Starring SuperDino, Meiqui Meng, Bobo, and Kim Sung-joo
Directed by Ron Yuan
Music and Lyrics by various
Let's head to modern-day China to celebrate the Year of the Horse and one of the most internationally popular musical franchises. The original Step Up debuted in 2006. It wasn't popular with critics who found its class war story to be too formulaic, but the incredible dancing made it a hit with teens and young adults who loved the moves and the rebellious characters. It was such a success, it led to four more unrelated Step Up movies that were all hits in their own right and a TV show that lasted for three seasons.
One of the reasons it continued to do well was its enormous popularity in international markets, especially Asia. Even when the fifth film, Step Up: All In, didn't do well in North America, it still made money elsewhere. China took notice and made a Step Up film exclusively for their country in 2019. It came over here as a streaming exclusive in 2020. Is it as good as the other titles in this franchise, or should it be left on the streets? Let's begin with a young Chinese man (SuperDino) right before a big dance battle and find out...
The Story: Tie Hou (SuperDino) landed in prison after a bar brawl two years before, right as he was about to tell his crush Xiao Fe (Meng) he loved her. He's able to reunite with his old dance group the Iron Crew, but she hasn't forgiven him. Wealthy young He Chaun (Bobo) is trying to audition for a major international dance competition with the Black Tigers, but fellow dancer Dai (Sun-joo) kicks Chaun off the stage and injures him. They both get the trophies, but Dai isn't happy when it turns out the judges were paid off.
Meanwhile, Tie Hou has tried to get a job working with everyone from strippers to kids, but his tougher style of street dance doesn't work with poles or children's classes. He even dances when he works at a construction site. Chaun sees him and tries to get him to join his new dance crew. Hou refuses at first, until he sees Chaun's elegant dance battle with the Black Tigers that even works the cane in. Fe is impressed and flirts with him. She's out of place at Chaun's birthday party, until she shows up the snobs there with a few great dance moves of her own.
Chaun has started a dance team of his own, Sky Crew. Even with Chaun pushing them hard to practice everywhere, they still lose in their first dance battle with the Black Tigers. They come up with the idea of filming their combination dance and Kung Fu moves. That gets them the dance battle invitation, but it also gets them recognized. Hou loses his best friend Tie She when the gang he fought in the bar tries to get him back. Now they really have a reason to beat the Black Tigers, and then take on the American team the Phantoms.
The Song and Dance: And the dance, along with some decent cinematography that makes the best of this film's low-budget origins, is the lone saving grace here. It really is exceptional. Director Yuan was normally a stunt man and martial artist, so he at least had the right instinct about how to shoot the choreography, both for the fight scenes and the dance scenes. Some of the dance scenes, especially the dance battles, are excitingly choreographed and not badly edited for something this cheap. I also appreciate that there's no hard feelings at the end. None of the dance teams indulge in bad sportsmanship or put down the others. Even the Phantoms, who were built up as the villains, bow for their fellow competitors.
The Numbers: We open with Tie Hou, Tie She, and Xiao Fe doing their own robot moves at the bar before the gang war breaks out. Tie Hou has his solo number as he interprets the fight through dance. There's a chorus routine at a club when he gets out that includes some pretty sweet breakdancing. Hou tries to explain his feelings to Fe during their robot dance duet to "Honey Honey." They even dance with metal poles that he uses to play drums on trash cans at one point. The Black Tiger's slick number in white suits is going great, until Dai gives Chaun that fatal kick.
Next up is our first montage, as Tie Hou first tries to teach dance to strippers, then fan dancers, then children. None of them are there to learn the street dancing he favors. He even dances briefly at a construction site. Tie Hou starts dancing at an outdoor ring, until the same toughs who attacked him at the bar make nasty prison jokes. Chaun out-dances them even with a cane. Fe gets her big solo at the party when some of the snottier girls call her a "street bum," and she dances to show what a street bum can do. Chaun joins her, to the consternation of Tie Hou. Chaun and Hou have a stiff-kneeded dance off to rap music later that night at the party.
The Sky Crew start off briefly "dance battling" each other before Chaun reminds them that they have their own unique style. The next montage shows the Sky Crew training everywhere - even over a grill and while bench-pressing a fire extinguisher. They're still arguing during rehearsals, until they realize that they do better when they come together as a team. The next montage shows different dance groups - even a black group and an all-kid team - competing at a club. When the Black Tigers are the winners, the Sky Crew film their moves - dance and Kung-Fu - and post them online. The Phantoms rise to the occasion at the competition with their genuinely excellent hip-hop dance. The Black Tigers are more athletic, often dancing on their knees. The Sky Crew start out with traditional Chinese music before getting into their own rap dance.
What I Don't Like: First of all, the dubbing on the copy of this at Tubi is lousy. Lips don't match, voices often don't sound like they belong to the characters. Second, whether this franchise takes place in Baltimore or Beijing, the cliches are the same. There's a reason the Step Up films (this one included) were never popular with critics. No amount of terrific dancing can cover the fact that the story is the same overcoming the odds parable we've seen hundreds of times. Admittedly, Tie Hou having been in prison and his difficulty finding jobs does give it a slightly more realistic edge, but Tie She's death is played for melodrama, and the class war drama isn't nearly as exciting as the movie wants to think it is. There's also this being a low-budget film. It does show at times, especially in the dull sets.
The Big Finale: If you're a fan of the other Step Up films or of Asian musical cinema, this is worth checking out once for the dance routines alone.
Home Media: Streaming only in North America. Tubi currently has it for free with commercials.
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