Robert J. Maxwell This story about a teacher challenged in a school full of dangerous and bored delinquents is set in Los Angeles, which is fast becoming for urban misery what New York was twenty years ago. See L.A. and die. Except that in this movie's panoramic views, you can't quite see the city because it's encased in a smog that approximates the true color of nitrogen dioxide. If L.A. were a duck, it would be duck a l'orange.I didn't expect much from this sort of tale. It's been done many times before. The teacher who is devoted to his job, the sexy colleague, the rude and foul-mouthed students, with one or two good ones sprinkled among them. The constant challenges, the humiliations, the keyed car, the gangs, the girl with the crush, the embittered colleagues who see their charges as beyond salvage. Watching all this familiar stuff play out on the screen is actually reassuring, comforting. It's like going to mass as a child, knowing exactly what rituals to expect. Here come the censer.I suppose the original, "Blackboard Jungle," back in the 50s, provided the framework that has now turned all but inescapable. High school movies that don't have the threat of violence are kind of dull, "Up The Down Staircase." The central problem for most of these school movies about deprived and depraved students is, "How can I reach them?" This one is different, though, and it kept me engaged throughout because the question here is, "CAN I reach them?" The answer is yes, but not without a price. Jackson's victory is Pyrrhic. It wasn't worth the price.The direction is perfectly ordinary and without distinction. The script at time stumbles all over the place, like one of those Chicano kids on tequila. At the climax, it drops dead with a speech.Jackson is a wounded saint, having been stabbed in the back in a Brooklyn school before moving to L.A. He never loses his temper, no matter whether provoked by some teen-aged moron, betrayed by his principal, or accused of murder by the blond colleague who has previously groveled at his feet and practically denuded herself in his presence.The blond, Kelly Rowan, is almost perfect in the part, though it's overwritten like all the others. She's not quite Hollywood pretty and she's at the age of near desperation. There have been a couple of truly fine black actors since Sidney Poitier and Samuel L. Jackson is among them. He's a magnetic presence. And his range as an actor is expansive. He can be a thoroughly believable savvy street gangsta, as in "Jackie Brown," or a straight teacher with glasses, as he is here. Morgan Freeman is able to do the same thing, but his age now restricts the variety of his roles. He can't be the perspicacious pimp who kicks a client in the balls anymore, as he did in "Street Smart." Now he's got to be Jung's "wise old man." I won't give away the ending because (1) it's silly and (2) it's unexpected.

Leonard Smalls: The Lone Biker of the Apocalypse In the world of 'teacher takes revenge' flicks, we have tons of flops. I think "187" is certainly not one of those flops. It is a film that has held up well since its release in 1997.Samuel L. Jackson turns in one of his good performances here. The setting is perfect: a hazy, smoggy east Los Angeles in the 90's. Films like "American Me" and "Falling Down" also captured that 'L.A. thing' well. "187" does that. It makes you feel like you are there.Some of it definitely plays like an after school special, but most of the plot here is gritty and believable...this is no "Class of 1984." Awesome soundtrack with lots of good Massive Attack too.7 out of 10, kids.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews After a vicious assault on him, Trevor Garfield, a teacher, moves cities and works as a temp. However, he finds that things are even worse at his new school. Dealing with an important subject, this is immensely engaging and tense. While not based on any specific case, this was written by an actual teacher, and, frankly, it does feel terrifyingly authentic and realistic. The psychology is completely accurate, and this is not black and white. This is well-paced, and never boring. The plot is compelling throughout, and though you can figure some things out before they occur, this most likely *will* surprise you. Every acting performance is spot-on, and all roles are marvelously cast. Jackson is impeccable, and his particular knack for playing someone who holds anger and may lose control at any moment is excellent for this. This has a great soundtrack, with music that fits the environment(which is very nicely established; they found perfect locations and types of people), without making it appealing. The editing and cinematography are incredible, if dangerously close to being flashy. There is a bit of brutal, bloody violence, a lot of disturbing content, moderately frequent strong language and brief nudity in this. I recommend this to anyone mature enough to handle it. 7/10

elshikh4 At the end of 1960s the ideal teacher faced his students' disturbance by good understanding and sympathy, then at the 1990s became the only way for the ideal teacher to face his students' savagery is a more wild savagery. So it's not (To Sir With Love) anymore...It's (The Count of Monte Cristo) or (Psycho) ! (187) is the satirical movie in a form of a horror, or it's the case of our nightmare factual life already, or maybe it's one of the most melancholic "what if" movies ever. But anyway its highest point was that concept of (meet violence with violence) whereas the chaos will bring nothing but chaos, the blood which leads to more blood, and the ultimate havoc will be definitely for the both sides (The teacher and the student) as long as the previous side (the system) is absolute free at decision and insanity ! This is the message of this movie, its good premonition, and its discrete antecedence despite its own exaggerations and its too melodramatic ending.Actually (Kevin Reynolds) made solid, turbid, and dismal atmosphere out of this story by using a lot of elements to express such a dreadful experience. For instance you'll find so many red (blood) and blue (grief) all over the screen, or varies between sick yellow and gloomy black with a hot image in a sweat all the time like they're all (teacher and students) in one cell and no one will let the other live, but that desire was importunate to the extent that you may feel – especially with the drastic events and that Russian roulette's end ! – That the movie nearly sunk under it. Although I believe that not all the movies must be dreamy with happy ending but I believe also that the exaggeration of a message can powerfully destroy it, so I think the main problem here is that the well meaning statement became unintentionally overstatement.