After success proves elusive in Los Angeles, dance crew The Mob returns to Miami. But Sean (Guzman) sticks around, getting a job at a salsa studio and reconnecting with Moose (Sevani). Together, they assemble a new team and enter The Vortex, a reality TV dance contest in Las Vegas hosted by preening Effie-wannabe Alexxa (Miko). With Moose's old pal Andie (Evigan) on board, the new crew is properly fierce, and their climb through the competition puts them on a collision course with both The Mob and Grim Knights, led by Sean's nemesis Jasper (Jones).

Yes, every plot point is painfully predictable, including Sean and Andie's requisite love-hate banter, triumphant performances, moody fallings-out and a steady stream of glitzy Vegas montages. Oddly, director Sie opts to keep the dancing relatively understated, so it looks more like a Cirque du Soleil performance than a street-dance battle. And the scale of these routines increases up to the outrageous final showdown.

As before, Guzman is easy on the eyes but never adds much to the drama. Evigan has more spark, although neither she nor Guzman ever do much on the dance floor. Far more energetic, Savani is again sidelined with a simplistic subplot involving his girlfriend (Stoner), who herself feels sidelined by his passion for dance. There are several other random love stories, burning feuds and tortured pasts to fill the time, but nothing gains traction.

Fortunately, this episode has a breeziness that has escaped this franchise until now: nothing is played seriously, characters make fun of each other and the nuttiest dance moves are clearly deliberate. This means that the audience gets the chance to laugh along with the film rather than at it. Through most of the story, Sean is stubborn and unlikeable, pushing everyone away for no reason at all until he learns his lesson and then recites everything he has learned in a series of speeches at the end. Frankly, this is even more hilarious than the witty outtakes in the closing credits.

themes, language, some innuendo

28.Jul.14