Step Up 4: Miami Heat
Director: Scott Speer
Actors: Ryan Guzman, Cleopatra Coleman, Kathryn McCormick
Release Date: Monday 30th November -0001
Genre(s): Drama, Romance
Running time: 99 minutes
It's finally happened. The Step Up franchise has moved from plain crap, to entertainingly bad. That's right; the movie series that gave a home to body-popping, hippity-hop dancing, ridiculously attractive twenty somethings masquerading as teens is finally watchable. By that I mean they've stopped the whole "wrong side of the tracks" thing and moved the location to Miami. Which is different 'cause it's sunny... ya see.
Ryan Guzman is Sean, a dancer from the wrong side of the tracks (damn it!) who is part of a crew called The MOB. See, they go all occupy Wall Street on flashmobs and use them as political and social statements - as well as the whole expressing themselves shtick. On the right side of the tracks is the rich, attractive and bendy Emily (former So You Think You Can Dance contestant Kathryn McCormick) who falls for the help in the hotel her old man (Peter Gallagher phoning it in) owns. See her property magnate father is planning on demolishing a whole area where poor folk reside and building big buildings for rich folk to reside in. The bastard.
Forget that plot bit, it really doesn’t matter - It's horrifically conceived. That much was to be expected in a franchise that ran out of steam halfway through the second dance routine in the first film. It's not that new director Scott Speers gets this so much as doesn't care and ups the volume on the very cool soundtrack to 11. The actors here are also better than the last film, which admittedly, is like being the fittest kid at fatcamp, but earns him points regardless.
The set pieces are pretty fantastic and the performers almost as talented as the dialogue is bad - you can almost hear the director thinking "just shut up and do the robot". Make no mistake, this is a bad film; but if you enjoy it for what it is then there is certainly fun to be had.
Don't judge me.
