REVIEW

Step Up Revolution

— Step Up Revolution

85 Cast: Ryan Guzman, Kathryn McCormick, Misha Gabriel Hamilton, Michael ‘Xeno’ Langebeck, Stephen Boss, Mario Ernesto Sanchez, Peter Gallagher, Cleopatra Coleman Director: Scott Speer Rating: PG-13, for some suggestive dancing and language Running time: 97 minutes

Nobody buys a ticket to see a Step Up movie expecting to hear Harold Pinter-esque dialogue or to decipher elaborate plots. That’s why they’re titled “Step Up” instead of “Speak Up” or “Think Deeply.”

Adding 3-D to the mix has actually forced the rotating lineup of filmmakers who work on these things to find ways to make all the young, scantily clad, gyrating bodies bouncing across the screen (or in this case out of the screen) interesting.

Setting the new installment in Miami was a smart move. The city (where the film was actually shot) is suitably scenic, and adding a Latin beat certainly makes the music more distinctive. There are also dozens of props for the dancers to toss at viewers during the action sequences. No, you can’t pick them up after the movie.

Screenwriter Jenny Mayer as- sembles the story the way most of us put together magnetic poetry, but at least she finds dozens of excuses for the young cast to stop talking and start hoofing.

The Mob is a flash-mob group that is fighting hard against musical cats to gain recognition and possibly cash from YouTube. To their credit, leaders Sean (Ryan Guzman) and Eddy (Misha Gabriel Hamilton) know that it’s tough to beat felines for page views.

Instead, they and their posse set up elaborate and sometimes breathtaking dance-offs in public places where their antics are least expected. Whether it’s one of Miami’s biggest intersections, an art gallery, City Hall, a high-dollar eatery or the docks, these folks know how to make their contortions jaw-dropping as well as telegenic.

Their reign is threatened when a Trump-like developer named Bill Anderson (Peter Gallagher) takes over the swank resort where Sean and Eddy work their day gigs. Anderson wants to tear down some culturally significant areas to build more luxurious digs, even if it means that established businesses will have to close.

Fortunately, the Mob also has a new ally. Anderson’s daughter Emily (Kathryn Mc-Cormick) just happens to be a skilled dancer and is happy to help the Mob make a point about needless development. She can’t reveal who she really is for fear of alienating her new dance partners, but she can’t resist Sean’s charms, either.

The fight to preserve Miami’s unique culture and Emily’s forbidden attraction to Sean could have been developed into more than an excuse for the dancing to start. McCormick was obviously cast for her ability to reduce gravity from a law to a polite suggestion. The So You Think You Can Dance veteran can obviously move, but reciting lines isn’t her strong suit. In addition, her finely chiseled face isn’t as expressive as the rest of her physique.

If 3-D is to become as essential to cinema as sound and color have become, it needs to be used for something other than alien invasions or cartoons. The Step Up movies and the documentary Pina show that some of the tastiest eye candy can come from something as simple as a couple sharing a mamba.

MovieStyle, Pages 35 on 07/27/2012

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