REVIEW: 'Step Up 4: Miami Heat 3D'

The fourth movement in the Step Up franchise starring Kathryn McCormick, the lively competitor from TV’s So You Think You Can Dance. Now playing nationwide. Also in 2D.

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There are some things that are guaranteed to be in a Step Up film - clichéd characters, bad acting, astonishingly attractive people - but the one thing audiences expect from the franchise is incredible dancing. While you’re forced to take the good with the laughably bad, Step Up 4: Miami Heat 3D delivers on the franchise’s promise as well as the film’s title (and what a title it is, read it aloud with me - Step Up 4: Miami Heat 3D).

We follow a flash mob dance crew (unimaginatively called ‘The Mob’) seeking recognition through various social media sources. But when some big-shot businessman tries to tear down their neighbourhood, The Mob attempt to prevent his plans through the power of dance. Basically, if you were to make a Frankenstein’s monster from the premises of Tower Heist and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, you’d get Step Up 4. The generically derivative story borders on hilarity, but luckily the film never pretends it is Oscar material, rushing through the requisite plot elements and interrupting them nicely with what’s really important - the dance sequences.

The creativity on display here is amplified by the viral marketing angle, and at one point a sequence sees the crew break into an art exhibition and camouflage themselves as sculptures that come to life one-by-one. You never believe for a second that they’d get away with the stunts they pull, but they’re such a joy to watch that you’re bound to not care.

• Watch trailer for Step Up 4: Miami Heat 3D
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