Step Up Revolution

Step Up Revolution (also known as Step Up 4: Miami Heat, and previously titled Step Up 4Ever) is a 2012 American 3D dance film and the fourth installment in the Step Up film series was released on July 27, 2012. The film was directed by Scott Speer and stars Ryan Guzman and Kathryn McCormick, the latter from the sixth season of So You Think You Can Dance.^[3] The film features choreography by Jamal Sims, Christopher Scott, Chuck Maldonado^[4] and Travis Wall.^[5] The production design was created by Carlos A. Menendez. Unlike the first three films, produced by Touchstone Pictures and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, this film was produced by Summit Entertainment and Offspring Entertainment without Disney's involvement and distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment. This is also the first Summit Entertainment film after being acquired by Lionsgate in January 2012.

Plot

The movie begins on Ocean Drive in Miami, Florida. A flashmob, later identified as 'The Mob,' shuts down Ocean Drive by cutting off the streets with retro convertibles and dancing on cars to music blasted by DJ Penelope (Cleopatra Coleman). A few hours later, Sean (Ryan Guzman), Eddie (Misha Gabriel), and Jason (Stephen "tWitch" Boss), the leaders of the Mob, watch their latest flashmob air on the news in a restaurant kitchen where they work. A few complain about their public disturbance, while others praise it. After they get off work, they sneak into the Dimont Hotel's beach club (where they work), claiming to be guests, not employees.

Meanwhile, across the club at the bar, Emily (Kathryn McCormick) tries to get the waiter's attention, but ends up preparing her own beer. Sean, who is immediately smitten by her, asks for a beer. She tells him its on the house, then heads down to the beach to dance, resulting in a dance battle between the two, but ending with Emily suddenly running off when she sees on of her dad's business partners, Trip.

The next day, Emily and her dad Bill Anderson (Peter Gallagher) argue over breakfast at the Dimont Hotel. Sean, their waiter, immediately recognizes her, but Emily spills her orange juice in an attempt to distract Sean. He helps clean it up, but when he goes to far Emily immediately storms off in an angry fit with Sean following her into the hotel's ballroom, where Emily begins a fast contemporary dance, oblivious to Sean's presence. After Emily notices Sean and warms up to him, she explains to him that she's trying to nail an audition for the prestigious Winwood Dance Academy Company, which she is already a pupil of. Sean advises her to incorporate faster, more interesting moves, but Emily declines, saying that there are rules. Sean, in turn, tells her to break the rules, giving her an address and telling her to come there. Emily does and finds herself at the Miami Museum of Fine Arts, where the paintings and statues come to life, which is work of the Mob. By telling her to attend, Sean basically reveals to her his participation in the Mob.

The next day, Emily persuades Sean to let her take part in their next Mob, which is scheduled to hit a restaurant the following week. Eddy immediately dislikes Emily, giving her the lead to test her. Sean then introduces her to "the gang" where she meets Eddy (The Hacker), Penelope (The DJ), Jason (The FX), and Mercury (The Artist), who never talks. He also explains that they are trying to win a contest through YouTube by getting 10 million hits on the site. The flashmob goes well and Eddy admits that Emily did great. They then celebrate at Ricky's, where Emily and Sean salsa together, much to everyone's delight. Emily and Sean then sneak onto a boat Sean had reserved for himself to sail down the river. There, they bond over their mothers both not being a part of their lives, and they kiss and sleep on the boat until morning. When they hurry back to Ricky's, which turns out to be owned by Sean's uncle, Ricky reveals to them that Emily's dad, a building tycoon, is planning to develop the strip, destroying Ricky's bar, Sean's home, Sean's sister's home and workplace, and many other things. Enraged, Emily storms off to talk to her dad, with Sean following behind her. Emily wants to tell the Mob who her dad is, but is reluctantly convinced by Sean not to. She instead finds out from her dad that there will be a meeting to determine whether the project to develop the strip goes through or not. She convinces the rest of the Mob to protest the plans. Their dance is a huge hit, gaining the group over a million more views.

Eddy finds out that Emily is Bill's daughter through watching a tape of Sean and Emily rehearsing where she reveals the truth, without knowing that they are being recorded. Enraged, he reveals with the Mob to Bill through a protest dance that Emily is a part of the Mob. This ruins relationships for Emily with Sean (romantically), Eddy (friendly), Bill (trustfully), and the rest of the Mob. Emily leaves embarrassed, and Sean, brokenhearted, is arrested for trying to stop Eddy from being arrested after they fight. Emily had rehearsed her Winwood audition piece as a duet with Sean, but now that she and Sean are estranged, she no longer has him as a dance partner. Instead, she adapts the piece, dancing it as a solo performance. The result falls flat and she fails her audition for the troop. She finally meets Sean, and tells him she is going back to work for her dad, per a promise she made with her dad that if she did not become a professional dancer by the end of the summer that she would work at his hotel.

After Eddy and Sean were sent to jail for being caught in the flashmob, Ricky bails them out and Eddy and Sean make up. Sean convinces the Mob to do one last protest to speak for the people who don't have a voice, but the Mob gives them one. They then Mob the development public announcement, with the help of past Step Up characters, including Moose (Adam Sevani), Kido, and Vladd. Emily and Sean then perform the original audition piece. Seeing his daughter so happy, Bill decides to build up the community rather than tear it down, and he and Emily reconcile. Sean and Emily kiss passionately and make up, and Eddy and Sean makes a deal with the owner of the marketing firm that represents Nike for the Mob to dance in their commercials. The end sequence shows numerous dance numbers from throughout the movie.

