Dancing To The Same Beat
Seven words can perfectly sum up Netflix’s latest dance flick, Into The Beat: “I swear I’ve seen this movie before.” Armed with a cookie cutter plot, well-orchestrated plot beats and some okay dancing, this dance movie is likely to blend into obscurity over the weeks. Our main protagonist here is Katya, a teen ballerina who’s going through the motions. Feeling guilty and desperate to impress her Father Victor, she continues to press on with her dancing. A chance encounter with a hip hop crew outside though, changes everything for Katya. After meeting a dancer called Marlon and his merry band of misfits – known simply ass The Tigers – she finds herself torn between ballet and breakdancing. Into The Beat then takes all the usual tropes you’d expect and throws them into a 100 minute formulaic story. If you’re reading this synopsis and expecting some grand twist or big reveal – don’t hold your breath. Into The Beat hits you repeatedly with all the tired tricks in the book, from the misunderstanding and heartfelt explanation scenes right the way through to the triumphant dance at the end. To be fair to this movie, there is a nice message here and the Father/Daughter relationship definitely helps drive this movie forward. It’s just a shame that the message is one that’s been so well worn now that it loses any effectiveness it may have had with a new lick of paint or original hook. And that is ultimately the biggest problem with Into The Beat. There’s absolutely nothing new or challenging here that hasn’t been done before. The movie plays with the same tired tropes and expectations to produce a very obvious, very formulaic dance movie that lacks the wow factor it so desperately needs. Sure the dancing is well choreographed but without that X-factor to back it up, the movie blends into a sea of other breakdancing wannabes, failing to ascend to the heights of dance movie greatness.
