Step Up: All In
Director: Trish Sie
Actors: Alyson Stoner, Ryan Guzman, Briana Evigan
Release Date: Saturday 30th November 2013
Genre(s): Drama
Running time: 112 minutes
There was a time about a decade or so back when dance movies were all the rage, with every second cinema release being a Street Dance, or a Save The Last Dance, or a Make It Happen. The trend seems to have died off, but nobody has told that to the people behind the Step Up franchise, now unleashing their FIFTH entry of the series unto unsuspecting cinema-goers.
Sean (Ryan Guzman, the guy from Step Up 4) is finding it difficult landing a job in LA, so when his dance crew bail and head back to Miami, he decides to create a new crew from some of the best/most loved/everyone but Channing Tatum characters from previous Step Up movies. So we’ve got Moose (Step Up 2), The Santiago Twins (Step Up 3D), Vladd (Step Up 4), etc, etc… but the most important re-addition is Andie (Bryana Evigan), who is constantly challenging Sean for leadership of the group. They’re all training for a competition in Vegas that will set them up for the foreseeable future, but will Sean’s win-at-any-cost tactics clash with Andie’s lets-just-enjoy-ourselves style? Of course it will.
There has been a sliding scale in the quality of the Step Up movies, as expected from any franchise running this long (bar the rules-defying Fast & Furious), but even as a Step Up apologist, All In has got to be the worst in the series to date. The script is a checklist of clichés, the acting is mostly terrible, even the dance scenes aren’t all that great. The soundtrack, usually a saving grace of the series to date, is now filled with aggressive EDM from Skrillex and Afrojack, which doesn’t make for enjoyable listening.
Another major problem is that our leading man Sean is so unlikeable that unless you’re totally forgiving of anyone with model good looks and Abercrombie & Fitch abs, then you’re likely to hate him. On the other hand, Bryana Evigan is deserving of much better than this and needs to switch agents ASAP.
The tagline for the movie “Every step has led to this”. Let’s hope it’s the last one.
