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Movies like The Substitute

Key Features:
Undercover operation, Mercenary, Gang violence, Conspiracy, Action, Revenge, Urban setting, Combat, Team mission, Violence-high, Criminal underworld, Redemption, Heroic mission
Tone:
gritty, serious, suspense-driven
Target Audience:
Action enthusiasts, Crime thriller fans, Gritty action aficionados, Suspense seekers
Emotional Arc:
Tension → Action

The Substitute

1996-04-19
The Substitute Poster - Find Similar Movies

When an inner-city Miami schoolteacher gets her knee broken after standing up to the school's gang leader, her mercenary combat specialist boyfriend goes undercover as a substitute teacher to take down the punk. Soon he discovers a conspiracy of criminals at work, and must reassemble his team from his last jungle raid to stop them.

Genres
Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Cast
Tom Berenger, Raymond Cruz, Marc Anthony, William Forsythe, Luis Guzmán, Diane Venora, Ernie Hudson, Richard Brooks, Glenn Plummer, Cliff DeYoung
Crew
Robert Mandel, Rocco Simonelli, Alan Ormsby, Roy Frumkes
Rating
6.9(530 votes)
The SubstituteThe Substitute
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The Substitute 2: School's Out

When teacher Randall Thomasson is killed during a carjacking, an unexpected visitor shows up at his funeral - his estranged brother, Karl Thomasson. An ex-Green Beret turned mercenary, Karl signs on as a new substitute teacher in order to investigate Randall's murder.



Lesson Plan
6.025

After a teacher dies, his best friend — a former cop — takes a job at the school where he worked to confront the gang he thinks was responsible.



Class of 1999 II: The Substitute

In the original movie, the cyborg-teachers were all destroyed. Well that's what we thought, but there's one more rogue military robot out there determined to clean up the education system.



The Substitute
5.568

6th Grade gets a new substitute teacher. She wants to train the class for an international competition in Paris. But something isn't right. How is she able read kids' minds? Why is she so mean? And how does she manage to convince everyone's parents she is so great when the whole class knows she is really an alien?



School's Out
6

Pierre Hoffman joins a prestigious school as a substitute teacher and soon notices, among some of his students, an unjustified hostility and a spark of violence in their eyes. Is it because the unspeakable tragedy they have just experienced? Is it because they seem to be extraordinarily gifted children? Is it because they have lost all hope for the future? From curiosity to obsession, Pierre will try to unlock their secret.



The Principal
6.5

Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.



Martial Law
6.1

An undercover cop teams up with a martial-arts expert to stop a gang of drug smugglers and car thieves.



One Eight Seven
6.6

After surviving a stabbing by a student, teacher Trevor Garfield moves from New York to Los Angeles. There, he resumes teaching as a substitute teacher. The education system, where violent bullies control the classrooms and the administration is afraid of lawsuits, slowly drives Garfield mad. He then moves to California to be a sub for a predominantly Native Hispanic/Latin-American high school in Los Angeles. He is tormented by members of a Native Hispanic/Latino-American tag crew named K.O.S. (Kappin’ off Suckaz).



The Replacement Killers

Hired assassin John Lee is asked by Chinatown crime boss Terence Wei to murder the young son of policeman Stan Zedkov. Lee has the boy in his sights, but his conscience gets the better of him, and he spares the child's life. Afraid that Wei will take revenge on his family in China, Lee seeks out expert forger Meg Coburn to obtain the passport he needs to get out of the country, but a band of replacement killers is soon on his trail.



Dolan's Cadillac
5.9

Robinson, a once peaceful, law-abiding school teacher, has turned into an obsessed vengeance machine, intent on killing the man who murdered his wife - ruthless Las Vegas mob boss James Dolan. But to do so, Robinson must infiltrate the dangerous underworld, and devise a diabolical plan that will bury Dolan once and for all.



