Step Up 2: The Streets

Step Up 2: The Streets is a 2008 American dance film directed by Jon M. Chu (in his feature directorial debut) and written by Toni Ann Johnson and Karen Barna. It serves as a sequel to 2006's Step Up and the second installment in the Step Up film series. The film stars Briana Evigan, Robert Hoffman, Will Kemp, and Cassie Ventura.

Step Up 2: The Streets
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJon M. Chu
Produced by
Written by
Based onCharacters
by Duane Adler
Starring
Music byAaron Zigman
CinematographyMax Malkin
Edited by
  • Andrew Marcus
  • Nicholas Erasmus
Production
company
Distributed byWalt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures
Release date
  • February 14, 2008 (2008-02-14)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$17.5 million[1]
Box office$150.8 million[2]

Set at the fictional Maryland School of the Arts, the story revolves around rebellious street dancer Andie West (Evigan) who lands at the elite school and finds herself fighting to fit in while also trying to hold onto her old life. She eventually joins forces with the school's hottest dancer Chase Collins (Hoffman) to form a crew of classmate outcasts to compete in Baltimore's underground dance battle The Streets, finding a way to live her dream while building a bridge between her two separate worlds.

Step Up 2: The Streets was released in the United States on February 14, 2008, by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Although the film received better reviews than its predecessor, it received mostly negative reviews from critics, but became a box office success, grossing $150.8 million worldwide against a budget of $17.5 million.

A sequel, Step Up 3D, was released on August 6, 2010, in the United States.

Plot

In Baltimore, Maryland, Andrea "Andie" West (Briana Evigan) pursues her dream of becoming a professional street dancer. After her mother died from cancer, Andie moved in with her mother's best friend, Sarah (Sonja Sohn). Deep down Andie feels like she does not belong anywhere. Although she is doing poorly at school, it is her dream for dancing that brings something special into her life.

Andie trains with a dance crew, the 410, to keep the title of an illegal competition, "The Streets". Sarah is aware of the crime and harassment by 410 and, out of fear that Andie will get hurt, decides to send her to live with her aunt in Texas in an effort to protect Andie, but Andie refuses to go and runs away.

Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum) who is a brother-figure to Andie sees her at a local dance club, The Dragon. When Andie tells him about Sarah's plans to send her to Texas to live with her aunt Tyler explains that Sarah's trying to keep Andie safe and eventually persuades Andie to audition for the Maryland School of the Arts, where Andie has to compete for a place, thinking it will help her life as it did his before deciding to battle her for it.

Tyler wins the battle and the two head back to Andie's house where Tyler asks Sarah to let her audition for MSA. Sarah refuses because she believes that Andie will be safer in Texas. Tyler eventually persuades Sarah to let Andie audition for MSA while he goes on tour with Nora Clark. Sarah reluctantly agrees, but she tells Andie that if she screws up with MSA she'll have to go to Texas.

MSA student Chase Collins (Robert Hoffman) persuades his older brother Blake Collins (Will Kemp), a strict teacher and director at MSA, to recruit Andie after seeing her audition. When the 410 learns about Andie's involvement, they kick her out of the group. Chase and Andie form a new crew with help from many people Chase knows at the school, all of not accepted as who they are, including Andie's new friend Moose (Adam G. Sevani). Chase has a copied key to the studio and the crew secretly practices their routine late at night when the school is empty.

The group decide to perform at a local dance club, but are rejected and forced to leave. Andie's best friend Missy Serrano (Danielle Polanco) joins the crew after leaving 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 pull a prank and post it online to show that the crew is entering the competition. Wanting revenge for being humiliated before, Chase decides that their prank will be to make a fool out of Tuck, the leader of the 410.

The crew goes to a family barbecue at Missy's house. Sophie (Cassie Ventura), an MSA student who happens to have a crush on Chase, tags along and begins to develop a crush on Moose after salsa dancing with him. The 410 don'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 pulling off the prank and warns him to stay away from The Streets and Andie. On top of that, the dance studio has been trashed by the 410 the previous night. Blake angrily forbids the students from entering illegal competitions and expels Andie for her involvement with The Streets, but she denies her and the other students' guilt. After Andie leaves, Chase admits his involvement in The Streets and tries to persuade Blake to let Andie return but the latter refuses, not wanting any more MSA students to be put in jeopardy.

When Sarah hears the news of Andie's expulsion, Andie tries to explain, but Sarah refuses to listen, telling her that she has had enough of her behavior. Just when Andie is packing her bags to leave, she receives a text message from Missy that The Streets is on the same night as the MSA fundraiser.

