Channing Tatum began to gather the first members of his current legion of female fans back in 2006 with the dancing romantic-comedy Step Up (and the guilty pleasure film, She’s the Man). That was of course back when the Step Up films at least tried to develop real characters and an original(ish) plot.
Now that the fourth film of the franchise, Step Up Revolution, has been released, the actors and actresses are just as attractive and the dancing is energetic and colorful, but gone is any semblance of novelty to what I can only assume the filmmakers consider to be the more boring aspects of films, character and plot.
In Step Up Revolution, aspiring dancer Emily falls in love with Sean, the leader of “The Mob”, a flash-dance crew whose neighborhood is threatened by Emily's father's hotel development plans. Can their protests cause enough of a stir to save their homes?
I’ll give the film credit for trying to be contemporary with its protest and “Occupy” themes, but if you’ve never heard of a story like this before, you’ve never seen a movie. But perhaps more laughable is the absolutely horrendous dialogue. Every single character speaks in the exact same way. I’m not just talking about delivery, – we’ll get to the acting in a second – but the actual lines written for characters who are supposed to comprise a amalgam of eclectic individuals does not actually make them sound any different from each other. Every line is a bland cliché lacking any depth or personality.
Famed critic Roger Ebert has often claimed that weaker dialogue is intentionally constructed as short bursts of basic English so that it is easier to subtitle. Whatever the reason, no character in Step Up Revolution ever really says anything at all. Their words are the bare minimum necessary to advance the plot, and nothing more. This helps us understand the story, but does nothing to create any real sympathy for these seemingly simple-minded characters.
Now that the fourth film of the franchise, Step Up Revolution, has been released, the actors and actresses are just as attractive and the dancing is energetic and colorful, but gone is any semblance of novelty to what I can only assume the filmmakers consider to be the more boring aspects of films, character and plot.
In Step Up Revolution, aspiring dancer Emily falls in love with Sean, the leader of “The Mob”, a flash-dance crew whose neighborhood is threatened by Emily's father's hotel development plans. Can their protests cause enough of a stir to save their homes?
I’ll give the film credit for trying to be contemporary with its protest and “Occupy” themes, but if you’ve never heard of a story like this before, you’ve never seen a movie. But perhaps more laughable is the absolutely horrendous dialogue. Every single character speaks in the exact same way. I’m not just talking about delivery, – we’ll get to the acting in a second – but the actual lines written for characters who are supposed to comprise a amalgam of eclectic individuals does not actually make them sound any different from each other. Every line is a bland cliché lacking any depth or personality.
Famed critic Roger Ebert has often claimed that weaker dialogue is intentionally constructed as short bursts of basic English so that it is easier to subtitle. Whatever the reason, no character in Step Up Revolution ever really says anything at all. Their words are the bare minimum necessary to advance the plot, and nothing more. This helps us understand the story, but does nothing to create any real sympathy for these seemingly simple-minded characters.
Delivering these 4th-grade level phrases are just as forgettable actors. They try their best, I’m sure, and they don’t necessarily do terribly. But when your primary protagonists are portrayed by the 3rd place finalist of the 6th season of So You Think You Can Dance (Kathryn McCormick as Emily) and a former amateur MMA fighter (Ryan Guzman as Sean), both for whom Step Up Revolution is their debut film, you can only ask for so much.
Now, I know I just sounded very mean. I’m sorry. In actuality, I did enjoy Step Up Revolution. It was pulse-pounding, foot-stomping fun, even if in a mindless sort of way. As expected, the film has a crazy sick (that means good in urban slang) soundtrack, accompanied by vibrant and exhilaratingly choreographed dances. A flash-dance set in an art museum is particularly creative.
Overall, Step Up Revolution “Delivers plenty of spectacular fancy footwork in what is otherwise a flat-footed fantasy” (Jennie Punter). That being said, if you can treat the film like you would a Transformers movie, – setting aside higher quality tastes for plot and character to simply enjoy the senseless fun – then it is still entirely possible to enjoy Step Up Revolution.
The Final Word if you like dancing: Wait to rent it.
Overall, Step Up Revolution “Delivers plenty of spectacular fancy footwork in what is otherwise a flat-footed fantasy” (Jennie Punter). That being said, if you can treat the film like you would a Transformers movie, – setting aside higher quality tastes for plot and character to simply enjoy the senseless fun – then it is still entirely possible to enjoy Step Up Revolution.
The Final Word if you like dancing: Wait to rent it.
The Final Word if you hate dancing: Don't even bother.
Good review Ethan. The last flick wasn't terrible, but this one was just too bad to even enjoy whenever the dancing would take over. Worse part about it too, is that all of the music is that dub-step crap that makes me want to beat the crap out of all that listens to it, aka everybody in the world.
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