Freelancers
5.055

The son of a slain NYPD officer joins the force, where he falls in with his father's former partner and a team of rogue cops. His new boss, Sarcone, will see if he has what it takes to be rogue through many trials and tribulations of loyalty, trust and respect. When the truth about his father's death is revealed revenge takes him over and he won't stop until justice has been truly served.



Detachment
7.617

A chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of substitute teacher, Henry Barthes. Henry roams from school to school, imparting modes of knowledge, but never staying long enough to form any semblance of sentient attachment.



Deep Cover
6.8

Black police officer Russell Stevens applies for a special anti-drug squad which targets the highest boss of cocaine delivery to LA—the Colombian foreign minister's nephew. Russell works his way up from the bottom undercover, until he reaches the boss.



Dirty Teacher
5.809

When a high school senior discovers her teacher is seducing her boyfriend, events turn deadly after the teacher tries to cover it up.



Sharky's Machine
6.1

Police officer Tom Sharky gets busted back to working vice, where he happens upon a scandalous conspiracy involving a local politician. Sharky's new 'machine' gathers evidence while Sharky falls in love with a woman he has never met.



Miami Vice
6

A case involving drug lords and murder in South Florida takes a personal turn for undercover detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs. Unorthodox Crockett gets involved romantically with the Chinese-Cuban wife of a trafficker of arms and drugs, while Tubbs deals with an assault on those he loves.



Foxy Brown
6.232

A voluptuous black woman takes a job as a high-class prostitute in order to get revenge on the mobsters who murdered her boyfriend.



Deep Cover
6.708

Kat is an improv comedy teacher beginning to question if she’s missed her shot at success. When an undercover cop offers her the role of a lifetime, she recruits two of her students to infiltrate London’s gangland by impersonating dangerous criminals.



The Assignment
5.517

Ace assassin Frank Kitchen is double crossed by gangsters and falls into the hands of rogue surgeon known as The Doctor who turns him into a woman. The hitman, now a hitwoman, sets out for revenge, aided by a nurse named Johnnie who also has secrets.



Dark Angel
5.9

Jack Caine is a Houston vice cop who's forgotten the rule book. His self-appointed mission is to stop the drugs trade and the number one supplier Victor Manning. Whilst involved in an undercover operation to entrap Victor Manning, his partner gets killed, and a sinister newcomer enters the scene...



Half Past Dead
5.1

A man goes undercover in a hi-tech prison to find out information to help prosecute those who killed his wife. While there, he stumbles onto a plot involving a death-row inmate and his $200 million stash of gold.



Detention
Detention(2003)
4.419

A heroic high school teacher leads a band of students trapped in school by violent drug-runners.



The Mod Squad
4.327

Three youthful delinquents escape conviction for their crimes by teaming with the LAPD.



The Losers
6.3

On a mission deep in the Bolivian jungle, a team of elite commandos finds itself on the receiving end of a lethal betrayal. Now presumed dead, the men join forces with a mysterious operative named Aisha to hunt down their enemy and even the score.



A Real Job
6.317

Benjamin is a PhD student without scholarship support. Under the pressure of his parents, and in need of money, he becomes a substitute teacher in a middle school. Without training nor experience, and facing a declining public educational system, he discovers how tough this job can be. Hopefully, his supportive and committed colleagues will lead him to take a fresh look at the profession.



Sabotage
Sabotage(2014)
5.6

John 'Breacher' Wharton leads an elite DEA task force that takes on the world's deadliest drug cartels. When the team successfully executes a high-stakes raid on a cartel safe house, they think their work is done – until, one-by-one, the team members mysteriously start to be eliminated. As the body count rises, everyone is a suspect.



F/X
F/X(1986)
6.6

A movies special effects man is hired by a government agency to help stage the assassination of a well known gangster. When the agency double cross him, he uses his special effects to trap the gangster and the corrupt agents.



No Mercy
No Mercy(1986)
5.845

An unconventional undercover Chicago cop and his partner are recruited to commit the murder of a New Orleans criminal kingpin.



The Enforcer
6.693

An undercover cop struggling to provide for his son and ailing wife, must infiltrate a ruthless gang. But things turn sour when another cop blows his cover and he quickly finds himself battling for his life and the lives of his family.



