DVD Reviews

Step Up 3

• Rating:
• Director: John Chu
• Starring: Alyson Stoner
• Details: US/TBC TBC

After the surprise success of the first two films, a shiner sequel coupled with pretty but gimmicky 3D was somewhat inevitable. Returning director Chu ups the ante in terms of the dance sequences and ponderous shots of folk who 'just wanna dance' looking into space whilst thinking of their troubled childhoods, but fails at pretty much everything else. This contrived, horribly scripted sequel also boasts one of the most vacant lead performances in memory. Handsome Rick Malambri acts like he's being fed his lines through an ear-piece, while some of the dance routines his character is involved in are blatantly not him - unless his height changed considerably during production.
A tenuous link to the first film arrives in the geeky form of Moose; the annoying nerd who was tepid comic relief last time out. The filmmakers haven't quite got the balls to make the unconventional looking actor lead here, so instead we're given a new couple; Vinson's (strikingly similar to the last films lead) Natalie, and Malambri's Luke, a man with a gift for sticking a camera in people's faces and having them suffer from emotional diarrhoea. She joins his merry band of dancers who live in the kind of New York loft normally only seen in rappers videos, and the two begin grinding up on each other almost immediately. But she has a secret, and he's too thick to figure it out.
It's fair to say that a simplistic storyline in these type of movies isn't so much accepted as expected; but when you're three flicks in, and regurgitating the same love story in a different guise then it's time to reboot or give up. It appears the inclination was there, as the talented Sevani is much better this time out, while the addition of Stoner as his love interest helps make it the real story we want to be watching - despite its reliance on cliché. Alas, neither are pretty enough, so an awkward romance with a more aesthetically pleasing couple is inserted with the subtly of a stray breakdancing limb to the mush. Vinson's likeness to Step Up 2 star Briana Evigan also comes off as a cynical move to make possible punters think this is a continuation of that story - it isn't.
The dance scenes are impressive; but unless you're well-versed in that world it won't look any different than a group from Britain's Got Talent. The 3D is just an excuse to charge more and isn't worth the extra admission either. Go see only if you've loved the other films, or have a vested interest in bodypopping.

Review by Mike Sheridan