Indiewire Browse the indiewire network

Step Up Revolution—movie review

Reviews
by Leonard Maltin
July 27, 2012 1:00 AM
4 Comments
  • |

Photo by

Photo by Sam Emerson - Courtesy of Summit Entertainment
Skeptics beware: I’m about to recommend a musical not only for its energy and imagination but its use of 3-D. Like its little-seen predecessor (Step Up 3-D), Step Up Revolution won’t win any screenwriting awards, but it’s a perfect summertime refresher. What’s more, it’s the first movie I’ve seen this year that justified the use of those clunky 3-D glasses and actually made the experience enjoyable. (I can’t tell you what 3-D added to The Amazing Spider-man or Brave, but this movie’s production numbers are specifically designed to have fun with the medium. What a concept!)

The story is a collection of clichés but the actors are likable, good-looking, and know how to dance. Ryan Guzman plays a waiter who’s part of a group called The Mob that stages elaborate flash-mob dances in public places throughout Miami, hoping to win a big cash prize in a contest sponsored by YouTube. He chances to meet Kathryn McCormick, who’s trying to win a spot with a prestigious dance troupe…and whose father (Peter Gallagher) is promoting a huge development that will tear down Guzman’s working-class neighborhood. Will she betray her father and help his cause? Should he tell his pals that she’s the daughter of their enemy? And can they continue to stage spontaneous dance events without getting into trouble with the authorities? These are the dramatic crises that unfold between musical moments.

Photo by Sam Emerson - Courtesy of Summit Entertainment
As I watched the movie I realized that it actually has a lot in common with those wonderful Busby Berkeley musicals of the 1930s. They, too, were designed as escapist fare and featured attractive people in corny scripts. The stories were just an excuse to showcase Berkeley’s wildly imaginative dance extravaganzas. Pump up the volume, flash forward eighty-some years, and you get Step Up Revolution.

As a celebration of dance, movement, and visual ingenuity, this movie is hard to beat. Director Scott Speer, who has worked on The LXD: Legion of Extraordinary Dancers series (and is a protégé of Step Up 3-D’s talented director, Jon M. Chu), knows where to put the camera to make the most of every shot in every number, and isn’t addicted to staccato editing. Choreographers Jamal Sims, Christopher Scott, Travis Wall and Chuck Maldonado have cast talented performers and put them in a variety of colorful settings right from the start. (The movie opens with a terrific flash-mob number staged on the streets of Miami’s Ocean Drive.)

I’ll admit that this isn’t a movie I would have sought out on my own, but having seen it I’m happy to spread the good word. It’s a lot of fun.

Reviews
  • |

More: Film Reviews, Step Up Revolution, Scott Speer

You might also like:

4 Comments

  • Tanner | August 11, 2012 8:02 PMReply

    Agreed. Wait for the video!

  • Nick Brown | July 30, 2012 3:14 PMReply

    Leonard, Thanks for noticing the 3D! I was the Stereographer, so I was in charge of all the 3D. I'm desperately trying to show people that when used correctly and creatively, 3D can be an extremely powerful cinematic tool that has the ability to literally and figuratively break down the wall between a film and its audience. Unfortunately, poor 3D has turned many people off to the medium over the past few years. If 3D is going to survive, the quality must go up dramatically fast in the immediate future.

  • Karlo Gonzales | August 12, 2012 2:16 AM

    Indeed, Mr. Brown. It’s been like "Also in 3D". Almost every film being released nowadays has that tag line ha? I'm also afraid that "some" moviegoers will get saturated soon of this taken-for-granted virtuosity, especially if the vast conceptual abilities of 3D will not be expanded and used “carefully” and creatively as what you did in Step Up Revolution (SUR). Genius, I must say. And that specific concept of movie images seemingly breaking the walls of the big screen and giving the audience that feeling and “excitement” of imageries getting proximate to them was very real in SUR. It was excellent.

  • Norm | July 27, 2012 4:22 PMReply

    While I can appreciate LM's enthusiasim for this picture, I'll wait for the DVD/Blu-Ray, to tap tap tap my way down the hallway..Busby Berkley indeed...

Follow Me

Email Updates

Latest Tweets

Follow us
Skinny Matthew McConaughey Talks New Approach to Roles: 'Mud,' 'Dallas Buyer's Club,' 'Magic Mike' [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO]'

Categories

Monthly Archives

Most "Liked"

  • Greta's New Wave: Frances Ha
  • In Search Of ‘The Searchers’


leonardmaltin
 









Around The Network

the network

indiewire

categories