'Battle of the Year' review: battling dancers
Published 4:03 pm, Thursday, September 19, 2013
Battle of the Year
But there may be no more surefire equation in cinema than ridiculous + sublime + dance battles. "Battle of the Year" is an enjoyable movie not because of any special gifts by the filmmakers or emotional resonance in the script. It was more like destiny. Once someone jotted down the concept on a cocktail napkin and hired B-Boys who could actually dance, the movie pretty much had to turn out OK.
The story is a derivative quilt, patching together cliches from every sports movie since 1976. "Lost" heartthrob Josh Holloway is likeably scruffy as Derrek, an alcoholic coach looking for one more chance, molding a rag-tag dance squad to challenge a superpower (the Koreans) at an international break-dancing competition.
Coach Derrek's frequent nips from his flask would make a lively drinking game - every time Holloway drinks, you drink! - if it wouldn't result in your death. The crew of break-dancing B-Boys are presented even more simply; each can be defined by exactly one character trait. (The short hothead, the taller hothead, the gay guy, the guy who doesn't like the gay guy ...)
It all seems simple, but there were still several ways director Benson Lee could have screwed this up:
-- Filming the dance sequences with quick edits and/or in slow motion.
-- Adding a serious love interest. (Which, coupled with the drinking, would have essentially made this a "Leaving Las Vegas" remake.)
-- Leaving the lens cap on the camera throughout the 30-plus day production.
Lee triumphs over all of these challenges, wisely focusing his energies on frequent well-choreographed dance-offs. His biggest sin is relentlessly plugging his excellent earlier documentary "Planet B-Boy," the real-life events of which provide a very loose template for the film. (Imagine if the Tom Hanks character in Steven Spielberg's "The Terminal" spent large chunks of the movie watching "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" at the airport sports bar.)
There's also an earnest positivity throughout "Battle of the Year." With minimal violence and no sex despite the PG-13 rating, this is basically "The Mighty Ducks" with a lot more profanity.
Are there better movies in the theater this weekend? Definitely. Is there a better piece of harmless escapist entertainment? Do the math.