‘The Substitute’ A Gritty Drama Of High-School Combat Zone
Tom Berenger’s scarred and brittle ground-zero soldier of “Platoon” (1986) collides with America’s own combat-zone school situation in “The Substitute.” The new arrival is an oddly substantial exploitation picture that benefits from name-brand casting, a dead-serious screenplay and urgent subject matter, presented for more than shock value.
The film finds director Robert Mandel as well-equipped for desperate action as he was on the thriller “F/X” a decade ago, and clearly tapping his own background as a Manhattan schoolteacher.
It’s not a sequel to “Platoon,” of course, but Berenger trades liberally here on the harsh image he developed in that Oliver Stone film. In “The Substitute,” he plays a gritty mercenary soldier who infiltrates a dangerous school for simple revenge, only to find a pervasive corruption.
A campus in Miami is ruled, quite literally, by a gang of hoodlums, whose leader orders a vicious assault against a schoolteacher (played by Diane Venora). Tough luck for the thugs: Her sweetheart, a temporarily idled soldier of fortune (Berenger), proves more than willing to forge classroom credentials and get close enough to do some damage.
The collaborative screenplay (with horror-movie veterans Alan Ormsby and Roy Frumkes among the contributors) wobbles between sensationalism and Hitchcock-caliber paranoid suspense as Berenger’s campaign to punish the assailants uncovers, bit by bit, a conspiracy that stretches from the gutters to the upper levels of municipal government.
Berenger is grimly convincing as the undercover soldier, a genial sort who tells fascinating war stories if his students pay attention but who won’t hesitate to toss ‘em out a window if they give him any guff. As an authoritarian principal with higher ambitions, Ernie Hudson seems an ideal backup for Berenger - provided they can stay on civil terms. Diane Venora is fine as a dedicated teacher who finds that dedication can get a teacher killed in some schools.
The leader of the juvenile goon squad is played by recording artist Marc Anthony, with rather more intensity than the role requires. His cohorts are played largely by real-world street-gang members, and Anthony’s struggle to make his character seem real is often at odds with the others’ effortless, unaffected portrayals.
Bruce Surtees, a favored cinematographer of Clint Eastwood, captures the oppressive atmosphere that has gripped many of the real world’s halls of learning. For all its many brawls, armed confrontations and pyrotechnic displays, “The Substitute” is at heart an earnest drama with a serious fire-with-fire agenda.
xxxx “The Substitute” Locations: Lincoln Heights, North Division and Coeur d’Alene cinemas Credits: Directed by Robert Mandel; starring Tom Berenger, Ernie Hudson, Diane Venora and Marc Anthony. Running time: 1:54 Rating: R