Step Up Review
by Tim Voon (winklebeck AT hotmail DOT com)November 4th, 2006
Step Up (2006)
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 2006 Timothy Voon
3 out of 5 stars
Directed by: Anne Fletcher
Written By: Diane Adler, Melissa Rosenberg
Cast: Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan, Rachael Griffiths
This movie is an enjoyable mixture of modern dance, rap, ballet, break and hip hop. I can't really quite define the dancing style in this movie any other way. I am not going to compare it to other 'dance' movies because I think it would be unfair to do so as 'dance' is constantly evolving. We had 'Fame' and 'Saturday Night Fever' in the 70s; 'Dirty Dancing' and 'Flash Dance' in the 80s; river dancing and a revival of ballroom dancing in the 90s; and now 'Step Up'. Each of these periods of dance are all different and exciting in their own right.
Many people will criticize this film for being predictable and cliché'. There are probably not wrong, but what I enjoyed about it the most was the dancing - it is creative and enjoyable to watch. The characters are not annoying or steeped with personal issues (thank god); and do not overtake the film as its central theme. It is essentially a movie about dance, and how it can change people's lives.
The main leads are Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) who is as comfortable dancing on stage, as being a 'jock' on the soccer field in 'She's the Man'. He is an exciting young actor to look out for in future films. I am not sure if he has been formally trained in dance, but he can really move his body in this film. Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan) is the female lead who is stuck without a partner for her senior year performance on which she will be graded, and from which offers from dance companies will be given to her. Her original partner has sprained his ankle, and Tyler who is doing community service for vandalism at the school of arts steps in to be her practice partner.
This is where the mixture of styles of dancing takes place. She is classically trained, and well he isn't. Slowly with practice and time, her style of dancing influences him and vice versa. The positive affects that come through are that she creates a modern dance that meshes ballet with street dancing. It is this melding of characters on screen and on the dance floor which works for this movie. If lets say the two lead cast members Tatum and Dewan had no chemistry on screen, their dance sequences would have failed miserably. But on the contrary, they do meld on screen and on the dance floor, which is why this movie works, and is the surprise hit of the summer.
Well done.
Timothy Voon
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