Such a frustrating disappointment

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Jonathan Shale (Tom Berenger) is a Vietnam vet and mercenary. His mission to destroy a Cuban drug facility fails and his crew is disavowed. He returns to Miami where his girlfriend Jane Hetzko teaches history in a rough school. She confronts a gang led by student Juan Lacas (Marc Anthony). She's attacked by a big Seminole and rescued by Shale. Shale goes undercover as substitute teacher James Smith. Claude Rolle (Ernie Hudson) is the corrupt principal.This is another one from the genre of white teacher saves gang-ridden school. The difference here is that the teacher is freaking Rambo. The violence is dialed up to body-count territories. It can't be taken seriously. It also can't be completely taken as action fun. Some may see this as camp. I see this as something that struggles in between.

Coming along some five years after the similar themed 'Toy Soldiers', two films about schools under fire from criminals. I guess that's about as far as the similarities go though as this is an undercover mission for some mercs/Nam vets where as the other film was terrorists taking over the school. So a nasty messed up city high school is plagued by drugs, weapons and bad eggs, what is the Principle to do??. Hire a badass killer merc of course, but the thing is he doesn't know the sub is a badass killer merc. So both the yobbish kids and the staff have no clue this guy is an ex-Nam hardass. As things progress for the Berenger the merc he finds out all is not what it seems.A perfect role for the stoic butch looking Berenger who can play military types till the cows come home. Not much is required of him really, beating the kids down, killing drug dealers, being a smartass...all in a days work. His little tight nit group of mercs are a cool bunch, a young Luis Guzman, the insane William Forsythe, military action flick regular Ray Cruz and Richard Brooks. A really good team of character actors that are great fun to watch, its just a shame we don't more of them in action together.Most of the film is a huge stereotypical montage of standard scenarios you can see coming a mile away. Its all very predictable and you know Berenger will never get hurt. Its undeniably fun to watch these sequences where the youths are acting up with their gangland dialect, waving their hands around making gang signs, virtually behaving like cartoon characters whilst being dressed like bums. At the same time all the girls looks greasy, sweaty and thoroughly unwashed haha need I say almost all the youths are black, Latino or Hispanic. Yep this film doesn't beat around the bush with racial attitudes towards suburban inner city schools in the US.So yes you could say its racist and a bad image on certain groups of young people but dare I say could it also be the truth?. That aside its still a rush to see Berenger humiliate the posers and stamp his authority on the class. I must also say Marc Anthony is really well cast as the slimy skinny gangland leader within the class, a simmering undertone ready to pop. You really do dislike this guy as the plot builds, you know Berenger could kick his ass but he still has that ominous presence, plus the fact he's only suppose to be a teen makes him even more annoying when he gets all mouthy. The whole thing is pretty hokey and like I said before it is very predictable. The finale shoot out within the school is cool though no doubt about that, although I would have preferred if the bad guys had brought lots of gang thugs to the battle instead of their special ops guys. That kinda dismisses the fact the good guys are a special ops team, its suppose to be mercs vs drug dealing thugs.Still its very cool to see all of Berenger's mercs kick ass in their own unique way. A final kudos to Ernie Hudson as the shifty principle of the school, his performance isn't much better than his hammy role in 'Congo' but that's why its so good. Definitely a bit of an adrenaline rush at times with this one, I think everyone has had fantasies about kicking the crap out of their old school bullies at some point. This would probably be a step too far but I'm sure being a badass merc teaching out of control youths a lesson would still be right up there.7/10

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..

The Substitute is a rare timeless gems that many people will ignore because the mainstream media wasn't ready to handle the shear scope of this film.Tom Berenger plays a mercenary who solves and avenges his girlfriend's broken knee by infiltrating her school as a substitute teacher. The twist is that because the principal has insinuated police ties, Tom has no choice but to reassemble his team of commandos and go on a killing rampage that would make Rambo blush. Where most people would simply call law enforcement, Berenger would kill them all. There are some pretty major plot holes and the justification for many of the action scenes is laughable but this movie works because it doesn't take itself seriously. There is no reason that this movie can't be enjoyed by everyone and anyone.