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The delicate issue of student discipline becomes dangerously pointed when a vengeance-seeking mercenary (the perennially underrated Treat Williams) sews a couple of tweed patches onto the elbows of his flack jacket and proceeds to add a few chalk outlines to the blackboard jungle. Although the premise of this intermittently entertaining sequel can't match the goofy novelty of the 1996 original, it does sport a couple of effective action scenes (the teacher's demonstration of the yo-yo's history as a lethal weapon is a highlight), and a talented cast (including Broadway star B.D. Wong as a shop teacher who cares a little too much about his tools) that's fully aware of the numerous absurdities depicted herein. An occasionally effective lowbrow action flick that, at the very least, sure beats the heck out of study hall. --Andrew Wright ... Read more

Reviews (18)

A pointless sequel
The original "Substitute" starring Tom Berenger and Ernie Hudson was an over-the-top but admittedly clever take on the "tough teacher/tough class" sub-genre started by "Dangerous Minds". Unfortunately, such movies typically spawn mediocre sequels to capitalize on even moderate interest, which leaves us with "Substitute 2: School's Out", starring Treat Williams instead of Berenger.

To say that this movie is unoriginal is an understatement. It more-or-less puts us into the exact same situation as the first film, only done worse than before. When his brother is murdered by a violent street gang called the Brotherhood in a carjacking, mercenary Karl Thomasson (Williams) decides to take on two roles. The first is to take care of his brother's daughter. The second is to become a subtitute teacher for his brother's Brooklyn high school class, which some of the Brotherhood thugs attend. He suspects that the school's auto shop teacher, Warren Drummond, is involved in a car-stripping operation with the Brotherhood and its violent leader, Lil' B. Naturally, it's up to Thomasson to teach the tough class while working to take down Lil' B and Drummond's operation with his mercenary pal Joey 6 and a janitor named Johnny Bartee.

The most dissapointing aspect of this movie is the acting. Before you say, "It's a B movie, so what do you expect?", consider the cast involved in this film. Treat Williams may be a direct-to-video actor for the most part, but considering his number of Emmy nominations and his achievements in "Everwood", you'd expect a little more from him. He simply comes off as too nice a guy to be a hardened merc. Longtime Broadway actor and recent "Law & Order: SVU" cast member B.D. Wong doesn't fare much better as Drummond; he's either over-the-top or very dull. Michael Michelle ("ER") as teacher and love interest Kara Lavelle and Angel David ("The Crow") as Joey 6 are both OK, but wasted for the most part. Daryl Edwards, who plays Johnny Bartee, ends up becoming very annoying in this film. And while rapper Guru (of Gang Starr fame) is one of the most gifted hip-hop lyricists around, he's no actor, and he really embarrasses himself as Lil' B in this movie.

Aside from the weak acting, the movie doesn't really do much with its characters or plot. The relationship between Thomasson and the gang-bangers in his class (one of the better points of the original film) never works at all, especially his attempt to connect to Mase (Eugene Byrd of "8 Mile" fame). At one point, Thomasson throws Mase's stereo out the window because he's playing rap music really loud in class. Mase gets angry and attacks him with a switchblade, but after Thomasson subdues him and leaves him in charge of the class for a moment, Mase later apologizes for what he did. In the space of one class, Mase changes from "I'm-a cut you up real good" to "yeah, I was wrong". Right.

There are other problems, too, including some ridiculously unrealistic action sequences. How does somebody manage to survive an attack by gang-bangers firing automatic weapons at them from BOTH SIDES of a narrow corridor? Beats me, but Thomasson, Joey 6, and Bartee do somehow. Equally bad is the scene where Drummond kills Lavelle by shooting her at point-blank range and then wipes her blood off his hands on a stuffed teddy bear AT THE SCENE OF THE CRIME. Oh, yeah, and I'm still very puzzled as to how they got that laser trick to work on the Brotherhood when laser sources are very easy to spot at any range. The hoods in Brooklyn may not be Ivy League material, but I really didn't think they all have the intelligence levels of rodents.

In the end, "Substitute 2" never works as well as its predecessor did, or as well as many such movies in general. The poor acting and weak plot make it hard to like. If you want to see a movie in this genre done right, see the first film or "187" with Samuel L. Jackson. You can definitely do better than this film.

Best of the substitute sequels - worth seeing
As a big fan of The Substitute I was surprised that I hadn't seen the three sequels to the movie - so I watched one each day for three days. All three are worthwhile entertainment, much better than most of the "B" movies out there (I rent so many B movies that turn out to be unwatchable). However, this first sequel is the best. Treat Williams is a good replacement for Tom Berenger. He has that almost-too-old-but-still-can-kick-butt feel like Berenger. The reason this movie works better than the other two sequels is that it actually takes place in a high school and kind of mimics the first movie with the gangs, etc.. I love these movies because in every one the Substitute beats up some kid in the classroom to prove a point. There's good action like the first movie, I love it when the Substitute is going to get shot in a drive-by and actually runs to the car, does a flip, and breaks the guy's arm which is sticking out of the window! There are no suprises, as usual there is always a teacher/administrator that is "in" with the thugs who are terrorizing the school and the substitute. And everyone gets their due in the end.