Sacrifice
Sacrifice(2011)
4.445

A tough undercover cop inadvertently gets involved in a dangerous heroin ring when a young defector of the drug trade leaves his five year-old sister in his care.



Skin Trade
6.037

After his family is killed by a Serbian gangster with international interests. NYC detective Nick goes to S.E. Asia and teams up with a Thai detective to get revenge and destroy the syndicates human trafficking network.



Shadow Master
6.668

After being slain by a group of criminals, a man is reborn with animal-like superpowers and makes it his mission to right the wrongs of his city.



Mercenary for Justice

Mercenary John Seeger is one of the best in the business. John and his crew battle some soldiers on Galmoral Island in Southern Africa as they're trying to rescue the French Ambassador -- there's a coup going on. Some of John's soldiers unload their machine guns into the Ambassador and his family, blowing the mission and getting his best friend Radio Jones killed. He heads back to the US and visits Radio's wife Shondra to tells her the news, and then promises that he'll take care of her and her son Eddie. But shortly after he makes that vow, Shondra and Eddie get kidnapped.



Martial Law II: Undercover

Sean and Billie are undercover cops and martial arts masters. Investigating the death of a cop, they uncover a deadly ring of murder and corruption at a glitzy nightclub, where the rich are entertained by seductive women and protected by martial arts experts. Billie goes undercover to infiltrate the crime ring, leading to an explosive finale.



Skirt Day
Skirt Day(2008)
7.082

A teacher, driven to exasperation from insults and insubordination, takes her class hostage.



AKA
AKA(2023)
6.873

A steely special ops agent finds his morality put to the test when he infiltrates a crime syndicate and unexpectedly bonds with the boss' young son.



The Lesson
4.176

Two schoolboy delinquents learn a lesson that they will never forget when a teacher at the end of his tether decides to abduct them.



9 Deaths of the Ninja
5.227

A trio of specialized soldiers is called in to stop a group of drug traffickers who have hijacked a busload of tourists in the Philippines and threaten to kill them all if one of their companions is not released from jail and the government does not stop its anti-drug policies.



The School Teacher
6.021

After having lost his job for having saved a child accused of shop lifting, Frédéric Barbier decides to become a school teacher with some funny results.The great comedy actor Coluche is excellent as a simple school teacher.



Dressed to Kill
7

After witnessing a mysterious woman brutally slay a homemaker, prostitute Liz Blake finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police thinks she is the murderer, the real killer is intent on silencing her only witness.



The System
7

When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.



The Man
The Man(2005)
5.8

A case of mistaken identity forces a Federal agent and a dental supply salesman to team up as they speed through the streets of Detroit to pull off a sting operation and solve the murder of the agent's former partner.



Narc
Narc(2002)
6.743

When the trail goes cold on a murder investigation of a policeman, an undercover narcotics officer is lured back to the force to help solve the case.



Vice Squad
6.2

An unlikely Hollywood hooker helps a detective set a trap for a mutilator pimp.



Gridlocked
5.9

Former SWAT leader David Hendrix and hard-partying movie star Brody Walker must cut their ride-along short when a police training facility is attacked by a team of mercenaries.



Shakedown
Shakedown(1988)
5.8

When a local drug dealer shoots a dishonest cop in self-defense, lawyer and renegade undercover cop join forces to clear him. But when their investigation leads them into a maze of greed and corruption, they learn that in a town where everything is for sale, anything can happen.



School of Rock
7.081

Fired from his band and hard up for cash, guitarist and vocalist Dewey Finn finagles his way into a job as a fifth-grade substitute teacher at a private school, where he secretly begins teaching his students the finer points of rock 'n' roll. The school's hard-nosed principal is rightly suspicious of Finn's activities. But Finn's roommate remains in the dark about what he's doing.



Toy Soldiers
6.497

After federal agents arrest a drug czar and put him on trial, the cartel leader's vicious son storms a prep school and takes its students hostage. They rebel against the armed intruders and try to take back their academy by any means necessary.



