MOVIE REVIEWS: STEP UP REVOLUTION

Clearly one doesn’t go to the Step Up movies expecting a compelling story, gripping performances, or awesome special effects. They’re all about one thing: the dancing. More Bollywood than Hollywood. And they’re clearly not most critics’ cup of Darjeeling. So, how’s the dancing in Step Up Revolution? Frank Levece in Newsday says it’s OK. “While dance purists won’t be impressed by the energetic and athletic choreography — the dancers have clearly learned routines but not necessarily technique — date-movie audiences will likely want to go out dancing afterward themselves, and that’s fun,” he writes. Neil Genzlinger in the New York Times describes the dance numbers as “invigorating,” but then adds, “Alas, the dancers have to stop sometimes to allow the utterly unoriginal story to be told, and the romance at the center of it inspired Amanda Brody, the screenwriter, to produce dialogue so cheesy as to be laughable.” Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News voices the same reaction. “Here’s what matters,” she writes, “The dance scenes are great. While no more revolutionary than the “political” plotline, the flash-mob concept does allow for more creative choreography than this series has seen in some time.” Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun Times agrees. After tearing apart the plot on a line-by-line basis, McCormick writes: “OK, OK. They’re good dancers, and well-choreographed. You can see the movie for that and be charitable about the moronic plot..” But Mark Olsen in the Los Angeles Times makes the point that “the film’s frantic cutting style makes it difficult to simply enjoy bodies moving in space.” And Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Chronicle is even unwilling to grant that the dancing is notable. “The choreography is awful — mostly staccato gestures, acrobatics and men doing line dances, most of it filmed in short takes and accentuated by stop-action animation to make the dancers look even more mechanical.”