SUBSTITUTE 2 Review!
As is the case in just about every straight-to-video sequel, the original star is out and a newer somewhat lesser known star is in. Treat Williams does the series justice as a mercenary who fills for his slain brother's history class in a mean Brooklyn high school. It wouldn't be a "Substitute" film if he wasn't kicking and punching his students through the halls with the help of a few unlikely faculty members. Good straight-to-video fare with a decent cast featuring B.D. Wong, Michael Michelle, Eugene Byrd, and a few others but Angel David taking over Raymond Cruz's "Joey Six" role is about easy to believe as Tommy Lee Jones filling in for Billy Dee Williams. Oh wait! Anyways, you get what you pay for.

This movie sucked and just kept on sucking.
Treat Williams is an awesome actor he would have played his role superbly had he had a plot to work with. This movie just plain sucked...no doubt about it. Michael Michelle's and B.D. Wong's talents are a waste in this piece of crap. The first "Substitute" was very entertaining, I say that with tongue in cheek. They call this one an action flick? My goodness, the scenes were so far and so few. This was a very cheap movie, poor action sequences and dialogue as well. The yo-yo scene in the classroom was very interesting though. Haven't seen the the next two in the series, and now I don't know as if I want to.

ALMOST AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL
ANOTHER MERCENARY [TREAT WILLIAMS] BECOMES A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER AT A SCHOOL IN WHICH CRIME IS RAMPANT. NOT TOO MUCH DIFFERENT FROM THE ORIGINAL, BUT IT'S ALMOST BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL! TREAT WILLIAMS MIGHT NOT BE AS MEAN AS TOM BERENGER WAS, BUT HE'S STILL A PRETTY INTRIGUING ACTOR FOR THE ROLE THAT TOM BERENGER PLAYED. THIS IS DEFINITELY WORTH WATCHING. THE ACTION SCENES ARE PRETTY CLEVER. EVEN FEATURES AN APPEARANCE FROM GURU, WHICH IS THE MC FOR GANG STARR. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

One of my favorite comedies
I saw this on HBO one day and fell in love with it. I have since bought a copy and watch it once in a while, when I need a laugh. Jonathan Silverman and Dan Cortese (who co-starred together on The Single Guy) play a couple of guys who represent polar opposites among single guys- one is the timid romantic who has trouble getting girls, the other is a womanizing egomaniac who has no trouble whatsoever getting girls. The movie follows them around for a few days as they date, trade one-liners and dating philosophies, play hookey from work, etc. The movie's pretty lightweight as far as plot goes, but it's one of the funniest comedies out there, and Silverman and Cortese have great chemistry as wisecracking buddies. R. Lee Ermey (the drill sargeant from Full Metal Jacket) has a hilarious cameo as a weird guy who tries out his creepiness on Silverman but makes the mistake of catching him on a bad night. This movie is great fun; seek it out.

Beautiful romantic comedy for girls and guys
Great movie. Lenny(Silverman) is the typical nice guy who feels he met the 'right one'. His buddy Joey(Cortese) is your typical womanizer. Throughout their misguided attempts to get Lenny together with his perfect one, they discuss women, relationships and single life. Its a not-so-hip Swingers for the East coast crowd that you and a girl can watch. Despite the fact that it got absolutely no publicity, it is really funny and quite memorable.

Cult Classic
Not too many people have even heeard of this movie, let alone see it. This movie is absolutely hilarous, with the stealing of the women's underwear, to the day Silverman played hookie. I'm not usually into the "romantic-comedy" type movies, but this had a lot more jokes than love, so it got my approval. You won't be dissapointed! ... Read more

Reviews (18)

A pointless sequel
The original "Substitute" starring Tom Berenger and Ernie Hudson was an over-the-top but admittedly clever take on the "tough teacher/tough class" sub-genre started by "Dangerous Minds". Unfortunately, such movies typically spawn mediocre sequels to capitalize on even moderate interest, which leaves us with "Substitute 2: School's Out", starring Treat Williams instead of Berenger.

To say that this movie is unoriginal is an understatement. It more-or-less puts us into the exact same situation as the first film, only done worse than before. When his brother is murdered by a violent street gang called the Brotherhood in a carjacking, mercenary Karl Thomasson (Williams) decides to take on two roles. The first is to take care of his brother's daughter. The second is to become a subtitute teacher for his brother's Brooklyn high school class, which some of the Brotherhood thugs attend. He suspects that the school's auto shop teacher, Warren Drummond, is involved in a car-stripping operation with the Brotherhood and its violent leader, Lil' B. Naturally, it's up to Thomasson to teach the tough class while working to take down Lil' B and Drummond's operation with his mercenary pal Joey 6 and a janitor named Johnny Bartee.

