The
Step Up movies themselves have become formulaic within
their own formula. But, when you love what they do -- as we do -- it
doesn’t really matter.
Step Up: All In hits theaters and although it isn’t the best of the series, it is right near the top and an utter blast from beginning to end.
What makes this one so special, as you can tell from the
Step Up: All In trailer, is
that it brings back a slew of uber-talented dancers from previous
installments for one Las Vegas-set explosion of dance deliciousness.
Ryan Guzman returns as Sean and he and his crew are not having the best
of luck in Los Angeles. There’s a great opening segment with them
attending audition after audition after audition. Perhaps it’s so funny
because it’s right out of reality!
tWitch
also returns as Jason -- part of Sean's dancing group -- and he and the
crew feel that they have done as well as they are going to do in LA and
it’s time to leave town and head back home. Sean disagrees, yet the
crew still leaves.
Soon after, Sean hears about a dance competition in Las Vegas that will
award the winner a three-year contract for a show at a big Strip
casino. He forms a new crew, including returning favorite Moose (Adam
Sevani), and they head to Sin City.
The competition sequences, as you would expect from a
Step Up
movie, are jaw-dropping. And by this point the filmmakers behind this
franchise are beyond astute at using 3D cameras that literally put the
audience into the routine. And don’t get us started on the power of the
soundtrack that gets these dancers moving in sequences unlike any you’ve
seen before.
What makes this a truly special
Step Up movie is when Sean’s
former crew runs into him and his new crew during the Las Vegas
competition. A vicious rivalry could ensue, but they become one happy
family. And we have to say that when they join forces to perform, it is
the best number ever performed in a
Step Up movie.
In fact, it’s worth the price of admission for the entire film
Step Up: All In just to witness this envelope-pushing sequence.
Yes, one does not go to a
Step Up movie for the acting. But,
there is something truly special about the chemistry of the two leads,
Guzman and Briana Evigan as Andie. Their beautiful dance duet to Bobby
Brown’s
Every Little Step I Take recalls something out of an old Hollywood dance movie -- right down to the abandoned amusement park-set landscape.
See, that’s just it about these
Step Up movies, our
Step Up: All In review
can report. Although they utilize modern technology with 3D cameras and
athleticism that goes beyond what anyone could ever have imagined years
ago, these films never forget the song and dance classics of old that
are the very reason there even is a
Step Up at all.
