Product Description

Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 07/22/2003 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: R

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15474 in DVD
• Brand: Lions Gate
• Released on: 2001-10-23
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

Treat Subs For Tom
Treat Williams steps into the role of mercenary-turned-vigilante in Substitiute 2. He plays a guy who's worked with Tom Berenger's character before(or at least has mutual friends). I've always liked Treat Williams. He's one of those actors that's actually very good, yet seems to get thrown into these movies all the time. You'll catch him once in awhile in major motion pictures as a supporting character, but in B flicks he's the star! He seems a little too nice to play the cold hearted mercenary type, but does it well. The plot's similar to the first film in the sense that he goes undercover at a New York high school to find out who killed his brother, get revenge, and take care of his niece. Along the way he brings a fellow merc, teams up with the half crazed Vietnam vet janitor and discovers a chop shop operation going on in the school. Nothing terribly groundbreaking, but it's fun to see Williams slapping up the gang banger students who think he's just some pushover teacher. Good mindless action fun if you like that sort of thing.

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.

this movie rocks!!!
Okay, so the movie has a terrible plot, script, and acting (with the exception of Treat Williams and B.D. Wong0. Despite all that, it is one of the most entertaining movies I've seen in years. The movie is hysterical when viewed from the proper perspective. If you are able to laugh at this movie because it is sooooo bad, you will thoroughly enjoy it.