Step Up All In

Skilfull dancers from Step Up movies past join together to compete in the Vortex dance tournament.

I've only seen two of the previous Step Up films coming in to Step Up 5: All In. Because of that, I think I may have missed the excitement of the character reveals during this film as it was quite clear there were performers or actors who had appeared in previous installments who had returned but I didn't know who who they were... Anyway, the story here is very similar to Step Up movies past. There's a love interest, a dance group, everybody has a falling out, then they come together to save the day. Same ol', same ol'. The story is hardly anything to write home about, but, the visual presentation is incredible! The colour, the special effects and the 3D was awe inducing at times. The dance choreography was impressive, I don't know another word to use. I'm not into dance, never had an interest in it but the dancing in this film combined martial arts, steampunk and body contortion which I was strangly drawn in to. The music I also found more engaging in this film compared to films past as it combined a variety of music from 80's to rap to salsa as opposed to just one genre. Compared to Step Up 4, this movie is equally enjoyable but I did find the dance routines in Step Up 4 had a much larger scale to them, more use of colours and lighting and was designed for 3D in mind so visually it has the advantage over Step Up 5. However, I enjoyed the styles of music and certain dance routines more in Step Up 5 plus the acting was noticably better I thought with a much more attractive and talented lead actress in Briana Evigan. She can move!

Final Verdict: I don't want to admit it but I actually enjoyed this movie.. I'm not into dance, I'm not big on musicals and yet I was glued to the screen... when they were dancing anyway. It's very much a genre movie and won't be for everybody. Impressive choreography and stunning visuals made up for a boring cliched story and the 3D effects were pretty good to.