Now normally, I'm not a fan of these kind of movies. But I work at a movie theatre and got to see this the night before it was released for free, so I sat back and watched. I expected a cheesy movie with some cool moves, but this dance movie gave much more. An interesting (yet predictable) story, an interesting lead, and incredible dancing. Stomp the Yard is as much entertainment as any film I've seen recently.
After a rage-fueled brawl takes his brother's (singer Chris Brown in a cameo) life, DJ (Columbus Short) moves out of the streets of L.A. and in with his aunt and uncle (Harry Lennix of The Matrix Series). His uncle allows him to start college and start a job, giving him the chance to start over. DJ soon meets a friend in his roommate Rich (singer Ne-Yo) and the beautiful daughter of the school's president (Meagan Good of Waist Deep).
You may be wondering how the dancing and stepping fits in with the plot, but that is the interesting thing. Even without the musical aspect of the film, Stomp the Yard would be a decent film. It's a good drama that puts the stepping in as entertainment. And boy does it work. The choreography is simply brilliant, blowing all other dancing movies of recent memory (Step Up, Take the Lead, You Got Served) out of the water. In a small, yet important role, Chris Brown will amaze you even more with his incredible ability at just 17 years of age. Columbus Short not only proves he can dance in the film, but he can act as well. Short gives a good performance and provides a likable character for us to see. Meagan Good gives another great show, with another good character. Her character, April, is a character that has a lot of depth and is very interesting to watch as she changes throughout the film. And she's very easy on the eyes. In a limited role, Ne-Yo does what is asked of him, but I'm not sold on him as an actor. The choreography gets a 10 out of 10 from me, because like I said before, it is original, stylish, fresh, and simply breathtaking to watch these people perform them. You'll see backflips, barrel rolls, head spins, kicks, middle fingers, and all that in between, not to mention multiple mixes of them all. The music used in the film is great too. The songs are always used in the right place, like in the beginning, when very hardcore, almost heavy metal sounding rap is used to display the mood of seriousness of the scene. The only downfall of this film is the writing and its running time. It is a little too long (almost 2 hours) and far too predictable. There were five of us in the theatre, and we all predicted at least one thing each that would happen in the film. It is a fault that you can easily overlook if you take the film for what it is: an entertaining musical that actually has a good story and good performances. Stomp the Yard will surprise you, so don't judge it before you see it. There really isn't much language beyond use of the n-word, and there are some violent scenes. I recommend this film to anyone ages 13 and up, but boys of ages 15-18 will like it the best.
8/10 --spy
After a rage-fueled brawl takes his brother's (singer Chris Brown in a cameo) life, DJ (Columbus Short) moves out of the streets of L.A. and in with his aunt and uncle (Harry Lennix of The Matrix Series). His uncle allows him to start college and start a job, giving him the chance to start over. DJ soon meets a friend in his roommate Rich (singer Ne-Yo) and the beautiful daughter of the school's president (Meagan Good of Waist Deep).
You may be wondering how the dancing and stepping fits in with the plot, but that is the interesting thing. Even without the musical aspect of the film, Stomp the Yard would be a decent film. It's a good drama that puts the stepping in as entertainment. And boy does it work. The choreography is simply brilliant, blowing all other dancing movies of recent memory (Step Up, Take the Lead, You Got Served) out of the water. In a small, yet important role, Chris Brown will amaze you even more with his incredible ability at just 17 years of age. Columbus Short not only proves he can dance in the film, but he can act as well. Short gives a good performance and provides a likable character for us to see. Meagan Good gives another great show, with another good character. Her character, April, is a character that has a lot of depth and is very interesting to watch as she changes throughout the film. And she's very easy on the eyes. In a limited role, Ne-Yo does what is asked of him, but I'm not sold on him as an actor. The choreography gets a 10 out of 10 from me, because like I said before, it is original, stylish, fresh, and simply breathtaking to watch these people perform them. You'll see backflips, barrel rolls, head spins, kicks, middle fingers, and all that in between, not to mention multiple mixes of them all. The music used in the film is great too. The songs are always used in the right place, like in the beginning, when very hardcore, almost heavy metal sounding rap is used to display the mood of seriousness of the scene. The only downfall of this film is the writing and its running time. It is a little too long (almost 2 hours) and far too predictable. There were five of us in the theatre, and we all predicted at least one thing each that would happen in the film. It is a fault that you can easily overlook if you take the film for what it is: an entertaining musical that actually has a good story and good performances. Stomp the Yard will surprise you, so don't judge it before you see it. There really isn't much language beyond use of the n-word, and there are some violent scenes. I recommend this film to anyone ages 13 and up, but boys of ages 15-18 will like it the best.
8/10 --spy