Review of The Substitute 2: School's Out (1998) by Allan C — 25 Feb 2017

Treat Williams takes over as the titular substitute teacher for Tom Berenger in this enjoyable sequel to the surpassingly good original. The first film is something of a guilty pleasure of mine, with it's odd combination of inner city high school drama (i.

E. "Lean on Me" or "Dangerous Minds") and 80s style action films (i.e. Walter Hill or Michael Mann). This film continues that formula without changing much. The only real change seem to be that Williams adds more charm to the new mercenary (who was friends with the Tom Berenger character from the first film) turned substitute teach to root out bad guys for a friend.

Also, the film here tells the same story on a much smaller budget. The original film's screenwriters return, Roy Frumkes & Rocco Simonelli, so the film is pretty consistent in tone to the first film, though the inclusion of a custodian who's a Vietnam vet tunnel rat who now crawls through the walls of the school to spy on the drug dealing ways of the students and corrupt school staff may have crossed a line in becoming too silly, but I kind of enjoyed it and it seemed to fit with the gonzo genre mashup.

Overall, if you enjoyed the first film, you'll probably enjoy this sequel. BD Wong and Schooly-D also appear in the film.