Dance movies share a fascinatingly large amount of genre DNA with action movies. Each genre features archetypal characters kinetically and propulsively burning through plot, hitting large set pieces along the way. The difference between car chases and explosions, and dance contests and dance battles is of style and not actual plot mechanics. Indeed many scenes, from getting the gang together to planning the big heist, can be lifted almost entirely from one genre to the other. The Step Up series understands these similarities and patterns better than any other dance movie, which is why it is the dance franchise that keeps spawning sequel after sequel all of which have collectively grossed over half a billion dollars.
The original Step Up is unwatchable garbage. It is dry, dull, and unimpressive, particularly in light of its sequels. The most notable thing about it is that it has a young, and not particularly good, Channing Tatum in it. He comes out looking quite good in it, but that is simply because no one is given anything to do that could surpass him, his abilities and limitations are what set the bar of highest achievement for the whole movie. The film moves at an incredibly languid pace and takes itself far, far too seriously for a stupid dance movie. It is noticeable that its singular contributions the rest of the franchise consist of nothing more than the setting of the Maryland School of the Arts and the incredibly minor (in this film) character Camille.
Step Up 2 The Streets is the movie where the franchise really starts to shine. If all the individual pieces were present in the original film, it isn't until the sequel that they actually congeal into the incredibly winning formula that transverses the rest of the series. It also introduces what is the franchise's most indelible character, Moose. Step Up 2 The Streets immediately sets itself apart from the original with an opening scene of dancers in masks engaging in performance art in a subway. It is both more visually interesting and more ambitious than anything in the original, and announces this film will be a brighter, louder, more kenetic experience. The film follows street dancer Andie, as she is admitted into the prestigious world of MSA. After failing out of highschool, thanks apparently due to her spending all her time with her dance crew. If she does not manage to make MSA work, she will be shipped off to Texas. She winds up befriending the local tech geek, Moose, who just happens to be an amazing, undiscovered dancer. She also finds her bland, white leading man (every Step Up movie features a pair of bland, white leads), an advanced dance student who is frustrated with all the pomposity of MSA and wants to street dance. Which is good because there's a huge underground street dance contest. Cut to putting together a crew of freaks and weirdos, which provides much of the comic relief. This movie also distinguishes itself from the original by being funny on both an intentional and unintentional level. The major conflict of the film is that the MSA crew are de facto banned from the dance contest because they are not "from the neighborhood." Yes, this is a movie about how rich, (mostly) white kids attending private school are discriminated and oppressed by poor black kids. But you don't really have to ruminate on that theme, as the movie is propulsivlly pushing you through dance breaks, training montages, and romantic tension. All of which culminates in an explosive final performance in the rain. After which, everything sort of magically is all right, all sins forgiven, and everyone lives happily ever after.
If Step Up 2 the Streets was a leaner, more kinetic movie than the original Step Up, Step Up 3D is even more pared down to exactly what works: massive dance scenes, wacky characters, and bland romance. It is also the movie most willing to directly lift from action movies, in the most hilarious way possible. It opens with Moose and Camille, Channing Tatum's little sister from the original movie, going through freshmen orientation at NYU. Moose almost immediately gets into a dance battle, which he obviously wins, and one wacky police chase latter he is recruited by dancer/club owner Luke to be a part of his secret dance crew, as Moose unintentionally beat the leader of the Samurai, the most dangerous dancers in New York. If this movie has a flaw, it is that it sets itself up as a Moose movie, because, duh, he's only the most developed, most interesting character in the series, when really Moose plays the exact same role to Luke that he did to Andie. Once more, though, he manages to outshine both leads of the film by miles. Well Luke and all his dance friends live in a secret club house on the the second floor of a dance club, but they are six months late on the mortgage and about to loose it and all be homeless. Fortunately there is a dance battle which will award its winners $100,000, so all is not lost. Complicating matters is the fact that Luke's girlfriend is actually a spy for the dreaded Samurai! BETRAYAL! It's all just a bunch of silly plotlines designed to propel the characters into a series of fun, visually arresting dance battles, culminating in Step Up's typically insane and over the top final dance number, this one deliberately emulating a shootout to the point where dancers are miming shooting each other with guns. It throws heroes, villains, plots, and set pieces into one magnificent movie.
Step Up Revolution abandons everything the series has established previously, and relocates to Miami. On top of dispensing with the characters and settings of the franchise, it even eliminates the typical dance contests and dance battles. Instead the dance crew is made up of performance artists, and fittingly the dance numbers here are the most focused on aesthetics, over technical skill out of all the movies. It regurgitates '80s movie plots, an evil real estate developer has bought up a small, coastal Hispanic community and is evicting all of them to build a resort. But not if the dancers have anything to say about it. There's something delightfully naive about the idea that the forces of capitalism can be stopped simply through the power of dance, as if the movie missed out on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There is also a bland white romance between the developer's daughter and the leader of the dance crew, but that's insignificant compared to just how gorgeous the cinematography is. It is the best shot of the Step Up movies, and with the most ambitious choreography.
The Step Up movies are not great movies. But they are fun movies. They are fun on a level that few movies can compete with. A Step Up movie makes you feel good. It makes you want to get a bunch of friends together and go out dancing. There's nothing deep or dark about them, just consistently entertaining movies that never drag, filled with visual spectacle. Step Up 3D is probably the best, but you can watch any of the three sequels and just enjoy the experience, laughing with (and occasionally at) the movie. They're like big, dumb action movies, pushing the viewer through the movie to look at the next cool thing.
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