Step Up 2: The Streets (2008)

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Plot:
Step Up 2 the Streets is set in Baltimore, Maryland. It follows Andie West (Briana Evigan) as she pursues her big dream of becoming a street dancer. Her mother died of cancer when Andie was 16; she now lives with her mother's best friend, Sarah (her guardian), but in reality, Andie feels like she does not belong anywhere. Although she is doing badly at school, it is her passion for dancing that brings something good into her life. She rehearses regularly with her 'crew', the "410", to keep the title of the illegal competition, 'The Streets'. Sarah is tired of the crime and harassment by the 410 and tells Andie she will have to go to live with her aunt in Texas if she doesn't turn her life around.

Andie's friend and older brother figure Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) meets her at the dance club, The Dragon. Tyler tries to persuade her to audition for the Maryland School of the Arts (MSA), where Andie has to compete for a place, thinking it will help her life as it did his. When Andie refuses, Tyler decides to battle her for it. In a memorable dance scene, Tyler does great moves and wins the battle. The two head back to her place and Tyler convinces Sarah to let her join MSA. She agrees, and Tyler leaves Andie to auditon at MSA while he goes on tour with Nora, confident that she can make it. Chase Collins (Robert Hoffman) persuades the school director (his brother) Blake (Will Kemp) to recruit Andie after seeing a spectacular performance. When Andie's studies come before the crew, the members are not happy and decide to kick her out. So Andie and Chase form a new crew with help from many people Chase knows at the school, all of whom are not accepted as who they are, including Andie's new friend Moose. Chase has a copied key to the studio and the crew secretly practices their routine late at night when the school is empty. They perform at the local dance club, but are rejected and kicked out. Missy (Andie's friend, played by Danielle Polanco) joins the crew after dropping out of the 410 following the event, as she is disgusted by the crowd's reaction. Missy tells the crew that the only way to enter The Streets is to first do a prank and post it on the Internet to show that the crew is entering the competition. Wanting revenge from being humiliated before, Chase decides for their prank that they are going to make a fool out of Tuck (leader of the 410), as well as leave a dead fish in the vent of Tuck's home.

The crew goes to a family barbecue at Missy's house, and Chase's ex-girlfriend, Sophie, tags along. She begins to develop a crush on Moose after salsa dancing with him.

The 410 doesn't like the fact that they have a new crew to compete with so they warn Andie's group to stay out of The Streets or there will be consequences. When Tuck finds Chase, he assaults him for his prank. Chase comes into school the next day badly bruised and hurt. On top of that, the dance studio has been trashed by the 410 the previous night. Director Collins decides that he will not allow anyone from the school to be involved in illegal competitions. He then decides to expel Andie from MSA because of her involvement with the Streets competition after a tip-off from Sophie. When asked if there were any other students involved, Andie does not tell him about her crew.

When Sarah hears the news of Andie's expulsion, she tells her that she has had enough of her behavior and that Andie now must go to live with her aunt in Texas. Just when Andie is packing her bags to leave for Texas, she receives a text message from Missy that The Streets is on that night - the same night as the MSA fundraiser. Along with Andie, her whole crew gets the text message. They decide to ditch the MSA fundraiser (except for Moose) and instead compete in The Streets. Sarah hears about what Andie did to protect her crew and is proud of her. She allows Andie to compete at The Streets with her crew.

When Collins realizes that his students are missing, he questions Sophie, who tells him where they are. Moose overhears and admits to being part of the crew, taking Collins and Sophie to The Streets just in time for the crew's performance. The director sees them compete and realizes that the street dancing he has been opposing is in fact a legitimate form of artistic expression. He accepts Andie into MSA again.

To Moose's surprise, he gets kissed by Sophie. With Andie's crew being supportive friends and her education now secured, the film finds its optimistic ending - a passionate kiss between Andie and Chase.

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Stomp The Yard (2007)

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Plot:
DJ Williams (Columbus Short) is a krump dancer in inner-city Los Angeles. He and his younger brother Duron (Chris Brown) compete in local dance competitions as members of a crew known as the "Goon Squad". Primarily due to one final dynamic step from Duron, the Goon Squad win a cash-prize battle held one night at an underground krumping competition, and the losing home crew responds by ambushing DJ and his crewmates after the show. A fight breaks out, and the leader of the rival group shoots Duron and kills him.

