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Step up Revolution

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Director- Scott Speer

Cast- Kathryn McCormick, Ryan Guzman, Stephen Boss, Chadd Smith, Tommy Dewey

Writer’s Rating- 3/5

It’s that time of the year when you put on your dancing shoes, crank up the volume on your iPod and sway to the beats of yet another movie that makes you want to get off your seat and shake up some fun. The fourth instalment of the hugely popular Step Up series, Step Up Revolution, is here with the hopes of instilling dreams of dancing even in the most inflexible beings.

This time around, Step Up sets Miami on fire with its electric dance performances and funky rhythms. As a movie, Step Up doesn’t have much to offer when it comes to the script or the acting. The story is highly predictable, based around Emily (Kathryn McCormick), an aspiring dancer, completely enamoured by Sean (Ryan Guzman), a young waiter in a hotel belonging to a wealthy executive, Bill Anderson, who is quite obviously Emily’s father. Sean also secretly leads a talented dance ensemble called “The Mob”, whose main aim is to win an online video contest that will sow the seeds to their future as professional dancers. Then all hell breaks loose when Anderson threatens to develop The Mob’s historic neighbourhood into a hotel, destroying the homes of thousands residing in that area. As expected, Emily joins forces with Sean and The Mob as she stands against her father’s cause in a fight for the greater good.

Despite the fact that the lead actors are mostly incapable of expressing themselves through their acting abilities, they make up for this by their incredible dancing skills. While the other movies in the Step up series focused on dance as an art, in this movie it was definitely beyond the usual boundaries. For the first time, dance was used as a medium of protest, not just performance. Thus, the title ‘revolution’ sits well as ‘The Mob’, consisting of the common people, gives a voice to their neighbourhood. However, the sheer number of dances, breathtaking choreography, and stunning special effects fail to compensate for the fact that the dance sequences were cut short by an over-enthusiastic attempt to fit in more words and actions instead of dance. The chemistry between the lead actors Guzman and McCormick also lacked a spark that previous step up actors such as Chamming Tatum and Jenna Dewan clearly displayed.

A definite plus point of the fourth film is the soundtrack. With songs such as “Feel Alive (Revolution Remix)” by Fergie featuring Pitbull and DJ Poet, “Hands in the air” by Timbaland featuring Ne-Yo and “Dance without you (Ricky Luna Remix)” by Skylar Grey, the pulse of the movie definitely quickened as the beats served their purpose of making the audience dance without their realisation. Another shining moment is the cameo by two stars from the second Step Up movie, Moose (Adam Sevani) and Jenny Kido (Mari Koda). Their energising steps added to the passionate, albeit predictable, protest dance towards the end of the movie.

As a whole, the movie lacks good dialogues, polished acting skills and an interesting script, but it makes up for this with some highly pumped up dance sequences by exceptionally talented dancers. Watch if you just want to have some fun or if you consider yourself a major dance fan. You might just be inspired towards taking a step towards the next revolution.