The Perfect Teacher

A spoiled, selfish teenager becomes infatuated with her teacher. She befriends his daughter as a way of worming her way into the family, and sets about manipulating every aspect of his life.



The Outsider
6.804

Philippe Jordan is a policeman prone to advancing the cause of justice by any means necessary. On his agenda is a powerful drug cartel working out of Paris and Marseilles, with a drug lord who is essentially inaccessible -- but not immortal.



The Raid 2
7.6

After fighting his way through an apartment building populated by an army of dangerous criminals and escaping with his life, SWAT team member Rama goes undercover, joining a powerful Indonesian crime syndicate to protect his family and uncover corrupt members of his own force.



The Enforcer
7.068

A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to save the young girl from the deadly organization he’s spent his life building.



Inside Man
5.8

Based on true events. A disgraced police detective seeking redemption goes undercover to expose a violent crime syndicate. But as he sinks deeper into the mob, the price for absolution may be higher than he can afford.



Destroyer
Destroyer(2018)
5.885

When Erin Bell was a young cop, she was given an undercover assignment that ended badly and destroyed her life. Years later, she must face her demons in order to make peace with her past.



Go Fast
Go Fast(2008)
5.872

Marek, a crime squad officer, sets out to avenge the death of his partner and best friend, who was killed by drug traffickers. He asks for a posting to a new undercover unit created to infiltrate a drug gang that imports hashish from Morocco using the "Go Fast" method. A fleet of high-powered speedboats and cars races across the Mediterranean to Spain and then France, loaded with drugs.



I.D.
I.D.(1995)
6.607

Four policemen go undercover and infiltrate a gang of football hooligans hoping to route out their leaders. For one of the four, the line between 'job' and 'yob' becomes more unclear as time passes . . .



Antigang
Antigang(2015)
5.848

As a rowdy team of detectives clashes with their disciplined new boss, they must catch a vicious band of robbers who are wreaking havoc on their city.



The Replacements
6.69

Maverick old-guard coach Jimmy McGinty is hired in the wake of a players' strike to help the Washington Sentinels advance to the playoffs. But that impossible dream hinges on whether his replacements can hunker down and do the job. So, McGinty dusts off his secret dossier of ex-players who never got a chance (or screwed up the one they were given) and knits together a bad-dream team of guys who just may give the Sentinels their title shot.



Triple Threat
6.4

A crime syndicate places a hit on a billionaire's daughter, making her the target of an elite assassin squad. A small band of down-and-out mercenaries protects her, fighting tooth and nail to stop the assassins from reaching their target.



Stripped to Kill
4.604

A Los Angeles policewoman's partner has her pose as a stripper to lure a killer of strippers.



Renegades
Renegades(1989)
5.237

While investigating police corruption in his department, undercover cop Buster McHenry is forced to participate in a heist, leading to innocent casualties and the theft of an ancient Lakota tribal spear. After McHenry ends up severely wounded, he is taken in by Native American Hank Storm, who is out to recover the spear and avenge the death of a loved one in the heist.



Bloodsport: The Dark Kumite

Agent John Keller goes undercover into the tough prison known as Fuego Penal to find out about the corpses of prisoners disappearing without a trace. There he gets involved in a dangerous tournament arranged by a man named Justin Caesar, where the prisoners are forced fight to death.



Death Warrant
6.2

Canadian policeman Louis Burke is assigned in a jail to investigate the murders of prisoners and jailors. While there, Louis, using his outstanding martial arts skills, is able to save his life and make himself respected in this violent world.



Black Dawn
4.097

Jonathan Cold returns, this time he goes Undercover to stop a group of Terrorists before they bomb Los Angeles.



The Replacement
6.098

Spain, 1982. Andrés Expósito, a young police inspector, accepts a posting in Denia, a small town on the Mediterranean coast, in the hope of leading a quieter life and that the natural environment will help improve the fragile health of his daughter; but once in his new post he becomes involved by chance in the investigation of the strange death of the inspector he has come to replace.