Along with Andie, her whole crew gets the text message where they decide to ditch an MSA fundraiser and instead compete in The Streets. Chase also leaves the fundraiser hoping to win back Andie. When Sarah hears about what Andie did to protect her crew, she allows Andie to continue living with her thus granting permission to compete at The Streets with her crew; although grounding her in retaliation.

When Blake notices that the students are gone, he questions Sophie. Moose tells him that he is in the crew and where they are, taking both Blake and Sophie to the place; they are just in time for the crew's performance. Blake sees them and he realizes that The Streets he was hearing and thinking about, is in fact a legitimate form of artistic expression. After the competition, Blake accepts Andie back into MSA again and tells Moose that he was in the wrong department. To Moose's surprise, he gets kissed by Sophie. With Andie's crew being supportive friends and her education now secured, the film ends with a passionate kiss between Chase and Andie.

Cast
  • Briana Evigan as Andrea "Andie" West, the main protagonist. Andie is a talented street dancer. Andie has felt out of place ever since her mother died from cancer. Andie's father died prior to the movie. Andie gets poor grades in school as she doesn't care about education.
  • Robert Hoffman as Chase Collins, Blake's younger brother who falls in love with Andie
  • Adam Sevani as Robert "Moose" Alexander III, is a talented dancer who Andie and Missy's best friend
  • Will Kemp as Blake Collins, the strict director of MSA and Chase's older brother
  • Cassie Ventura as Sophie Donovan, Chase's ex-girlfriend who later falls in love with Moose
  • Christopher Scott as Hair, a talented choreographer
  • Harry Shum, Jr. as Cable
  • Janelle Cambridge as Fly
  • LaJon Dantzler as Smiles
  • Luis Rosado as Monster
  • Mari Koda as Jenny Kido
  • Sonja Sohn as Sarah, Andie's overprotective legal guardian. She took Andie in after her mother died. Sarah is concerned about Andie's safety and plans to send her to Texas to live with her Aunt Alice. Before Andie's mother died Sarah promised her best friend that she'd protect her daughter. Sarah intends to keep her promise. Sarah believes that the only way to protect Andie is to send her to Texas. Sarah wants Andie to be safe and get good grades.
  • Black Thomas as Tuck, the leader of the 410 and the main antagonist
  • Telisha Shaw as Felicia, Andie's best friend
  • Danielle Polanco as Melissa "Missy" Serrano, Andie and Moose's best friend who eventually quits 410
  • Channing Tatum as Tyler Gage (cameo), protagonist from the first film. A skilled but troubled dancer in his teens who turned his life around at MSA and now is touring as a professional
  • Rockstar Logu as Mike (cameo), Indian artist
  • BooG!e as DJ Sand (uncredited)
  • Jenny Kressebuch as Store Clerk
  • Ariana Glover and Chad Glover as the two youngest kids in the cast background dancers (#7 and #2). The cast really bonded and loved these adorable talented kids.

Reception

Box office

At the U.S. Box office, the film opened at #3 and earned $18,908,826 in its opening weekend. As of August 4, 2008, Step Up 2: The Streets have grossed $58,017,783 in domestic box office and $92,798,917 in other parts of the world, bringing a worldwide total of $150,816,700, outperforming its predecessor.[2]

Critical response

The film was met with mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 27% based on reviews from 63 critics. The website's consensus states "There's a kinetic appeal to the handsome cast and their smooth moves, but everything else about Step Up 2: The Streets is been there, danced that."[3] On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 50 out of 100 based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[4] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A-.[5]

Accolades

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 15, 2008.[6]

Special features
  • Through Fresh Eyes – The Making of Step Up 2
  • Outlaws Of Hip-Hop – Meet The "410"
  • Lead Actor Robert Hoffman Video Prank
  • Outtakes From Step Up 2: The Streets – Cassie Performs "Is It You?"
  • Deleted Scenes – Including Dances By JabbaWockeeZ And West Coast Riders Dance Crews
  • Music Videos
  1. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain - "Low"
  2. Missy Elliott - "Ching-a-Ling/Shake Your Pom Pom"
  3. Cherish feat. Yung Joc - "Killa"
  4. Plies feat. Akon - "Hypnotized"
  5. Brit & Alex - "Let It Go"

Soundtrack
Main article: Step Up 2: The Streets (soundtrack)

A soundtrack album to the film was released by Atlantic Records on February 5, 2008.[7]

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References
  1. "Step Up 2: The Streets (2008)". The-numbers.com. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  2. "Step Up 2: The Streets". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
  3. "Step Up 2: The Streets". Rotten Tomatoes.
  4. "Step Up 2: The Streets Reviews". Metacritic.
  5. "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
  6. "Amazon.com: Step Up 2: The Streets: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. July 15, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  7. "Step Up 2: The Streets / O.S.T. - Amazon.com Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
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