Absolutely Fantastic

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

this movie is bit different than the previous installments.this time Mercenary Carl Thomasson(Treat Williams) poses as a teacher in an elite military school.the reason,a friend Who also happens to be a general at the school,has asked Karl to help him eradicate the white supremacist element which has infiltrated the school.i didn't like this movie as much as i liked the previous 2 in the series.i did however,think it was better than the 1st one.there is lots of action in this 1,just like the last 2,so that can't be the problem.i think there may be 3 reasons why i didn't like this movie.the 1st reason is the setting.although the general plot of the movie differs very little from 2 and 3,i think i just prefer these movie take place in a high school or university setting,not a military academy.i also didn't find the white supremacist angle very interesting.i think the filmmakers tried to add another dimension with that angle,but i think it was a bit too much for this kind of film,a bit too complex an issue.i prefer the simplicity of the 1st 2.the other reason may be the fact that i am getting tired of the series and losing interest.whatever the reasons,this 1 is not quite up to par with the 1st two.i'd have to give "The Substitute 4" 6.5/10

I dont get it. We have a very good movie, with a good sequel, a fair second sequel but Substitute 4: Failure Is Not An Option is just plain stupid. The only thing good in this movie is Treat Williams because he is an awesome actor and knows his role very well. Basically this storyline is just like any other action movie, white suprimicists taking over a military base or whatever and the hero comes in to whipe the whole mess free. Like I said, Treat Williams is the only thing in this movie that actually makes this movie worth watching. Well I guess I give this movie some credit since how the acting isn't so bad... five out of ten stars.

Guess again. "The Substitute IV" is an even more sophomoric knock-off of it's predecessors. While most sequels try to capitalize on whatever the original had going for it, "Sub IV" doesn't seem to care that it ever had anything going for it as it departs from the "Kick-ass High School teacher takes on punks" theme and wanders mindlessly into a military academy breeding white supremacist cadettes. Everything about this film is sub-B junk from the silly plot to the poor acting to the cheesy action scenes. Williams must have really been hungry to have taken on this flop which should kill whatever market the previous sequels managed to scrounge up. This is one for the dumpster.

The Substitute 4 is a decent addition to this series of fims. The action is realistic and story is plausible. My only problem with the movie is that the whole white supremist story line that we have seen in a lot of these films lately is really getting stale. Cant anyone in Hollywood come up with an original idea for these movies?