Huge amount of expectations from this movie after the amazing success from Step Up 1 and Step Up 2. Personally I enjoyed Step Up 2 more than anything because that whole emotional tension, and the discovering of so many underdogs, that journey was magical and meaningful. I say this because that's what's missing from this movie. A quick overview would be that even though the dancing is amazing (literally some of the moves are out of this world), the movie has no storyline so to speak off, the acting isn't there, the leads aren't strong enough, the movie lacked the punch that the first two movies delivered. It didn't have a soul. In the first two movies dancing was something that brought out a new character within the people which gave them respect, here, it was very superficial. The plot is quite simple. Two friends who're the core part of a crew, part ways because one of them throws the battle to pay off his gambling debt (kind of like match fixing!). That becomes their basis for rivalry. Then there are two crews, The Samurai's (Bad Guys) and the Pirates (Good Guys). To divert a little, the names of these crews are so common place it's not even funny, I mean the 410 had a good sound to it, a niche, new, unique beat to it. This has nothing like that. The Pirates have Jacob (sort of like a an acting captain) and Luke (the guy in the background who's got these guys together). They are a bunch of great unique dancers, from across the world. The challenge? World Jam Competition. The winning crew gets $100,000. Motive? They need that money to pay off the mortgage of the warehouse in which they've set up their studio (owned by Luke's late parents). The twist? Natalie. Moose has been surprisingly given a lead in this movie, and he's paired with his "best friend" Chamel (she's the foster sister of the lead actor from Step Up 1) :)
Problems: Luke is not a dancer. He's a filmmaker. He records all these people dance, and edits them to make a film. The beauty is that the way he does things is really beautiful. They should've made the movie like that. At least that had some soul in it. But the problem is that since he's not the dancer types, his moves are not fluid. They look forced, choreographed. He barely dances in the movie. So his lead falls pretty much flat.
Natalie's a good dancer. But her style is identical and even her looks for that matter to the lead actress from Step Up 2. So it's kind of disturbing to see a lookalike in the movie. Her acting skills are quite so-so. And she doesn't have the chemistry with Luke. It's just not passionate enough.
Moose is a great dancer. He's done some awesome moves and I think he's done the best job in terms of acting in the movie too. But the problem is that Moose can't be the lead. He can't be the lead actor, or the lead dancer. He's not charismatic enough. And his dialogue delivery is not that strong. The basic problem is that his character was never meant to be a central character which is why it had never been fleshed out enough. So you can't suddenly pluck him out of his character and expect him to carry the movie for you. It doesn't work. Besides his whole pair - "only best friends" with that girl and all is cute but not "aww". But you have to see that dance that both of them do on the streets on some awesome track "I can't dance". It's too cute!! Funnily he kisses that girl in the final scene, and it's almost like no one noticed it! It was not well done at all!
To add to this, so the whole crew and all go through some issues and they almost decide not to participate, blah blah. In the end, almost as though to salvage the story more than the actual scenario in the movie, the crew from Step Up 2 including Kito, Fly, Smile, Monster come and dance and manage to help these guys win the competition. It looked like a last-ditch attempt to save the day (for the movie!) to me.
But the cinematography, the set design, the choreography, most of the music, is great! :)
So all in all, I'm disappointed by the story, the actors, and the movie in general. I wish they'd done a better job! Although if you're a dance person, go and see it for the beauty of the dance!
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