Cast

• Ryan Guzman as Sean Asa, Emily's love interest and the leader of the MOB.
• Kathryn McCormick as Emily Anderson, Sean's love interest, a gifted dancer
• Misha Gabriel as Eddy, Sean's best friend who co-leads the MOB with Sean. He and Sean work as waiters at Dimont Hotel during the day, but he gets fired for being late to work one day.
• Peter Gallagher as William "Bill" Anderson, a real-estate tycoon and Emily's father, as well as Sean and Eddie's boss.
• Stephen "tWitch" Boss as Jason, a member of the MOB and The Pirates as he was in the 3rd movie and had returned to Miami after being in New York.
• Tommy Dewey as Trip, Bill's protege
• Cleopatra Coleman as DJ Penelope
• Megan Boone as Claire, Sean's sister who is a single mother with a young daughter
• Sean Rahill as Iris
• Seyfo in the MOB
• Adam Sevani as Robert "Moose" Alexander III. He makes a cameo in the film, Moose gets a call from Jason to come to Miami and help him and The MOB which he does and brings some of The Pirates.
• Mari Koda as Kido. She makes a cameo, her character appears with the rest of The Pirates along with Moose.
• Chadd "Madd Chadd" Smith as Vladd. He makes a cameo, also a member of The Pirates, his character appears with Moose and Kido in the final dance scene.
• Brendan Morris as Neighborhood Kid/Dancer (also part of the MOB)
• Phillip "Pacman" Chbeeb in The Mob
• Justin "Jet Li" Valles in The Mob
• Glenn Mataro in The Mob
• Celestina Aladekoba in The Mob
• Angeline Fioridella Appel in The Mob
• Natali Reznick in the Mob
• Mia Michaels as Olivia
• Bebo in the MOB
• Tony Bellissimo in the MOB

Soundtrack

The official soundtrack, Step Up Revolution: Music from the Motion Picture, was released on July 17, 2012. Several songs which appear in the film do not feature on the soundtrack. The first is Undone by Haley Reinhart. The second song is Words by Skylar Grey. The third song is Dancing by Elisa. The fourth song is The Glitch Mob's remix of Monday by Nalepa. It also features Shut The Lights Up remixed by Ricky Luna (The song is played when Moose makes his entry in The Mob) and Drop It from the same artist. Other songs featured in the movie include Wait by M83 (in a scene where the two lead characters kiss), Hear Me Coming by Yung Joc (played during the dance off at the beach party), and If You Crump Stand Up by edIT, Let It Roll by Flo Rida, Aquarium by Nosaj Thing (played just before the art gallery dance scene begins) as well as Fortune Days by The Glitch Mob.

Music

Music that was played during flashmob scenes^[6]

• Flashmob one (cars): Let's Go (feat. Yelawolf, Twista, Busta Rhymes and Lil Jon) - by Travis Barker
• Flashmob (Beach Party): Hear Me Coming - by Yung Joc
• Flashmob two (art gallery): Prituri Se Planinata (NiT GriT Remix) - by Stellamara
• Flashmob three (restaurant): Dance Without You - by Skylar Grey
• Flashmob four (office building protest; part 1): Ants - by EdIT
• Flashmob four (office building protest; part 2): Pyramid Song (Zed's Dead Remix) - by Radiohead
• Flashmob five (the mob sabotages Mr. Anderson's presentation): U Don't Like Me (Datsik Remix) (feat. Lil Jon) - Diplo
• Flashmob six (shipyard; part 1): Jungle Ship - by Jagg
• Flashmob six (shipyard; part 2): Bring It Back - by Travis Porter
• Flashmob six (shipyard; part 3 - trampoline routines): Death Metal - by MJ & iRok
• Flashmob six (shipyard; part 4 - when the "cops" bust in): Robo Cop - by Ricky Luna
• Flashmob six (shipyard; part 5 - when the girls in the container come out): Buyou (Ricky Luna Remix) - by Keri Hilson & J Cole
• Flashmob six (shipyard; part 6 - bungee jumping and breakdance routine): Drop It - by Ricky Luna
• Flashmob six (shipyard; part 7 - Moose's crew joins in): Shut the Lights - by Ricky Luna
• Flashmob six (duet between main characters at end): To Build a Home - by The Cinematic Orchestra

Production technology

Step Up Revolution was filmed in "native" / "true 3D" without post production conversion using Red Epic cameras, Zeiss Ultra Prime and Angenieux Optimo DP Lenses and 3ality Technica TS-5 camera rigs and Stereo Image Processor (SIP) technology systems.^[7]

Reception

Step Up Revolution has received mixed reviews from critics, receiving a 42% "Rotten" rating on the review aggregrator Rotten Tomatoes based on 90 reviews. The consensus stating: "Step Up Revolution treads familiar territory by surrounding its lively and kinetic dance sequences with a predictably generic story." It holds a rating of 43/100 on metacritic signifying mixed or average reviews.^[8] In its opening weekend, the film grossed $11,731,708 and was placed at No. 4 on the Box Office. The film was released in 2,567 theaters. As of November 19, 2012 the film has grossed $35,074,677 in the United States and $105,396,069 in other territories, for a total of $140,470,746 worldwide.^[2] As of November 19, 2012, it lies third in terms of worldwide box-office receipts compared to other films in the Step Up series.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Step Up Revolution.

• Step Up Revolution at the Internet Movie Database
• Step Up Revolution at AllMovie
• Step Up Revolution at Box Office Mojo
• Step Up Revolution at Rotten Tomatoes
• Step Up Revolution at Metacritic
• Official website