The Union
The Union(2024)
6.107

A New Jersey construction worker goes from regular guy to aspiring spy when his long-lost high school sweetheart recruits him for an espionage mission.



Narco Sub
Narco Sub(2021)
6.7

A former U.S. Navy Seal is forced to become the international criminal he once fought against when a powerful and violent drug cartel kidnaps his wife and daughter.



The Perfect Weapon
6.2

Jeff, a young delinquent, is enrolled by his father in a kenpo school, in the hopes of teaching the boy some self-discipline. Years later, Jeff's mentor, Kim, is being threatened by one of the Korean mafia families. Jeff tries to help his old friend, but is too late to prevent Kim's death at the hands of an unknown hitman. Vowing revenge, Jeff takes on all of the families, using his martial arts skills to find the man who killed his friend.



The Siege
The Siege(2023)
5.4

International assassin Walker is compromised during a mission and sent to a reassignment center for a new identity. During his stay at the facility, a ruthless assault team storms the compound searching for someone their boss has lost. Walker begrudgingly falls in with skilled hitwoman Elda and her mysterious ward Juliet in order to survive the night.



Dirty
Dirty(2005)
5.3

Two gangbangers turned cops try and cover up a scandal within the LAPD.



The Mechanic
6.524

Arthur Bishop is a 'mechanic' - an elite assassin with a strict code requiring professional perfection and total detachment. One of an elite group of assassins, Bishop may be the best in the business - with a unique talent for cleanly eliminating targets. When Harry McKenna, his close friend and mentor, is murdered, Harry's son comes to him with vengeance in his heart and a desire to learn Bishop's trade, signaling the birth of a deadly partnership.



Good Guys Wear Black

The former leader of a commando rescue attempt into Vietnam tries to discover why his squad members are being murdered, one-by-one, after the war is over.



The Hitman
5.4

After surviving an attempt on his life by his former partner, officer Cliff Garrett (Norris) exacts revenge on those who wronged him by going undercover as a hit man. He works to gain the reputation and trust needed in order to be accepted by the burgeoning Seattle-area criminal underworld, but it is all done in order to take it down from within.



Class of 1984
6.4

Andy is a new teacher at an inner city high school that is unlike any he has seen before. There are metal detectors at the front door and the place is basically run by a tough kid named Peter Stegman. Soon, Andy and Stegman become enemies and Stegman will stop at nothing to protect his turf and drug dealing business.



Hostage
Hostage(2005)
6.342

When a mafia accountant is taken hostage on his beat, a police officer – wracked by guilt from a prior stint as a negotiator – must negotiate the standoff, even as his own family is held captive by the mob.



Absent
Absent(2011)
6

Sebastiano teaches high school gym classes and coaches swimming. He’s got a job, a girlfriend, and a pretty normal life. But as young Martin starts to infiltrate Sebastiano’s life, his world will get turned upside down. Eerie from the first frame, this Hitchcockian thriller portrays sexual obsession with terrifying realism.



New World
New World(2013)
7.413

An undercover cop has his loyalties tested when the boss of the corporate gang he's spent years infiltrating dies.



The Shadow Strays
7.222

Skilled in the art of killing, a young assassin defies her mentor to save a boy from a ruthless crime syndicate — and she'll destroy anyone in her path.



Stand and Deliver
7.6

Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a hispanic neighbourhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he adopts unconventional teaching methods to try and turn gang members and no-hopers into some of the country's top algebra and calculus students.



Heist
Heist(2015)
6.142

A father is without the means to pay for his daughter's medical treatment. As a last resort, he partners with a greedy co-worker to rob a casino. When things go awry they're forced to hijack a city bus.



Desperado
Desperado(1995)
6.9

El Mariachi plunges headfirst into the dark border underworld when he follows a trail of blood to the last of the infamous Mexican drug lords, Bucho, for an action-packed, bullet-riddled showdown. With the help of his friend and a beautiful bookstore owner, El Mariachi tracks Bucho, takes on his army of desperados, and leaves his own trail of blood.