Arrested for assault, DJ is subsequently sent by his mother to live with his aunt Jackie (Valerie Pettiford) and uncle Nate (Harry J. Lennix) in Atlanta, Georgia, where he is to attend historically black Truth University. Nate, the physical plant director at Truth, aims to teach DJ responsibility, and puts the boy to work doing maintenance as part of a work-study program.

While waiting in the line to register for classes, DJ meets a fellow student named April Palmer (Meagan Good), whom he is immediately attracted to. After registration, he moves into his dorm room, where he meets his new roommate Rich Brown (Ne-Yo). Rich takes DJ to a stepping competition on the green between the Truth chapters of rival fraternities Theta Nu Theta and Mu Gamma Xi. The Mu Gamma Xi crew, seven-time national stepping champions, easily steals the show until DJ sees April across the way and runs right through the Gammas' step line in an attempt to speak to her. A fight nearly breaks out between the freshman and the Gamma steppers, whose best stepper Grant (Darrin Henson) is April's boyfriend.

That night, Rich and his friends go out to a local club called the Phoenix and invite DJ along. DJ takes to the dance floor, hoping to impress April and upstage Grant and the Gammas, all of whom are also in attendance. Despite the animosity between DJ and Grant, the Gammas recognize DJ's skills as a dancer, and the Gamma chapter's president Zeke (Laz Alonso) invites DJ to pledge for Mu Gamma Xi. DJ turns down both Zeke's offer as well as an offer from the Theta Nu Theta chapter's leader Sylvester (Brian White).

After learning that April is a student history tutor, DJ signs himself up for tutoring so that he can spend time with her. The two slowly begin a friendship, and DJ takes April out to dinner. During their date, April discusses the importance of black fraternities and sororities with the clueless DJ, and tells him to visit Heritage Hall on the campus' Greek Row. At Heritage Hall the next day, DJ learns about the significant number of African-American historical figures and celebrities who were members of various Greek-letter organizations, and decides to pledge for the Theta chapter along with Rich and their friend Noel (Jermaine Williams). April eventually leaves Grant for DJ, angering her father, Dr. Palmer (Allan Louis), the school's Provost, Gamma brother himself, and an adversary of DJ's uncle Nate because Dr. Palmer once dated aunt Jackie.

After "crossing over" to become official Theta members, DJ, Rich, and Noel join the Thetas' step crew. Dismissing the chapter's traditional step moves as old-fashioned, DJ teaches his frat brothers a few of his old krumping moves. DJ does not notice that, while he is practicing a few of his brother's old dance moves, one of the Gammas is secretly videotaping him so that their crew can learn DJ's steps.

Sly disapproves of DJ's attempts to modernize the Thetas' steps, and challenges DJ to a battle at the Phoenix between his line brothers and DJ's; the new moves against the old. DJ's line brothers lose the competition due to DJ's show-boating, although Sly agrees to let DJ teach the crew some new moves as a compromise.

A few of the Gammas run a background check on DJ, and learn about the fight in which DJ's brother was killed, and for which DJ was convicted for aggravated assault in an unfair trial. This information is forwarded the school's Ethics Committee, which suspended DJ for the remainder of the year, preventing him from stepping at the nationals. Dr. Palmer, who has the authority to overturn the Ethics Committee's decisions, later offers to reinstate DJ, with the provision that he stop seeing April, an offer DJ refuses. When April learns from her father why DJ has been suspended, she questions DJ and learns first-hand the story behind his arrest. DJ's Aunt Jackie, an old girlfriend of Dr. Palmer's, confronts Dr. Palmer and was joined by April who overheard the conversation, leading Dr. Palmer to overturn the Ethics Committee's decision.

DJ, reinstated thanks to his April's help, shows up in time to take part in the final round of the nationals stepping competition, which ends in a tie between the Thetas and the Gammas, and each crew is required to choose a dancer for a head-to-head competition. The Thetas choose DJ and the Gammas, which had secretly recorded DJ's practices, choose Grant, who has learned all of DJ's steps. Going first, Grant does DJ's exact routine from the tape. After Grant finishes, DJ matches Grant move for move, tossing in something the Gammas didn't get on tape: the move Duron performed to win his last competition with the Goon Squad.

