Step Up Revolution: Miami Heat (2012)

   It’s been a very long time since my last post, and yes a lot had happened. I'm a BSN graduate now and currently bummed after more than a month of waiting for the board exam results. I just realized how I'm not taking advantage of my status, for it’s really a perfect time  to blog on movies since I still have a lot of free time to watch them until the results come up. So here it goes, SPOILER ALERT!

   I just watched Step Up Revolution last Thursday  with my sister and my high school classmates. We watched it in 3D, since there is only one cinema for it and because my classmate wanted it, but I think 2D would be enough for that. And also the good thing in this series is that you don't need to have watched the other three films (though I did actually) to understand the story since they are not really interconnected, though some cast would  do cameo appearance on the other. Imagine how the story would go if it is all related. 

Step Up Revolution (Dance/Romance)

  So the story is about a girl named Emily (Kathryn McCormick) who wants to be a dancer but there is a thing that hinders her for being such (I guess it's always like that), this time it's her father, who would like her to work for him in his business. Then there is The Mob, which is the crew in the film who is joining a youtube (Yutub!) competition where they should gain 20 million views, or is it a billion?  (again, competitions and the use of youtube are not novelty to this series).  Sean (Ryan Guzman), the leader of The Mob met Emily in a beach party and eventually she became part of the crew and that is when the conflict sets in, as a news about how a Mr. Anderson (Peter Gallagher) would develop a new hotel in their neighborhood , making them leave and lose their homes and jobs.  Emily then had an idea of using the mob in a social revolution she calls protest art  against her father's plan of destroying their neighborhood. Oops! I've said it already, that Mr. Anderson I've mentioned is actually the father of Emily and they (Sean and Emily) intentionally made it a secret to the crew. And now we know how stuff like that goes - it's bad! The crew then set up a mob to humiliate Emily in front of her father (That was really a pestering idea!). After that, the crew broke up, the plan of Mr. Anderson continues making the residents leave the neighborhood and Emily did not pass her final auditions for a dancing institution she'd like to be part of. The resolution sets in with Eddy (Misha Hamilton), the other leader of the crew and best friend of Sean, realized his faults and apologized to Sean with the idea of making The Mob conclusion. To sum it all up, it's all about, speaking up, making your voices heard- fighting for what you really love.

   Despite that common things among all the step up movies, what seems to be edgy in this fourth installment and also one of the reason that I loved it (I'm kind of biased here since I'm a big fan of it) is its use of the contemporary theme of flash mob- the obvious reason for the name of the crew. For those who doesn't  know what that is, flash mob is actually a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform some action and eventually disperse quickly, though today were familiar of it's use as a performance art as showed in dancing but it actually started as a sort of playful social experiment of gathering a great number of people in a commercialized place, doing so with a reason of just because they can and at times could be viewed as a public disturbance. Also, the mob performances in the film were different from what I used to know, of having what seems to be a number of unrelated people joining together to perform. In the movie, it's somehow obvious that they are a group since they would have almost the same (maybe in theme) outfit or costumes. I suppose it's all for the "good for the shot" thing, since it really would look better instead of the usual, which could get, maybe, boring. But there was an exception, the finale mob where there were mob members disguised as police officers. Oh well.

  Regarding my favorite mob, my top would be that in the gallery. It made use of body paint to camouflage in a piece of painting. That was so cool, but kind of "bitin" (what's the english word for that? Oh I know na!, It kind of left you hanging) because I was waiting for the other paintings to move but there were only two. For the other parts presented in the gallery, I don't have any idea why is it even there. Anyway my second one is the mob at the meeting (I changed my mind, I have to say that this is my first because the only thing I liked in the gallery where the dancing paintings) where they all wore suits. The really cool part I liked was when they were walking and they started to pause one by one. So cool! The third would be the finale though the only thing I really liked was when a mob member looked like he fell from the top of the container pile but surprisingly bounced back atop. (I've always wanted a trampoline! Haha!).

   Also one of the thing I liked in the movie is the guy who makes the The Mob signage or structures or whatever at the end of every performance. Those are really so cool! He's cool!

   At the end of the movie, my classmate told me how he missed dancing, and really, movies like these makes you feel that way, inspire you in a way or on the other hand, makes you envious of the fact that you don't have that kind of talent, guilty! haha! Me? at the end of the movie I'm like, where's the Nike ad? and I actually thought that Olivia (Mia Michaels), of the dance institution I forgot the name of, will reconsider Emily after watching the last performance with Sean (maybe on tv or youtube) which was supposedly her audition piece. I guess it's too dragging. Anyway, I also  thought that among the four Step Up movies, this could be the most expensive to produce with all the people and the sets, so I looked it up on the net and I was right for it has an estimated $33 million as a budget, though it is just $3 million higher from the third movie. Gosh, that is a lot of money!

 The lead roles:  Kathryn McCormick is actually from So You Think You Can Dance (I was really thinking where I've seen her since she was really familiar, or maybe I just associated her with Alyson Stoner a.k.a Camille, the partner of Moose in Step Up 3D and Miley Cyrus or maybe Shamcey Supsup). With Ryan Guzman, it's actually the first time I've seen him and I guess it's actually his debut film. He is actually a model and a mixed martial arts fighter.  I think Step Up movies not only brought us those great dance moves but also handsome men and lovely ladies (with their great, built up bodies) to watch out for, this ain't Miami Heat for no reason. The lead roles are really critical in the success of movies, since the audience would be watching over them for an hour and so, so if they don't click to the masses, that would be the end of it.

   The thing is that, in these kind of movies,  it's not about the plot or the story anymore, it is much of the way they make it entertaining to watch meaning the dance numbers and all those colors and artsy things involved in it. So despite the generic plot and the bad reviews, I still have to say that this is my favorite of the four (I never actually thought of my favorite of the three movies before) because of the flash mob and the The Mob arts. Very artistic and entertaining. 

That's it. What's your favorite mob performance or scene in the movie?

Note: Google-d all the pictures. 

Be my reader! :)