Step Up
(2006)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C
A tough
street guy who likes to dance gets caught busting up a school for the arts and
has to do community service to work off the damage when he falls for one of its
top dancers in the quasi-Musical mess Step
Up, a 2006 feature directed by the talented choreographer Anne
Fletcher. Can Tyler (Channing Tatum)
work off his debt while adding ballet to his Hip Hop B-Boy style? Will Nora (Jenna Dewan) gets to have her
dream and make it into the arts with his help as a partner? Will this movie ever end?
The
subplots of African American youth in trouble while trying to get by and get
along seem to be only here to give any credibility to the R&B aspects since
white youth cannot possibly understand or appreciate the artform without them,
a lie the film perpetuates (without knowing it?) throughout. The throw-away nature of the African American
characters are shockingly pre-Spike Lee/Black New Wave and sometimes feel more
like Flashdance in the worst
way. The Duane Adler/Melissa Rosenberg
screenplay is formulaic and has no credibility whatsoever, which like the film
never delivers except when it is amusingly bad.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is a little softer than expected as compared
to the 35mm print I saw and was shot by Michael Seresin, a regular
cinematography with Alan Parker who was behind Fame and co-lensed Bugsy
Malone (reviewed elsewhere on this site).
This sometimes looks like Fame,
but is more awkward. Sudden dance sequences
look too unnatural and rehearsed, while any urban look looks forced. The Dolby Digital 5.1 fares a little better
with music by Aaron Zigman (Alpha Dog,
ATL, Take The Lead, 10th
& Wolf) that tries (often in vein) to enhance the narrative. The combination is dull, even when someone is
smart enough to license and sample the Earth, Wind & Fire classic Getaway.
Extras
include three Music Videos, Fletcher/Tatum/Dewan audio commentary track, making
of featurette, deleted scenes, bloopers and MySpace contest segments.
- Nicholas Sheffo
