Step Up: All In (3D)

Stars: Ryan Guzman, Briana Evigan, Adam G Sevani, Misha Gabriel Hamilton, Izabella Miko, Alyson Stoner, Chadd Smith, Stephen 'Twitch' Boss

Director: Trish Sie

Step up folks for what might be the final round in the streetdance series - an appropriate analogy since the early clashes between rival dance crews here take place in a kingsize boxing ring.

The competition they're out to win this time is The Vortex, a glitzy Las Vegas contest that guarantees the winners a three-year engagement at Vegas itself (sounds very unlikely).

Deserted by his old crew after months of disappointment - the film does attempt to make a passing comment on the bleaker aspects of a dancer's life - Sean Asa (the charisma-free Guzman) gathers together other old friends, mainly composed of performers from other Step Up films, although husky-voiced Evigan was the only one I recognised. And, down girls: Channing Tatum is nowhere in sight.

Sean's old crew, The Mob, who are also competing at The Vortex, justifiably complain why they weren't the first ones Sean asked, and he does eventually have the grace to apologise.

Lots of dancing, of course, but often to familiar-looking routines and of surprisingly variable quality. Best sequence has Sean's new crew jerkily strutting their stuff in Frankenstein's laboratory, and in fact horror is an ongoing theme in some of the routines. This, however, comes too early in the film, and the final 'show-stopper' ensemble is a bit of a mess.

Dialogue and performances are as rudimentary as you'd expect, but adequate to the frenetic, dry ice-covered occasion. There's a little running thingy about Evigan being afraid to perform a dangerous somersault, which you just know she'll do in the end.

David Quinlan

USA 2014. UK Distributor: Universal (Summit). Technicolor.
112 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: PG.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 30 Jul 2014