalized after a beating by the Kings of Destruction gang. Hunting Jane’s attackers, Shale goes undercover as a substitute teacher and uncovers a cocaine highway running through the school involving gang leader Lacas and the school’s shady principal, Rolle. Summoning his mercenaries, Shale goes to war with the Kings of Destruction – and rival guns for hire – on the unusual battleground of a high school, but for the usual stakes: life…and death.
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There was a period where pitting stories of gang violence or life motivation in urban high schools and I was always there for it. A lot of them pitted the same idea as The Substitute, but this one set itself apart with bringing the actual crimes and issues deeper into the school system and not just the outside gangs. The story also does a decent enough job to set up who Shale, and his team are before bringing
them into the urban jungle fight of high school. While it brings some new elements to the idea it still falls into the cliches of all of these films playing into the strengths that they knew were popular then.
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I remember seeing this film in theaters and was a fan, but I haven’t seen it in years. Revisiting it I still enjoy it, but it is dated for sure. The action is way more toned down than I remember with the fights pretty weak in choreography, but I get they were trying to go for realism. It leans into a lot of cliches and even delivers scenes specifically to prepare for things to come such as the throwing stars sequences. It’s silly but of the time and still entertains me as much as it did back then in its own way.
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This film doesn’t bring anything all that new to the genre and new audiences might enjoy but laugh at some of the execution and direction. I still dig it and was a great time returning to the classroom to see Berenger bring his stoic badassery to the teacher’s desk and kick some ass. The ending clearly set the tone to a sequel and it’s a shame Berenger never returned to the franchise, but there is still time, right?
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Step into the dangerous world of high school when The Substitute comes to 4K for the first time available now from Lionsgate and Vestron.