sddavis63 The very last scenes of this movie deal a lot with the subject of a "pyrrhic victory." And that's a very appropriate bit of reflection, because this movie does present what seems to me to be a classic "pyrhhic victory" - where the battle is won, but at an outrageous and unjustifiable cost.When this started I was expecting it to be a pretty formulaic type of movie - following what in some ways has become a very tired formula. How many stories have their been about the dedicated teacher who goes into a troubled school full of seemingly hopeless kids and manages somehow to turn everything around. I can date the formula back as far as the 1960's with "To Sir With Love." There may well be earlier examples; that's just the earliest example I can think of. Here, the teacher is Trevor Garfield, played by Samuel L. Jackson. As the movie opens, Garfield is teaching at a troubled school in Brooklyn, and ends up getting knifed by a student he was going to fail. Surviving that attack, he moves to Los Angeles and becomes a substitute teacher, whose assignment is at an even more violent high school, where of course he becomes their target. The formula seems to be working its way out through the character of Rita, whom Garfield begins to tutor and who become more and more confident as a result. So far - nothing especially shocking or original. You figure you know how this is going to end. Except that it doesn't end that way. It ends with a classic "pyrhhic victory." Garfield, indeed, motivates Rita (who ends up addressing the graduating class on the subject of - guess what - pyrhhic victories. But the cost involved with motivating her is huge - Garfield first loses his soul in a way, descending to the level of his troubled, violent students, and then eventually loses his life. In the end, unlike most teachers in this kind of movie, Garfield isn't a figure you either sympathize with or admire.So, it's different from most of these kinds of movies. That spark of originality - which, once it began, threw me - is worth some credit to Scott Yagemann, a former Los Angeles high school teacher who wrote the script. But that spark of originality (that variation from the formula) didn't save this movie for me. It was OK, but nothing more than that. One thing that threw me was that it suffered from what most "high school" movies suffer from - actors who just look too old for the part. These just didn't look like high school kids to me. Take Rita, for example. She was played by an actress named Karina Arroyave - who would have been in her mid-late 20's when this was made. That's the same age range as Clifton Collins, who played Cesar - one of the main protagonists among the male students. I realize that they couldn't very well use high school age actors and actresses - Arroyave has a nude scene - but it took away a bit from the realism of the story. As, by the way, did that nude scene. Not so much that it happened. I could understand a suspicious Rita assuming that since Garfield had invited her to his home for tutoring, what he really wanted was something else. It just, to me, didn't make sense that Garfield would be naive enough to invite a female student to his home.If Scott Yagemann based this at all on his own experiences as a teacher, then it's certainly a grim picture of life in inner city LA schools - and the closing captions presented a sobering picture of the problem of student violence against teachers. Still, though, I didn't find it an especially great movie - although it did capture perfectly the essence of the "pyrhhic victory." (5/10)

Leofwine_draca A powerful story about urban violence and how it can affect inner city schools, this is an excellent little film. Samuel L. Jackson shines as the teacher fed up with his class who eventually begins exact his own kind of justice by bumping off the problem pupils. An atmosphere of simmering violence is built up along with a lot of suspense in a tale that had me hooked. The reliable Jackson puts in an excellent performance as the bitter teacher who has been driven to the edge.The rest of the cast do their jobs well, especially the actors playing the loathsome pupils. What I liked best about this film was the surprising ending, which sees Jackson and his adversaries playing Russian Roulette round a table. A superb ending to what is an interesting, sometimes difficult to watch but still important film. Forget the watered-down crap that most television stations show, this is raw, forceful viewing which asks questions. In fact it reminded me of some of those gritty '70s films, as it has the same hard edge.

Arlis Fuson I have seen a lot of films similar to this from Stand and Deliver to Substitute to Dangerous Minds, but this one was pretty good and I liked it.A New York teacher is stabbed by a gang member because he failed him, so he relocates to L.A. and becomes a sub. There he finds its chocked full of gang members as well. He tries to make a difference, but sees that some of these kids are making it difficult so he becomes a vigilante and wipes out one and tortures others. The kids retaliate and although he helps some students, ultimately its questionable as to whether or not his methods were worth it.The production was pretty good and it was basic, yet it all seemed to somehow stand out from the rest. The acting was great Samuel L. Jackson was perfect for the role, he is one of the coolest actors ever, and it was nice to see him acting scared and being more human and realistic as opposed to being all Bad A**. I thought Method Man did good in his first film too.It's not a gang movie, its a drama about problems being faced in areas that have many gang members. It's always a nice topic to discuss and make people take notice of. A lot of the problems in these areas in and out of the classrooms have to do with the fact many of these kids cant get the educations they need and deserve.I recommend it it to anyone wanting a good drama..4 out of 10 stars..

kai ringler what a powerhouse of a movie,, this one really rocks you to the core, especially if you have kids in high school. A dedicated High School Science Teacher get's brutally assaulted in New York,, 15 months later he moves on to L.A. and decides to give it another try to teach again,, and again he falls into teaching in the ghetto, he doesn't even get to be in a classroom with air conditioning,, he get's a trashy dump bungalow, there he meets a couple of teachers who are on his side,, one he get's involved with romantically and tries to help,, the other turns out to be a gun loving psycho. there are many cliques in this movie, unfortunately most of them are true in today's world. this is one of those movies where i think that you can take away from it that you learned something from it useful,