10/11/2007 15:03 - (SA)
Movie review: Stomp the Yard
STOMP THE YARD (STER KINEKOR)
Director:
Sylvain White
Featuring:
Columbus Short, Ne-Yo, Meagan Good and Darrin Dewitt Henson
vRating: ***
This film is really just one long dance video, with a weak storyline that tries to hold it all together. DJ (Columbus Short) and his brother are phenomenally talented dancers, who with their crew take part in ‘battles’ or dance competitions.
They’re working class kids from South Central, LA. When they trump a rival dance troupe in a battle, a brawl follows and his brother is murdered.
DJ, stricken with grief, decides to go to Truth University, more to fulfill his brother’s dream than his own.
There he discovers that the university has an established tradition of ‘stomping the yard’ or ‘stepping’ whereby rival dance troupes from fraternity houses (thus all male!) battle it out to be the school champions.
DJ, struggling to fit in, further complicates his own life by falling for April (Meagan Good) the girlfriend of Grant (Darrin Dewitt Henson, of TV’s Soul Food fame), one of the leaders of the dance crews. This sets off a bitter rivalry, which is compounded when DJ joins a competing frat house and brings his considerable dancing skills into the competition. The story is short on plot, and really it’s the dancing that makes it all worthwhile. The dance sequences are superb.
And if you’re into eye candy of the male variety, then this is exactly the kind of movie to enjoy with hot, buttered popcorn – the gorgeous bodies are plentiful and extremely yummy.
The downside of a movie brimful of hotties is that the plot is heaving with testosterone and the ‘stepping’ competitions become metaphorical (and bloodless) battles of brawn.
The camera work – which zooms and slows down during some of the dancing – could be annoying to some viewers; I enjoyed it immensely, as it showed the considerable skill of the dancers.
In spite of abundant six packs, the film is pretty innocuous and contains no sex scenes whatsoever, which is bizarre for a college romance flick.
This is an underdog movie, about a boy from the wrong side of the tracks who makes good. It’s not the most intellectually challenging flick, but its fun to watch and worth popping into the DVD when there’s nothing else going on. Gail Smith
GIVEAWAY
City Pulse and Ster Kinekor have 10 copies of Stomp the Yard to give away. To be in the draw send your name and contact details to: City Pulse/Stomp, PO Box 3413, Johannesburg, 2000.
Competition closes on November 30.
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