Tomwithnonumbers
Since: Dec, 2010
07/07/2015 00:00:00
Btw I know this was probably closer to a Wild Mass Guessing than a review but, 5 really is 3 and 4 but with all this quasi-accidental weirdness and what makes 5 fun is how it allows you to read way too much into it
Incidentally The Hunger Games was released in 2012. Step Up 5 was released in 2014. Step Up 5's Alexxa Brava
◊ is an outlandish tv host constantly changing hair colours and just generally looking a lot like Effie Trinket.
Somewhere an executive said "Could you make your silly dance movie more like The Hunger Games". This is a thing that happened =D
Btw I know this was probably closer to a Wild Mass Guessing than a review but, 5 really is 3 and 4 but with all this quasi-accidental weirdness and what makes 5 fun is how it allows you to read way too much into it
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Step Up 5 - Twilight Zone
Step Up 5 was meant to be a normal film. And on the surface it is. But a freak combination of bad directing and wonky plotting makes it so much more.
This is not the story they told, but it is the story I saw.
All is not as expected with the protagonists of the last three films, the planes of existence are colliding and reality has leaked into their lives. Andie (Step Up 2) damaged her ankle and became a production assistant. Reality has allowed Moose (Step Up 3) to actually have a stable happy relationship. And for Sean (Step Up 4), it turns out being a professional dancer pays poorly and has abysmal job security. But Sean can’t let his dreams die, so he turns to an even more dangerous reality. Reality TV.
At first its seems like things are back to normal. The three protagonists meet up and form a dance. There’s a recruiting montage of new and old characters. There’s a big competition to win.
But it's not the same, Reality TV is insidiously working its effects into the film. When they open an invitation it beams the gold rays from Pulp Fiction. The unreal elements stack up more until even the camera is infected. Shots that were like any other are suddenly plastered with Reality TV logos and captions.
Moose was happy with reality. As melodrama flairs up he finds his girlfriend is suddenly on the casino floor in Las Vegas with him as another woman kisses him. But he does enjoy dancing.
Andie might not like reality, but she’s resigned to it. You do your job and move on. To be let back into the world of dance films once in a while is enough for her and she doesn’t want to push and lose it all again.
Sean, Sean can’t handle it. Caught in the maelstrom of worlds it becomes a mania for him as he careers back and forth, unable to find his place and instead of stopping to regain rebalance his fear drives him to move even harder which things even worse. The new Reality is too stylised, too extreme.
And then comes the realisation. Dance films are about taking everything and repackaging it into a reality that feels good and makes you smile. Real problems? That’s just a Challenge to Overcome. And if Reality TV is the villain, well there’s only one way to deal with that…
They danced and someone had a problem with that, so they dance and everything is fine.
Which is why Step Up 5 might be the greatest of them all.