“Step Up Revolution”
Rated PG-13
Grade: D

By MICHAEL WALTERS
Cantankerous Critic

In my job as a movie critic I try to see most everything. But occasionally some things do fall through the cracks. And somehow I had gone through life without seeing any of the previous three “Step Up” films. Well, let me tell you after watching the fourth film “Step Up Revolution” I’m in no hurry to put any of those previous movies in my Netflix.

This installment centers of a flash mob of talented dancers with a habit of staging headline grabbing stunts around Miami. At first they’re just trying to win a YouTube competition to help launch their careers, then they’re trying to save their favorite hangout from the wrecking ball of a greedy developer looking to tear down their neighborhood to build a huge new hotel. Coincidentally, the leader of the flash mob also falls for a pretty ambitious young girl he meets at a club. She just happens to be the developer’s daughter and she’s more interested in dancing than dough.

But allow yourself to think about the plot for a second. The young kids hope to appeal to the good natures of the civic leaders and business leaders by staging unconventional dance numbers. I doubt very much the crowd at a civic press conference isn’t going to notice the undercover movers and shakers who look as though they make bust a move at any moment, and they’re unlikely to care much for what they have to say.

The actors are all good looking cardboard cutouts with so little charisma they make Josh Hutcherson look like Robert Downey Jr. by comparison. The dance numbers load up on gimmicks, including one staged in the middle of a traffic jam, but still fail dazzle. This is one series that’s lost a spring in its step and has nothing but all the wrong moves.