Product Description

When a clandestine gang of Neo-Nazi students threatens an elite military school, undercover cop Karl Thomasson (Treat Williams) poses as a teacher and plunges into a deadly cat-and-mouse game of shifting alliances and murderous treachery in a one-man war to prevent an academic apocalypse!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46831 in DVD
• Brand: Lions Gate
• Released on: 2001-10-23
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 91 minutes

Customer Reviews

Sub-4 Will Take Your Breath Away!
Wow. First off, I just want to say that this movie is truly a significant achievement in the history of filmmaking. Treat Williams stars in this thrilling drama, that sends a humble mercenary into the very heart of a Neo-Nazi conspiracy. Set in the late 1990's, our mercenary-hero (armed with high-explosives and a Ph.D. in modern literature) becomes a substitute at a military academy, only to discover it's been overrun by Nazi-thugs and a world-class exterminator. Peppered with megabuck special effects, including a scene in which the intolerant Nazis blow up a minority owned power plant, this movie proves itself to be a treat (no pun intended) for the eyes, as well as the soul. You'll truly feel like you're part of the action as Treat crushes his students with a bulldozer, beats ass in the classroom with chalkboard erasers, and kills the Nazi-principal as he screams in desperation for "racial purity". Put the children to bed for this one! "Substitute 4: Failure Is not an Option" will affect you in ways few films have. Its realistic portrayal of Nazism in our military academies is a silent and chilling reminder of who's really in charge of our children's futures. Your life will never be the same, once you see this film. Its title may seem cryptic, yet its message rings clear. Failure is NOT an Option!

Well, it's no "Substitute 3"
Part four in what is arguably this decade's finest educator-themed action franchise. Treat Williams goes undercover in a Nazi military academy to root out the evil plot that lies within, battling an evil school commandant, brainwashed Nazi students, and a Korean guy whose presence is never adequately explained. You'd think a movie willing to go with a premise that ludicrous would have to be entertaining, but most of it is pretty dull. The movie tends to drag- there's far too many talky scenes about how much the evil white supremacist commandant (palyed by a sort of poor man's John Malkovich) hates atheistic multicultural liberals and not nearly enough action. The ratio of liberal sermonizing to buttkicking is badly miscalculated.
It gets two stars instead of one for a couple of good action sequences (I especially liked the death by bulldozer) and the presence of Treat Williams, who's much too good for this sort of thing. Overall, though, I wouldn't bother unless it's the only thing on cable- there's much more entertaining action fare out there.

Not too bad (as far as sequels go)
As a big fan of The Substitute series (which explains the four stars), I didn't think it was that bad. Treat Williams gives his third performance as Karl Thomasson, and in this film he goes undercover(as usual) in a military academy to infiltrate a Neo-Nazi group. Lots of action, hand-to-hand combat (only to be expected from the Sub), and Angie Everhart provides some pleasing eye candy. If you're not too big on The Sub, this might not be the movie for you. If you are, it ain't that bad.