Step Up: Revolution

In Step Up: Revolution, the film's heroes are a bunch of young urban dancers who stage elaborate "flash mob" dance numbers, first to get attention, and later to protest a greedy villain who is threatening to tear down their homes so he can build some luxury skyscrapers. There's a scene late in the film where the dancers crash a dinner party held by the villain, and set up a dance that begins by tossing containers that look like gas bombs into the crowd. Then, the dancers themselves show up, wearing gas masks and dressed head to foot in black. Watching this sequence, it takes a superhuman effort not to think of the tragedy in Aurora just one week ago.

I don't blame the filmmakers, as there's no way they could have known what would happen so soon before their movie was released. But what was Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate thinking not cutting this scene, or perhaps postponing its release? Case in point - Warner Bros.' upcoming release, Gangster Squad, had its trailer pulled and its release date changed from September 7th to January 11th, due to the fact that it depicted some gangsters shooting up a crowded movie theater with Tommy Guns. The scene in question will also no longer be in the final film. Did the studio behind Step Up look at their scene, and really think it wouldn't hit a little too close to home for some viewers? The fact that the song that plays on the soundtrack that the characters are dancing to features the sound effects of guns going off does not help the awkward feeling the scene creates.

Outside of this extremely uncomfortable moment, everything else about Step Up: Revolution is a wheezy and worn collection of bottom of the shelf dance movie cliches. Our main characters are Emily (Kathryn McCormick) and Sean (Ryan Guzman). Emily is a "poor little rich girl" type whose wealthy real estate magnet father (Peter Gallagher, giving a completely phoned in performance) doesn't understand her dreams of becoming a professional dancer, and would rather see her follow in his footsteps in the luxury hotel business. Sean is a poor, but spirited, young man who just wants to dance. He's one of the head people behind the previously mentioned flash mob. They like to spontaneously break out into wildly choreographed dance numbers in the middle of public. Naturally, they pick places where there would obviously be no police presence whatsoever, like a busy highway, or a modern art museum. Well, at least these places have no police presence whatsoever in this movie's world.

Sean and his friends who make up the dancing flash mob (or "The Mob", as they call themselves) dream of winning a $100,000 cash prize in a Youtube contest, to see what dance video can get the most views. Sean and Emily happen to meet, since Sean works at a waiter at one of her dad's hotels. But, wouldn't you know it, they come from two different worlds! She's rich, he's poor - there's no way they could have anything in common! But wait! Sean learns that Emily longs to be a dancer, and he volunteers to help her practice. Before long, she's joined The Mob as well. And when her father starts threatening to tear down the poor neighborhood where Sean and his friends live so he can build a new hotel, Emily encourages Sean that they should start "dancing with a message", and protest against her father's plan. But how are they going to pull that off, when no one in The Mob knows that Emily is the daughter of their enemy? And when they do find out who she is, will they be able to trust Sean for keeping her secret from them?

Look, I get that Step Up: Revolution (just like the previous three movies in the series) is not about the plot - it's about the elaborately choreographed dance sequences. The problem for me was that the stuff in-between the dancing was a lot more inane than usual for this franchise. The acting is a lot stiffer, which is no surprise, considering that the two leads have no previous acting experience whatsoever. Everyone in this movie was obviously hired for their looks and their dancing ability, so whenever the script requires them to emote, nobody's up to the challenge. The plot is also a lot dumber than normal, with a lot of logic holes stringing up the various cliches that make up the narrative. My favorite moment occurs near the end, when the city's Mayor (who has been supporting the greedy villain throughout the movie) suddenly changes his mind when he sees the kids dancing, and even begins getting down right along side them. It's one of the few moments I can remember literally groaning out loud at what I was watching.

While I have not exactly been a fan of this series in the past, I've often been able to admit that they were energetic, thanks to the spirited music and dance sequences. But, there's just something very lame and generic about this movie. Even though the dancing is as spirited as ever, I just couldn't get into it, due to the horrible stuff surrounding it. A movie like this requires you to shut down your brain in order to enjoy it. I guess I just couldn't comply this time.

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