Movie Ratings That Actually Work    Become a Member

"One of the 50 Coolest Websites...they simply tell it like it is" - TIME

Step Up: Revolution | 2012 | PG-13 | - 4.3.4

The daughter (Kathryn McCormick) of an ambitious businessman (Peter Gallagher) arrives in Miami to become a member of a snobbish dance company, but meets the leader of the infamous MOB (Ryan Guzman), a sharp stepping crew intent on winning a dance contest and a professional sponsorship. But when the MOB's home neighborhood is slated for development forcing the residents and small businesses out, the MOB turns its choreography toward protest. Also with Misha Gabriel, Peter Gallagher, Stephen "tWitch" Boss and Adam G. Sevani. Directed by Scott Speer. [1:37]

SEX/NUDITY 4 - Many beach-hotel scenes include dozens of women wearing skimpy bikinis that reveal cleavage, bare shoulders, backs, arms, abdomens, thighs, legs and partial buttocks; these scenes also feature bare-chested men wearing swim trunks. Waitresses wear skimpy leather-like bikini tops and micro-mini skirts, revealing abdomens, most of the thighs and cleavage. Male and female dancers wear tight, clingy workout clothing; many of the women reveal cleavage, bare legs and partially bare buttocks while many of the men reveal bare shoulders and arms and some reveal bare abdomens. A man takes his shirt off at home and we see his bare back and chest. Several dance scenes feature male dancers with open shirts and bare chests.
 Several beach dance scenes around an outdoor hotel bar include suggestive dancing by women who gyrate and undulate while running their hands over their own bodies and groin; they dance under outdoor showers and pull chains to pour water over their bodies as they dance.
 Female dancers wear denim shorts constructed like panties and gyrate their hips and buttocks with widely spread legs and bent knees; a father watching the show covers his young daughter's eyes. Dance crewmembers wearing masks feature a female lead dancer who writhes in suggestive movements on a tabletop. Men and women dance suggestively in a salsa bar, weaving hips around one another. In a beach scene, a man and a woman practice a dance that includes a few suggestive movements.
 A dance scene in a museum shows male dancers wearing only tight dance panties with their bodies painted bronze to simulate dancing statues; women attending the show wear low-cut, short dresses that reveal moderate cleavage and partial thighs. A dancer wearing a body suit faces away from the camera and flexes his buttocks.
 A few couples kiss passionately in outdoor scenes: a small boat on a canal at night, standing on the beach during the day and on a dance platform after a dance show.
 A man and a woman fall asleep in a small boat and a passing ferry wakes them up with its horn; at home later, the woman's father accuses her of going to the slum to have sex with men.
 One man says to another man after work, "Let's get some drinks and girls."

VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - Two men argue and fight: one man calls the other man's girlfriend obscene names while the other man says that the first man is having sex with the boss' daughter; the second man knocks the first man unconscious on the sidewalk.
 A half dozen dancers wearing military camouflage gear and gas masks disrupt a reception after tossing in harmless smoke bombs; women scream and run as we see big screen TV monitors showing the word REVENGE, dancers stomp and shout about getting revenge and when the police arrive, they arrest one of the waiters (we see him released the next morning).
 Traffic on a busy street becomes blocked by cars when the drivers get out to perform a hip-hop flash mob dance number; other drivers honk and shout, onlookers cheer, one driver shouts a partially bleeped obscenity, and news reporters mention that blocking traffic is illegal and could bring arrests when the dancers return to their cars and drive away quickly. Dancers block the City Hall escalators and lobby by dancing, and some businessmen shout and call the dances stupid; the dancers run away when they hear police sirens.
 A dance team portrays a street gang carrying lead pipes and scratching the metal along the ground to makes sparks, and they slap the pipes into their empty hands as if readying to use them as weapons (the weapons seem to point out into the audience in 3D); members of the team jump and fall off the roof of a warehouse and appear to jump back to the roof from the ground, unharmed and dancers mime shooting an area with machine guns and run down an incline toward the camera several times, pointing and shouting until they are drawn back up by thick rubber cables attached to their backs. Dancers dressed as police officers pretend to shoot handguns. Several dance rehearsals in a warehouse are intense and high energy, featuring loud stomping and shouting as dust is kicked up.
 A woman argues about her career choices with her businessman father in several scenes. A woman begs her father not to destroy a neighborhood for a development.
 A man is covered in tattoos of designs across his head, face, arms and upper chest. A woman has tattoos covering both of her arms.

LANGUAGE 4 - 1 bleeped F-word derivative and a possible F-word in a song, 3 scatological references, 8 anatomical terms, 5 mild obscenities, name-calling (stupid, crazy, freak, princess, slum, Cinderella, knuckleheads), stereotypical references to Hispanics, whites, blacks, business people, parents, dance companies, step dancers, protestors, 1 religious profanity, 5 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - Men and women drink from beer bottles and wine glasses in several bar scenes, a woman walks behind a bar and serves a beer as she pours herself a cocktail, a man takes a sip from a beer, two women are seen drinking cocktails, men and women are seen holding glasses of champagne (no one drinks), several champagne bottles fall and break when people run out of a building after protestors rush in, and a man drinks liquor on his hotel balcony.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Dance as a profession, family, relationships, responsibilities, business ethics, the economic recession and small business, class differences, cooperation.

MESSAGE - Development corporations and neighborhoods can cooperate for mutual good.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


how to
support us

PLEASE DONATE

We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. You can help us keep our independence with a donation.

NO MORE ADS!

Become a member of our premium site for just $1/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. And you will be helping support our website & our efforts.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we accept compliments too. While we read all emails & try to reply we don't always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address.

how to
support us

PLEASE DONATE

We are a totally independent website with no connections to political, religious or other groups & we neither solicit nor choose advertisers. You can help us keep our independence with a donation.

NO MORE ADS!

Become a member of our premium site for just $2/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. And you will be helping support our website & our efforts.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we will accept compliments too. While we read all emails & try to reply we do not always manage to do so; be assured that we will not share your e-mail address.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter

Know when new reviews are published
We will never sell or share your email address with anybody and you can unsubscribe at any time

You're all set! Please check your email for confirmation.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This