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| The dance crew in "Battle of the Year" |
"Battle of the Year" is about b-boying, a style of street dance popularly known as breakdancing. Of course, this style of dancing is nothing new (see the 1984 movie about this "Breakin'"), the same of which could be said about this slight, unoriginal movie that offers little inspiration outside of its dance movies. "Battle of the Year" is about a rag-tag but talented group of guys including rapper Chris Brown led by a hard-luck coach (Josh Holloway) and his wide-eyed newbie assistant (Josh Peck) as they train to win an international breaking competition in France known as Battle of the Year. "Battle of the Year" is directed by Benson Lee and is inspired by his own (and far more engaging) 2007 documentary on the subject, "Planet B-Boy." Much like most (really all) films in this genre, the best part of the film is on the dance floor and should appeal most to those who have an interest in this; if only the predictable and silly paint-by-numbers story, acting and dialogue had as much panache and energy as the breakdancing, which admittedly is actually fun. The contrived, disappointing "Rocky"-esque ending tries to teach more about life than dancing, but all they could come up is "second sucks" (note to the filmmakers, the ending does too considering the premise). Holloway, best known as Sawyer on TV's "Lost" and former Nickelodeon star Peck, along with bad boy rapper Brown, who does show some dancing skills, all are intended to be the draw to "Battle of the Year" though we know the real draw and the only reason to see a movie like this is the dancing. See Benson's aforementioned "Planet B Boy" documentary for a far better take on the subject. No bad dialogue or acting. No annoying montages. Just some genuinely amazing dance moves.
Wes's Grade: D
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