Movie review: Step Up 5: All in + a look back to a whole franchise

Hello!

Another group of movie reviews. Hope you enjoy it!

I have been introduced into Step Up world when I was 9 years old. I remember at that time watching the first Step Up (2006) and falling in love with it. I have seen it countless times and it was like my favorite movie of childhood. Now, as I grow older, I understand that these movies are far from perfect: storylines are really predictable and acting is not that great. However, dancing is badass and no one can argue with that. And let’s face – it is all what we need in a good Step Up movie.

As I said before, I have first seen Step Up (2006) when I was like 9 or 10 years old, my older neighbor who was 13 at that time showed it to me and I remember dancing with her all day after watching it. I liked Channing Tatum and in the movie. I believe that this story was the most original of them all. Rate 4.5/5

Step Up 2: The Streets (2008) focused more on street dancing and hip hop but most importantly it introduced us to Moose played by Adam Sevani. He acts like glue to this franchise like Agent Coulson is to Marvel Cinematic Universe. He is also my favorite character.  Going back to the movie, that final dance in the rain was my favorite dance number till Step Up 3D came up. Rate 4/5

Step Up 3D (2010) is my favorite step up movie story wise. It also has some sick dance numbers but then again, every Step Up movie that comes out is better than the last one and dance numbers are more kick-ass. I also loved the fact that they brought a lot of previous cast for the third film and I was also really excited when they decided to do that in the 5^th film as well. In addition, I really liked Alyson Stoner’s and Adam Sevani’s pair, their dance number in the street was super fun. My favorite part of the movie is the montage of preparation for the final battle in that game station basement. Rate 5/5

Step Up 4: Revolution (2012) is also a really fun movie which explores the theme of fighting for what is right. It also includes flash mobs which were so hot during 2012. My favorite parts are the dance in the museum and the dance in the office. Rate 5/5

Step Up 5: All in (2014). So, two years came by and we have another Step Up movie. I went to see it on an opening night so spoilers ahead if you don’t want to know anything about this film.  I liked that they brought all the previous cast members and that the main characters are also well know (the girl (played by Briana Evigan) is from 2^nd movie and a boy (played by Ryan Guzman) is from 4^th). The whole movie felt like a reunion.

The plot seemed predictable at first but I liked the twist of The Mob turning against new team and then the twist at the end that it was all a scripted reality show. The character development was also better in this movie. We got some Andie’s back story, we also got to know what happened after the events of the 4^th film to the Mob, and finally, we followed up on Camille’s and Moose’s love story. 

However, I got to say that, in my opinion, they ran out of ideas when it comes to dancing. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the performances, especially that Sean’s and Andie’s dance of the carousel in the old Vegas Park and Moose’s dance in the bar but they weren’t super fresh, new or exciting. I guess I have seen too many dance movies and previous 4 Step Up films did not do any favors to the choreography of this film. Moreover, since it is Vegas, everything became more about the show and less about the dancing and techniques. Lastly, I would like to mention two little aspects of the movie which I really enjoyed: Robot love and Twin dancers! Rate 4/5

All in all, my favorite Step Up movies are 3^rd and 4^th, then comes the original movie from 2006 and then The Streets and 5^th film are my least favorite. If they make a sequel I will probably watch it, but be les excited. Hope you have a great evening. Bye!