Step Up Revolution

STEP UP REVOLUTION

Amazing dancing + horrible acting = bad movie

2012: Summit Entertainment

2012, Dance Movie, Rated PG-13

Distributed by Summit Entertainment

          Step Up Revolution is the fourth film in a series of movies about dancing. Seriously, that's all these films are good for: fly-ass dance moves. The mind-blowing dance scenes in Revolution are loosely wrapped around a story about standing up for what's right (with a side of a love story thrown in as well). The whole thing is preachy and cheesy. It felt like a kid's movie with its light-hearted message about standing up for what you believe in. The movie itself is terrible: a step up above straight-to-DVD quality. The dancing however was incredible.

          What saves Step Up Revolution from being absolutely horrendous is its new premise. The dance group calls itself The Mob and pulls off all these crazy dance routines that stop traffic, business meetings, and art gallery openings with bumpin' tunes and killer jigs. They are part of a competition to get the most YouTube hits and do so through flash mob dancing. This was the highlight of the film. Seeing how they would wow their viewers, not to mention us in the audience, through a new unexpected dance scenario was exhilarating. First they block a street and dance the afternoon away. Later they infiltrate an art gallery and use camouflage to blend in until the moment when they all start dancing. It's hard to explain without seeing them busting a move. It's like one flash mob dance scene after another except with amazing professional dancers. The variation between dance numbers was what kept the film fresh and interesting amid a terrible plot and hardly a lick of character development.

          The lead actors are all professional dancers so they aren't very good actors. This gives the film credit while also taking some away at the same time. Seeing real dancers is what makes the dance scenes so awesome. But those real dancers can't have actor stand-ins. They all try to act but they aren't too convincing. A few of them are decent actors so that was nice. And a decent actor among terrible ones can make that decent actor seem like Meryl Streep. But like I said, you don't see the film for story, you see it for dancing.

          I must give this film my approval because I was not bored at all during it. Okay, okay, the scenes when no one was dancing were slightly boring toward the end, but it is somehow pardonable. Maybe I'm giving them too much credit (I will also admit that this is the only Step Up I've seen so the idea is still fresh to me) but they made an enjoyable film. I physically reacted to some of the more impressive dance moves, just like I do when something digital blows up with insane realism.

          I must say this is not a "good" film. Actually, I'll go as far as to say this isn't a film at all. It's an enjoyable experience, however, and one that is worth your time. Unless you're all about dancing, the Step Up movies, or really good looking people shakin' their stuff, avoid it. If you like dancing at all, you will enjoy this film. The dancing is the best of the best: superbly impressive. The story is boring and just there to give it a reason for a theatrical release, but you'll be beeboppin' and tappin' a foot as soon as the first dancer pops a hip, drops it down real low.

          Side note: Another thing I liked about this movie was the "protest" aspect of it. The Mob starts by simply dancing to win a competition. But then a greedy contractor decides to tear down The Mob's neighborhood to build a hotel. So they start dancing to bring awareness to their situation. The finale was particularly awesome and truly sticks it to the man.