Claudio Carvalho
The military officer and former mercenary Karl Thomasson (Treat Williams) is sent in an undercover mission to a military academy by his superior and friend, Gal. Bud Teague, to investigate the performance and methods of the commandant of the base, Col. Brack (Patrick Kilpatrick). Karl is introduced as if he were a history teacher, and sooner he finds that the school has a neo-Nazi group called Werewolves under the direct command of Col. Brack. "The Substitute: Failure Is Not an Option" is a totally absurd story. I have been a great fan of Treat Williams since "Hair", I try to see all his movies, but this one has some of the most unreasonable situations I have ever seen. The ridiculous beginning of the story in South America is completely out of the context. The beauty and the breasts of the always-gorgeous Angie Everhart is the best this movie can offer, but is not enough to support this forgettable flick. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "O Substituto 4" ("The Substitute 4")
dwpollar
1st watched 5/20/2001 - 3 out of 10(Dir-Robert Radler): Ridiculous plot and very mixed-up editing make this movie unable to believe. It is about a special elite group called the "wolverines" within an army training camp that are basically racist biggots and trained to be this way with only one purpose, to blot out anyone who is not like themselves. Treat Williams tries to make the best of his role as an ex-mercenary who becomes a substitute teacher undercover at this boot camp to investigation the reports. Like it or not with this movie he has entered the B-movie scene(hopefully he will get better roles than this in his future). An attempt is made for his character to start a relationship between him and a woman officer, but we find out that she's being everybody's girl(even the evil leader of this so-called training camp). The biggest editing mistake is made after Williams's character is attempted to be killed after an intense battle with members of the "wolverines" and the very next scene he's acting like nothing happened as he tries to get a date with the previous mentioned woman. I could go on, but I won't. I only want to plea to movie-maker's to stop making sequels to make money and instead think up new ideas, ok.
weathjm
In response to the alternate review for this movie on this site i must say that S4:FINAO thoroughly stimulated my thought process and emotinoal structure through it's eloquent portrayal of white supremacist doctrine in the south. Patrick Kilpatrick gave a remarkably frightening portrayal of a "psycho". Though lacking a plot, good storyline, adequate character development, quality dialogue, good editing, better special effects, S4:FINAO was pure enjoyment. I can't wait until it comes out on DVD so I can enjoy myself (I mean the movie) in it's entirety. Congrats to the cast.
zeena30
This movie is one of those movies you try to watch when nothing else is on, and you have absolutely nothing else to do.I tried, and I failed. I tried again, and I failed again.I'm not much of a Treat Williams fan, but he occasionally, if only by accident, turns up in some pretty decent B movies. This isn't one of them.The high point of the movie is a ridiculous scene with a group of cadets in a circle clanging hatchets (yes, you read that right) and yelling "Kill! Burn! Bomb! Wolverine Power!!" or some such nonsense. I actually laughed out loud. Hysterically - I couldn't stop. I ended up with the hiccups.This movie only rates a 99 cents rental. Anything more would be overpriced.
AD
