Movie Online - Review: Step Up 2 The Streets Has High Energy

Review: Step Up 2 The Streets Has High Energy

Thursday, 14 February 2008

Step Up 2 The Streets

It would be easy to write something scathing about Step Up 2 The Streets. Terrible dialogue coupled with the easy coincidences that exemplify an average script - these are the elements I could harp on were I that sort of fellow. I'm not going to do that though. There are far more interesting things to talk about and to judge a movie like Step Up 2 The Streets on the plot is to miss the entire point. We're all there to see some moves, and those moves were effective. The main thing folks will take from this movie should be: "Man, these kids can really dance."

Which is good, if you name your movie Step Up 2 The Streets you're clearly setting a high bar for yourself. Briana Evigan in particular was effective in her role of Andie, the film's main character. She enrolls at the Maryland Fine Arts School to avoid being shipped off to Texas by an adoptive mother (in the grand tradition of all movies there's a dead parent angle). The central conflict of the film is her "streets" dance crew (The 4-1-0) versus her new MFA friends. Nothing too remarkable about the setup, but the filmmakers were kind enough to include dancing segments every five minutes or so to help us out. Briana (again, as Andie) is clearly in world-class shape -- it's hard to tell if she does all the dancing herself; she certainly looks as though she might have.

Street dancing, as a medium, is not something I have seen much of. Sure, I've seen the movies, but I've never seen spontaneous dancing break out on the subway... and I've definitely never seen folks take dance battles quite so seriously. That's where most of the giggling came in here, at how over-the-top they played most of the dramatic angles. That's the main reason this will never be Dirty Dancing, but I don't think they were shooting for a classic. I'd guess the script was written to show off the dancing. At least I hope it went down like that.

Oh, one last thing, Adam G. Sevani was really stellar as "Moose." The part was meant to be the nerdy friend but Adam brought a little something extra to the role. The acting, overall, was actually pretty solid here. The actors were undercut by one average scene after another, but then a dance battle would start and I'd be intrigued again. The movie is a fairly joyful enterprise. I laughed half a dozen times when I was supposed to, and it felt like the group had a pleasant time making the movie. That counts for something, right?

This movie won't change the world, but for the people who were already interested in it I can't see them being disappointed. The movement is out of this world, with very high energy, and that makes up for the other flaws in my book. I found it to be a fun movie. Not a great movie, heck probably not even a good movie... but worth recommending to those already predisposed. The chances are you're not going to see a dance battle break out in your cubicle anytime soon... so take this in if you get a hankering.

Grade: C+