Battle of the Year

If you lose your passion for something, you might feel lost. So does our main actor here (you may know him from a TV show called Lost), who has to train a few kids to do something that seems unachievable. Mainly because some of his pupils didn't lose their focus, they didn't have it to begin with.

But the movie does have a story, even though we have a lot of characters that have to fit into the story, you do get a bit of their background and the movie does make sense. The dancing is OK, with some wicked things/stunts being performed. The story is more than decent and is fun to watch. Overall something people who like "battle" movies might very well enjoy

Here we have another dance movie. At first, it seems movies of such genre have exhausted and that there is nothing else to tell about. You expect the story will repeat: there is a huge and important dance event with a fabulous sum of money as a main prize and that can change dancers' life for ever, on the one hand, and there is a dance crew desiring to win this event, on the other hand. Yes, the story is like this, but this time the director have added some moral notions that made this movie acquire some deeper sense and look more interesting and intriguing. Battle of the year is an international b-boying competition where dance crews from all over the world try to get to and get the first place. The point is that for the last 15 years America, homeland of break dance, has not taken any first place. One of the former b-boy dancers (Dante Graham played by Laz Alonso) decides to change this situation. He finds a couch (Couch Blake performed by Josh Holloway) and together they create Dream Team. Couch's main goal is not only to train the guys to win the competition, but his first and principal idea is to make them a team, some kind of dance family where everybody supports each other and ready stand for everyone who is in this crew. Another subtext of this film is "change how you think, change your life". The read line of Battle of the year is that your reality is in your head: you get everything you think about. And the same is about success. If you think about it and act like a successful person, you definitely will get this. And you decide what you put into your head. The movie shows us how their couch tries to change not only his reality, but the guys' one too and how he changes their idea about friendship and other values. At the same time, Blake trains them to be excellent dancers, he doesn't forget about the main purpose why he was hired to train this team. Of course, there are great dance moments, the competition itself is just insane. And it is interesting to see the scale of similar events and different dance techniques. So, if you are a big fan of dancing or dance movies or if you just want to see Chris Brown, his acting, go and watch this movie. By the way, the end is pretty unexpected. I guess very soon we will see the second part of this film.

Well, what can I say, you reading this review will be a better usage of time than watching this disaster. A film which adds no value to your motivation factor, it didn't even motivated me to pump a muscle. The choreography was good but the cinematography took the fun away from it. The dialogs were unsynchronized and looked forceful as if the actors lost interest in the middle. Abrupt ending with stupid scenes which have no connection with the movie, throwing love and family angles just to touch every heart(FAIL!), quickly ending the BATTLE which was deemed to be the most important and much awaited part of the movie and below par acting of almost all the actors, makes BATTLE OF THE YEAR *THE WORST MOVIE OF 2013* I watched so far. A complete PONZI scheme. Save your time, money and effort. Stay away from this one. (Yes, Its nothing like STEP UP)

I have a belief that every movie should be watched at least once. After seeing some reviews throughout multiple sites that this movie was not that great, and just gave terrible reviews I went out and rented from Redbox to see. I was at the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happen next. Enjoyed the story, enjoyed the cast. It wasn't your typical dance movie, "You got serve" or "Step up" it took what was there and expanded with an additional idea, let's make a new Dream Crew with the best of the best. This movie deserves to be watched and given the chance.

On a side not, some reviews complained about Chris Brown and his acting in this movie, well he did that in this movie by acting. If his personal character is to be attack, I believe that that is a different review, the overall moral of a lot of people that get TV time should be in check. I don't know Chris Brown personally but he is a persona, a entertainer and everything that he is paid to do is that.

Just give it a chance and make your own opinion

Thanks

The producer Dante Graham (Laz Alonso) promotes a group of b-boys expecting to bring the Battle of the Year Trophy back to the USA that have not won it in fifteen years. He hires his friend and former basketball couch Jason Blake (Josh Holloway) that grieves the loss of his wife and son to prepare his team. Blake fires the whole team since they do not have motivation and decides to select a new group of dancers under the nickname of Dream Team. He also hires the youngster Franklyn (Josh Peck) and the choreographer of break-dance Stacy (Lotz Caity) to help him. Along the months, Blake tries to implement teamwork and works hard with the group. In the competition in France, he has a great surprise.

"Battle of the Year" is a disappointing and predictable collection of clichés. It is amazing how many times this storyline has been used in different environments and sports ("decadent couch hires a team of losers that in the end surprises in a competition") with a corny message in the end. Fans of break-dance and hip-hop may enjoy a little more but this movie is terrible. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Batalha do Ano" ("Battle of the Year")