Review of Step Up Revolution (2012) by Jeff B — 23 Sep 2012

More of a revulsion than Revolution, Step Up 4 doesn't have any new moves but it does have heart...oh wait, heart's not the word--soullessness, that's it. If anybody's wondering where the slick over-produced music videos from the '90s went, they're masquerading here as filler. At least, this chapter half interestingly angles the dance dance revolution around a flash mob before recycling the capitalist-developer-steamrolling-the-dance-venue plot from the last go-round. The last chapter only boasted the latter point...plus the franchise's obligatory Romeo and Julliard romance, that is. That component remains here, of course, with the new twosome of wooden leads demonstrating nary a trace of true chemistry like original stars Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan.

In this PG-rated dance flick, a girl with aspirations of becoming a professional dancer (McCormick) meets up with the leader of a flash mob dance crew (Guzman, et al) who's working class Miami neighborhood is set to be destroyed by her father's development plans.

It's just the same old song and dance with funkily choreographed dance-offs aplenty. And yes, the hoofing is well staged and shot, but the theme of dance as protest art is the only intriguing Step-ing stone. Ultimately, it's not enough to redeem the tired been-there-seen-that goings on of young beautiful people dancing to make a statement against paper-thin heavies. Step Up, Stomp the Yard, and Take the Lead on the Centerstage--it's strictly dancing-by-numbers with two left feet at this point. Forget the Wayans Brothers. The Step Up franchise has become its own parody of dance flicks.

Bottom line: So You Stink When You Dance?