The Substitute

As Shale (Berenger), a battle-hardened mercenary and Vietnam veteran, returns from a harrowing mission to Cuba where his comrades fell, he's met with a personal tragedy - his girlfriend Jane Hetzko lies injured, her leg shattered by a brutal knee-cap attack. Seeking vengeance and justice, Shale assumes the guise of a Harvard-educated substitute teacher in Miami, using his cover to recruit his former soldiers, each carrying their own scars from the battlefield (Raymond Cruz, Luis Guzmán, Richard Brooks, and William Forsythe). As he navigates the uncharted terrain of high school politics and history lessons, Shale's radar blips for trouble when he crosses paths with Juan Lacas (Marc Anthony), the ruthless leader of the "Kings of Destruction" (KOD) gang. It soon becomes clear that Lacas is responsible for Jane's attack, but this is merely a small part of his sinister machinations. As Shale's team sets up military-grade surveillance equipment throughout the school's corridors and bathrooms, they uncover a shocking truth - Lacas has formed an unholy alliance with principal Rolle (Ernie Hudson) to exploit the school buses and their hidden storage compartments as a conduit for a large-scale heroin distribution operation in Miami. With his cover blown and his personal stake at an all-time high, Shale must now use his unique skills to infiltrate the inner workings of the KOD gang and take down the corrupt principal before it's too late.