The Theta Nu Theta crew is declared the winners of the competition, and DJ is mobbed by his frat brothers as April runs out to kiss him. The scene is captured in a still black and white photo, which is added to the wall at Heritage Hall.

A quote of Martin Luther King appeared just before the credits. "Intelligence plus character. That is the goal of true education."

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You Got Served (2004)

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Plot:
David (Omarion) and Elgin (Marques Houston) lead a promising streetdancing crew in Southern California, who participate in street dancing battles produced by a local club owner Mr.Rad (Steve Harvey). All is well, until Sonny, a member of their original crew, expresses dissatisfaction over the subordinate role the other members of the crew play.

When David and Elgin are challenged by "some rich kids out of Orange County" for five thousand dollars, they think it's easy money. Although it is never actually said, it is assumed that they deal drugs for Emerald (a local drug lord) to cover their half, never dreaming they would lose the battle.

When Sonny (Young Rome) sells them out by going to the other side ("Wade's crew"), he teaches his new companions moves from the David and Elgin crew, and in the battle they are badly defeated. Wade, crowing over his success, delivers the titular line, "You're just mad... 'cause tonight you suckas got served!"

Meanwhile, David and Liyah (Jennifer Freeman), Elgin's sister, are falling in love. At a restaurant, Liyah turns off David's cell phone immediately before Elgin attempts to call him to say that Emerald has given them a job earlier than expected. David fails to show up for the job, and Elgin is subsequently beaten and robbed.

Consequently, Elgin gets very angry at David for attempting to "hook up with my sister when you should have been taking care of business," and is also annoyed at his sister for "acting like a ho". Elgin is also worried, since he owes Emerald money to cover for the loss of his goods.

Both split up and form their own crew, but neither is as good as on their own as they are combined. They learn about the "Big Bounce," a $50,000 dance competition purportedly sponsored by MTV which will provide the winning crew the opportunity to perform in a Lil' Kim video. Elgin sees this as a good way to pay back Emerald.

Attempts to bring Elgin and David together, particularly by Liyah, are fruitless, and twice they nearly come to blows and have to be separated. One of the younger members of the crew Lil Saint dies prior to the competition; while all are saddened it is not enough to bring the warring enemies back together yet.

At the "Big Bounce" competition, Elgin's crew beats David's crew in semifinals, and then ties the finals against Wade's crew. Lil' Kim, guest referee, on advice from Mr. Rad, declares a playoff competition, "straight hood," with no rules, even allowing other people to join the battling crews.

This proves the catalyst for Elgin's feud with David to end (though only after prodding by crew members and threats of forfeiting the competition to Wade), and together they defeat Wade's crew in a mesmerizing final battle using advanced powermoves of professional breakdancers like air flares, flares, split mills, and runners. They shout the "You Got Served" line in retaliation to Wade after he claims the battle settled nothing. The partisan crowd, elated, begins chanting "Served! Served! Served! Served!" getting louder and faster. Elgin accepts David's relationship with Liyah at picture's end.

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Step Up (2006)

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Summary:

In the world of the dance movie, life is stripped down to the honesty of bodies in motion and a rhythm-dictated intimacy that can't be denied. There's usually a class factor, a competitive element, a disapproving authority figure, or perhaps all three. Channing Tatum as budding criminal Tyler — all slot eyes and thug shrugs until he hits the dance floor — and Jenna Dewan as Nora, a rich kid shooting for that elusive chance to dance.

The meet-cute: When Nora's partner is injured, Tyler, who's trudging through some court-ordered janitorial work, convinces her he can sub. But Step doesn't dwell on class-crossed romance: It's more concerned with the pirouetting mini-betrayals and miracle catches of partnership. Tatum has a bracing rectangular naturalness and easy chemistry with the lithe Dewan, on the floor and off. Their dance styles never really jell, and the movie is lazy-vague on the actual art form, privileging will over skill. But the pair is fused by the film's pulsing energy, which is both sincere and irresistible.


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