Kindergarten Cop
6.121

Hard-edged cop John Kimble gets more than he bargained for when he goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to get the goods on a brutal drug lord while at the same time protecting the man's young son. Pitted against a class of boisterous moppets whose antics try his patience and test his mettle, Kimble may have met his match … in more ways than one.



6 Underground
6.342

After faking his death, a tech billionaire recruits a team of international operatives for a bold and bloody mission to take down a brutal dictator.



Tortured
Tortured(2008)
5.461

A mobster orders an undercover FBI agent to torture an accountant.



Only the Strong
7

Former Green Beret Louis Stevens returns to his hometown of Miami after completing military service in Brazil, only to learn that his old high school has become a haven for gangs and drug dealers. After Stevens uses his capoeira skills to kick several drug dealers off of the school property, Kerrigan, one of Stevens' old teachers, sees the impact that Stevens has on the students. Kerrigan gives him the task of teaching Capoeira to a handful of the worst at-risk students at the school.



Havoc
Havoc(2025)
6.396

When a drug heist swerves lethally out of control, a jaded cop fights his way through a corrupt city's criminal underworld to save a politician's son.



Ninja Terminator

The hunt is on to gain the fabulous super-strength of ninja sorcery, after three top students of the Ninja Empire each steals one of the sections of the Golden Ninja Warrior statuette. On the case is interpol agent, Jaguar Wong, who must make sure that whoever re-unites the pieces uses the power for doing good not evil.



Suck Me Shakespeer

Ex-con Zeki Müller goes undercover as a teacher at a below average Gymnasium to find money he'd stashed prior to incarceration.



Colors
Colors(1988)
6.5

A confident young cop is shown the ropes by a veteran partner in the dangerous gang-controlled barrios of Los Angeles, where the gang culture is enforced by the colors the members wear.



Brooklyn's Finest
6.303

Enforcing the law within the notoriously rough Brownsville section of the city and especially within the Van Dyke housing projects is the NYPD's sixty-fifth precinct. Three police officers struggle with the sometimes fine line between right and wrong.



The Stunt Man
6.6

A fugitive stumbles onto a movie set just when they need a new stunt man, takes the job as a way to hide out and falls for the leading lady while facing off with his manipulative director.



Underclassman
4.9

A young detective goes undercover at an elite private school to destroy an international stolen car ring.



Monsieur Lazhar
7.157

During a harsh Montréal winter, an elementary-school class is left reeling after its teacher commits suicide. Bachir Lazhar, a charismatic Algerian immigrant, steps in as the substitute teacher for the classroom of traumatized children. All the while, he must keep his personal life tucked away: the fact that he is seeking political refuge in Québec – and that he, like the children, has suffered an appalling loss.



F
F(2010)
6.106

A group of teachers must defend themselves from a gang of murderous kids when their school comes under siege after hours.



The Corruptor
6.1

Danny is a young cop partnered with Nick, a seasoned but ethically tainted veteran. As the two try to stop a gang war in Chinatown, Danny relies on Nick but grows increasingly uncomfortable with the way Nick gets things done.



Superfast!
5.1

Undercover cop Lucas White joins Vin Serento's gang of illegal street racers. They are fast and they are furious and they plan to double cross Los Angeles kingpin Juan Carlos de la Sol, who hides his cash in a downtown Taco Bell.



Darc
Darc(2018)
6.096

To bring down a global human trafficking ring, an Interpol agent recruits the help of a brutal criminal with inside knowledge of the yakuza.



Women of Mafia
5.1

A maligned police officer receives one last chance to save her career when she must break up a crime syndicate by masquerading as one of their own.



Alemão
Alemão(2014)
6.184

Five undercover cops at Complexo do Alemão, one of Rio de Janeiro's most dangerous areas, have their covers blown by drug dealers. Arrested, they wait execution or to be rescued by police forces that would risk expose a larger operation.

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