September 01, 2008

It’s time to fight for the only thing left worth fighting for! Step Up 2: The Streets gives you the sense that everyday high school kids don’t know a lot but one thing they do know is reputations. Having a huge reputation on the streets is just like having a big CEO Job at a big corporation.

We pick up our story following Andie in her struggle to find her way in life like any other high school girl. She is always finding a way to her herself into trouble at school and seems to only want to hang out and dance with her true family and crew; the 401. On the verge of being sent to Texas, away from everything she knows, she is forced to enroll in a new dance school start building a new life.

Here is where she meets up with some new friends and starts to see what really matters in life and what is best for her. As she falls further away from her old life, it still can’t help but force its way back into her new one and really make things complicated.

In her last effort to completely move on she joins up with the newest heartthrob in her life and form a new crew with all the outcast of her new school to battle for the Streets Title. Now dancing behind the headmasters back, facing expulsion, and up against time she must mesh with her new friends styles and come up with the hip new dance that will overthrow the defending champs, the 401, for the Streets Title and all the bragging rights out there.

Enjoy cameos from the Jabbawockeez and performances from some of the best dancers across the country. They will make your jaws drop and keep your eyes glued to the television with some of the best and coolest choreography ever assembled with the best dance scene ever created to finish everything off.

Filmmaking: 7
Director Jon M. Chu has assembled the best dance crew members available. The problem with having professional dancers as main characters in your movie is that they have to also be the actors. There were some bright spots in the movie with some of the lead actors. But I have to be honest; at times it was really really hard to watch it. The bright side is that those times were semi-washed away when the shut their mouths and did what they do best; DANCED!

The camera angles were amazing, especially the opening subway scene. Surprisingly there was a lot of thought put into this movie and it showed with flying colors and will have you glued to the edge of your seat and television with the all the dance scenes, especially the final dance performance.

Visuals: 9
As I said before, the camera angles were amazing and well thought through. You get the best part of the dance moves and you are left wanting more and more. There are some shots that are shaky and you lose the dancers for a second with extras getting in the way but all that is few and far between. You really feel like you are in the crowd while the dances are taking place.

Sound: 10
The music for this movie could not have been any better. This is what the movie is all about, music and dancing. Every song fits perfectly with every scene and just makes you want to get out of your seat and dance with the beat!

Value: 8
This disc has some really cool extra features. All the music videos from the songs that are in the movie are available to watch. There is a behind the making documentary which shows you how they shot the movie and most importantly the first every subway dance scene. This gives you a much better appreciation of the movie, but nothing really makes you want to watch anything but the final dance scene over again.

Overall: 8.7
This score could vary a lot either way depending on what you are looking for. I had extremely low expectations (the only reason I agreed to this review was because I really like watching the Jabbawockeez) and was blown away with this movie. The dancing was cool to watch and the final dance off is the best dance sequence I have ever seen. And the fact that it is 10 minutes long really makes the movie better because the whole movie builds up to this moment and it isn’t over before it begins.

If you are looking for something other than a movie with cool dances you will give this a much lower score due to the dull plot line and hard to watch acting. This movie will surprise you wither way and really isn’t all that bad as you might have thought first seeing the trailers.