The Substitute (1996)

Starring:

-Tom Berenger as Jonathan Shale/Mr. James Smith
-Ernie Hudson as Principal Claude Rolle
-Diane Venora as Jane Hetzko
-Marc Anthony as Juan Lacas
-Glenn Plummer as Mr. Darrell Sherman
-Cliff De Young as Matt Wolfson
-William Forsythe as Hollan
-Raymond Cruz as Joey Six
-Sharron Corley as Jerome Brown
-Luis Guzmán as Rem
-Richard Brooks as Wellman

The 1990s had a really brief trend of dramas set in urban high schools where the white person came in to try and make sure these poor underprivaleged and dangerous youths got a proper education. Movies like Dangerous Minds honestly always seemed a little racist to me, which made them ripe for parody later on. The Substitute is like those movies, but in the same way, it's not. It takes a story that was already cliched and turns it into a very solid action thriller. It does more than that though, it starts out as a urban drama, then turns into a gang warfare movie then ends with a climax straight out of a war movie. The best part about this is that at no point in the film does it not work.

The film sees Tom Berenger's Jonathan Shale, a mercenary, become a substitute teacher to get to the bottom of a drug ring after his girlfriend, a teacher, is assaulted. This could devolve into a fairly standard action movie, and it does, but it also takes time to build its characters and story with well-developed players on both sides. The reason Berenger works as a lead is because we like him. He not only has ideals, but he has the skills and attitude to follow through. He does more than kill and deliver one-liners, but he makes an emotional connection that puts the audience on his side before the violence starts.

Meanwhile, Ernie Hudson and Marc Anthony play solid villains. Anthony is no more than a stereotypical thug, but when it's revealed that Hudson's character is in on it, you see that a lot of it is just an act because of how out of his league he is. Hudson, meanwhile, plays a character who isn't evil, just inherently greedy and unburdened by morals of any kind. He's a scumbag, but he had a clear motivation and isn't just a standard, "because I'm evil" bad guy.

The action sequences themselves are very well done. There's a good mixture of gun fights and physical violence and it's delivered frequently enough to make you remember that you're still watching a movie about a mercenary taking on a gang. I love the way everything was planned out and just how smart of an action hero Shale is. He doesn't just go in guns blazing, he's older and can't do that. What he does is plan everything he can and take advantage of every opportunity.

Oddly enough, it's the movie's weakest point when the substitute is substituting. The scenes are solidly-acted and paced to run only as long as they need to, but even at this point the "affluent white man teaching urban youths not to be in gangs" concept was getting played out and you could see the points coming bit-by-bit. It was a crutch to keep the teaching aspect going, but it was necessary for the story so it's not that big of a fault.

The Substitute is a very good, underrated action film. You never hear it discussed in the same breath as 90s action films like True Lies, Speed or even The Rock from the same year. In some ways, however, it's actually a little bit better than those movies. It's a well-acted, well-written shoot-em-up that never takes itself too seriously, but doesn't devolve into a run-and-gun farce by the end.

Score: 8.5