The Substitute 2: School's Out (1998)
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A mercenary masquerades as a teacher to infiltrate a tough urban school and seek revenge on his brother's killer.
The story
After his brother Randall is gunned down during a carjacking, Karl Thomasson attends the funeral and attempts to reconcile with his estranged niece. Seeking justice, Karl decides to investigate the death by going undercover as a teacher in a troubled urban school. He must navigate a system he perceives as broken from the inside, dealing with cynical faculty and violent, disruptive students. While attempting to protect his teenage niece, Karl begins his covert operation to identify those responsible for his brother's murder.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Randall Thomasson is gunned down while attempting to stop a carjacking. His brother, Karl, attends his funeral and attempts to make amends with his niece, who is angry that Karl never contacted her or her father. Karl decides to investigate his brother's death, and goes undercover as a teacher, facing cynical and reluctant faculty, violent and disruptive students, and a system that—to Karl's eyes—has become broken from the inside, all while attempting to protect his teenage niece. Recruiting Joey Six and a rather unorthodox janitor, Thomasson turns the school into an after-hours battleground, fighting against well-armed gang members, and—eventually—the school's auto-repair teacher (BD Wong), a former mercenary who is also involved in the gang's chop-shop operation.
- First release year
- 1998
- Runtime (minutes)
- 90
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Steven Pearl
- Writers
- Roy Frumkes · writer; Rocco Simonelli · writer
- Cast and characters
- Treat Williams · Karl Thomasson; BD Wong · Warren Drummond; Angel David · Joey Six; Michael Michele · Kara LaVelle; Lawrence Gilliard Jr. · Dontae; Susan May Pratt · Anya Thomasson; Edoardo Ballerini · Danny Bramson; Daryl Edwards · Jonathan Bartee
- Genres
- action; crime; thriller
- Themes
- revenge; school violence; undercover operations
- Tone and mood
- action; thriller
- Premise and plot tags
- undercover; revenge; school violence; mercenary
- Franchise connections
- The Substitute
- Production trivia
- Shale and Thomasson had served in the Army, as well as worked as mercenaries together.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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