The most dissapointing aspect of this movie is the acting. Before you say, "It's a B movie, so what do you expect?", consider the cast involved in this film. Treat Williams may be a direct-to-video actor for the most part, but considering his number of Emmy nominations and his achievements in "Everwood", you'd expect a little more from him. He simply comes off as too nice a guy to be a hardened merc. Longtime Broadway actor and recent "Law & Order: SVU" cast member B.D. Wong doesn't fare much better as Drummond; he's either over-the-top or very dull. Michael Michelle ("ER") as teacher and love interest Kara Lavelle and Angel David ("The Crow") as Joey 6 are both OK, but wasted for the most part. Daryl Edwards, who plays Johnny Bartee, ends up becoming very annoying in this film. And while rapper Guru (of Gang Starr fame) is one of the most gifted hip-hop lyricists around, he's no actor, and he really embarrasses himself as Lil' B in this movie.

Aside from the weak acting, the movie doesn't really do much with its characters or plot. The relationship between Thomasson and the gang-bangers in his class (one of the better points of the original film) never works at all, especially his attempt to connect to Mase (Eugene Byrd of "8 Mile" fame). At one point, Thomasson throws Mase's stereo out the window because he's playing rap music really loud in class. Mase gets angry and attacks him with a switchblade, but after Thomasson subdues him and leaves him in charge of the class for a moment, Mase later apologizes for what he did. In the space of one class, Mase changes from "I'm-a cut you up real good" to "yeah, I was wrong". Right.

There are other problems, too, including some ridiculously unrealistic action sequences. How does somebody manage to survive an attack by gang-bangers firing automatic weapons at them from BOTH SIDES of a narrow corridor? Beats me, but Thomasson, Joey 6, and Bartee do somehow. Equally bad is the scene where Drummond kills Lavelle by shooting her at point-blank range and then wipes her blood off his hands on a stuffed teddy bear AT THE SCENE OF THE CRIME. Oh, yeah, and I'm still very puzzled as to how they got that laser trick to work on the Brotherhood when laser sources are very easy to spot at any range. The hoods in Brooklyn may not be Ivy League material, but I really didn't think they all have the intelligence levels of rodents.

In the end, "Substitute 2" never works as well as its predecessor did, or as well as many such movies in general. The poor acting and weak plot make it hard to like. If you want to see a movie in this genre done right, see the first film or "187" with Samuel L. Jackson. You can definitely do better than this film.

Best of the substitute sequels - worth seeing
As a big fan of The Substitute I was surprised that I hadn't seen the three sequels to the movie - so I watched one each day for three days. All three are worthwhile entertainment, much better than most of the "B" movies out there (I rent so many B movies that turn out to be unwatchable). However, this first sequel is the best. Treat Williams is a good replacement for Tom Berenger. He has that almost-too-old-but-still-can-kick-butt feel like Berenger. The reason this movie works better than the other two sequels is that it actually takes place in a high school and kind of mimics the first movie with the gangs, etc.. I love these movies because in every one the Substitute beats up some kid in the classroom to prove a point. There's good action like the first movie, I love it when the Substitute is going to get shot in a drive-by and actually runs to the car, does a flip, and breaks the guy's arm which is sticking out of the window! There are no suprises, as usual there is always a teacher/administrator that is "in" with the thugs who are terrorizing the school and the substitute. And everyone gets their due in the end.

SUBSTITUTE 2 Review!
As is the case in just about every straight-to-video sequel, the original star is out and a newer somewhat lesser known star is in. Treat Williams does the series justice as a mercenary who fills for his slain brother's history class in a mean Brooklyn high school. It wouldn't be a "Substitute" film if he wasn't kicking and punching his students through the halls with the help of a few unlikely faculty members. Good straight-to-video fare with a decent cast featuring B.D. Wong, Michael Michelle, Eugene Byrd, and a few others but Angel David taking over Raymond Cruz's "Joey Six" role is about easy to believe as Tommy Lee Jones filling in for Billy Dee Williams. Oh wait! Anyways, you get what you pay for.

This movie sucked and just kept on sucking.
Treat Williams is an awesome actor he would have played his role superbly had he had a plot to work with. This movie just plain sucked...no doubt about it. Michael Michelle's and B.D. Wong's talents are a waste in this piece of crap. The first "Substitute" was very entertaining, I say that with tongue in cheek. They call this one an action flick? My goodness, the scenes were so far and so few. This was a very cheap movie, poor action sequences and dialogue as well. The yo-yo scene in the classroom was very interesting though. Haven't seen the the next two in the series, and now I don't know as if I want to.

ALMOST AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL
ANOTHER MERCENARY [TREAT WILLIAMS] BECOMES A SUBSTITUTE TEACHER AT A SCHOOL IN WHICH CRIME IS RAMPANT. NOT TOO MUCH DIFFERENT FROM THE ORIGINAL, BUT IT'S ALMOST BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL! TREAT WILLIAMS MIGHT NOT BE AS MEAN AS TOM BERENGER WAS, BUT HE'S STILL A PRETTY INTRIGUING ACTOR FOR THE ROLE THAT TOM BERENGER PLAYED. THIS IS DEFINITELY WORTH WATCHING. THE ACTION SCENES ARE PRETTY CLEVER. EVEN FEATURES AN APPEARANCE FROM GURU, WHICH IS THE MC FOR GANG STARR. ... Read more