The Substitute ★★½

THE 1996 American film The Substitute is a ridiculous action thriller that pits ex-marines turned mercenaries against a bunch of drug-runners who are using a Miami high school as cover.

Lead actor Tom Berenger has managed to cling on to an entire career based on one performance  – in Oliver Stone’s Platoon.

Here Berenger plays, for seemingly the umpteenth time, a grizzled war veteran seeking normalcy but forced back into action.

He returns home from a mercenary job in Cuba to his girlfriend in Miami.

She works at a high school where she has a run-in with the Kings of Destruction gang leader and is then injured in an attack.

Berenger’s Jonathan Shale goes undercover as a substitute teacher to find out who was responsible, eventually calling on fellow veterans to help him deal with the bad guys.

The final shoot-out on the school grounds goes completely over-the-top but, along with a minor twist, does actually lift the film to something a little more interesting than other B Grade action efforts.

Three direct-to-DVD sequels were made with Treat Williams, another veteran actor with few highlights, replacing Berenger in the main role.

Watched on Apple.