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- 2013
- PG-13
- Screen Gems
- 1 h 50 m
- 2013
- PG-13
- Screen Gems
- 1 h 50 m
Summary Battle of the Year is the Olympics of break dancing, a tournament held every year that attracts all the best teams from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years. Los Angeles Hip Hop mogul and former B-Boy Dante (Laz Alonso) wants to put the country that started it all back on top. He enlists his hard-luck friend B...
Directed By: Benson Lee
Written By: Brin Hill, Chris Parker, Benson Lee
- 2013
- PG-13
- Screen Gems
- 1 h 50 m
- 2013
- PG-13
- Screen Gems
- 1 h 50 m
Battle of the Year
29
3.1
Where to Watch
Summary Battle of the Year is the Olympics of break dancing, a tournament held every year that attracts all the best teams from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years. Los Angeles Hip Hop mogul and former B-Boy Dante (Laz Alonso) wants to put the country that started it all back on top. He enlists his hard-luck friend B...
Directed By: Benson Lee
Written By: Brin Hill, Chris Parker, Benson Lee
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 21 Critic Reviews
29
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
48% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
52% Negative
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 21 Critic Reviews
29
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
48% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
52% Negative
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
It’s undeniable that the good-natured “Afterschool Special” vibe here plays to the film’s corny strengths, and the dancing is impressive. So much so that it’s almost impossible not to cheer during the final round.
The young dancers' undeniable skill and athleticism is squandered in this formulaic, overly familiar dance movie.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 32 User Ratings
3.1
22% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
16% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
63% Negative
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 32 User Ratings
3.1
22% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
16% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
63% Negative
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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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.
Remarkably, the highlight of Benson Lee's film, essentially a fiction reboot of his Planet B-Boy, isn't the scene where Chris Brown gets punched in the face.
So fatally frontloaded with endless training montages, awfully written, indifferently acted drama, sports-film platitudes and jaw-dropping product placements that only the hardiest of viewers will make it through to the payoff.
Bastardizing his own 2007 doc, "Planet B-Boy," Benson Lee throws street cred to the breeze with this unspeakably rote Hollywood mockery of its deft nonfiction predecessor, with clueless bigotry as shrill as the squeak of new kicks on a stage floor.
Too incompetent to work as an underdog dance flick, but not nearly weird enough to qualify as howling camp, Battle Of The Year is destined to please only bad movie buffs desperate for a fix of awful dialogue, blatant product placement, and clunky exposition.
Really repetitive movie of similar ones, with all the same problems as they had - basically a spin-off of Step Up and similar movies without bringing much new things into the mix. Also there are some a bit weird dialogues and it feels like the dancing (b-boy stuff) is the most important thing in the world at some points and they exaggerate about everything a bit. The ending was a bit unexpected maybe, but still it wasn't that interesting to watch. Only reason why I gave 4 out of 10 was because it felt like there might be something interesting going on at the beginning and it wasn't like I switched it off completely, plus if you want to see Chris Brown act or really liked LOST (one of the actors plays in the movie), then you might actually see it
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The movie was totally boring from the outset. After the electrifying and seat grabbing screen wonders, Stomp the Yard, Step Up, and especially the latest “wow” Step Up Revolution, Battle of the Year fell flat in expectations. The Battle of the Year attempted to introduce themes that were over-used and worn about the edges by every upcoming wannabe movie writer.
It was boring and without imagination on the part of the writer. The actors, even Chris Brown who I suspect was mostly used for sale factor, were lacking in acting skills, and the ability to grab and hold the audience. If the intention is to take children to see a great dance movie, save the dough and get Step Up Revolution from Netflix or pay per view. This movie is not worth the ten dollars and the popcorn.
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Battle of the Year is one of the most horrible movies of this year, is like a terrible spin-off of the Step Up saga. This movie has good choreographies, but the rest of the movie (development, screenplay, performances, etc.) is extremely bad. As a whole, though, there’s not nearly enough quality material to make Battle of the Year recommendable (much less, accessible) to anyone other than the most hard-core of dance fanatics and even they may want to think twice about seeing the movie in theaters. Everyone else, this is just potential future home viewing material for a drinking game: take a shot every time a dancer points and oohs at his opponent or Josh Holloway gives a pep talk or when there’s an unnecessary reaction shot featuring Chris Brown).
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Chris Brown should've make a Stomp the Yard sequel with this crap. Battle of the Year is far from dead, but the movie is killing us in the dance movie genre. I love Josh Holloway from Lost, but who in the hell did they sign him up in the movie? This is a Step Up rip-off. If anybody that could teach incredible moves like this, it would have to be Michael Jackson. Bottom Line: Save it for the Razzies because this film is a dud.
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Production Company
Contrafilm,
Screen Gems
Release Date Sep 20, 2013
Duration 1 h 50 m
Rating PG-13
Tagline The World is watching
Awards
Razzie Awards
• 1 Nomination
