Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

n_imdb-913-899173 This is like the ultimate "everyday" action movie. It's pulp fiction with a human touch. Tom Berenger is a beautiful warm hearted human actor. He makes roles seem human. I guess the weakness in that, is that since it's so human and less flashy, it may very well be the reason he never became a huge star - just human. He's so underrated. Anyway he is a big part in making this movie your ultimate take it easy and enjoy flick. This movie knows right from wrong and it gives us the satisfaction in a non cheesy way of supporting our belief that good will win in the end. Maybe I should have given it a 10. Cause it's a classic and perfect in it's genre. I guess it's a "B" movie that gets an A big time..

Lunaroseice 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.

Sherazade I saw this film on telly a few nights ago (in March 2006) and ended up devoting 4 and a half hours watching both part one and part two of it because it was so engrossing. Tom Berenger plays the head of a mercenary team who return home from Cuba after a failed mission to find out that his girlfriend, a high school teacher has been injured during a high-school raucous. He (Berenger) decides to investigate by joining the school as a high school substitute teacher when she (the girlfriend) is out sick. What he soon finds out is that the gang-banging rowdy school is corrupt from top to bottom. The school's basement is being used as a drug haven in which the principal of the school (played by perpetual-principal in films Ernie Hudson) is the ring leader. The rest of the film is spent on Berenger's character trying to infiltrate the scheme while many of his beloved come in harms way. J-lo's 3rd husband, Latin music singing sensation Mark Anthony appears in this film as a convincing teenage gang-banging leader. I guess what they say is true after all, it's amazing the sort of things you would find hiding in dark corners! :)

Bjorn (ODDBear) 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.