Battlefield America (2012)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Boring

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

The dance sequences were enjoyable, but the story is a bit cliché and lazy. It has that "Teacher/Student" bond that we've seen before in other films which helped the kids be successful in the end.The acting isn't half bad, but the editing felt rushed only to get to the good parts rather than trying to dive in more on the character's lives. This seems like a more ghetto, dramatic, kid version of "You Got Served." Not a bad movie, but needs to be better.

It was cute... I mean Chris stokes in my opinion is a terrible writer, and Marques Houston we all know isn't the smartest tool in the shed... I don't mean to be so harsh on them for I grew up loving sister sister and immature, and I have a guilty pleasure for you got served and even as cliché and poorly written that movie was it became one of my favorites Chris stokes is a decent directer/producer but I beg that he let somebody else write for him, and I hope it is no one that is a part of his R&B discovery squad with the exception for maybe Brandy. The plot was unoriginal. It was the Mighty Ducks with dancing. The dialogue was terrible. The actors were high and low some were over the top and some just weren't trying hard enough. With that said the talent of the kid dancers made this movie go from 2 stars to 4 stars. They killed it, and made it worth the watch. I decided to add one more star for good production.

I don't understand the negative reviews for this movie.This deserve a 10 stars.Something is definitely wrong with people when they do not care for a positive message in a movie.This movie was beyond great,had a touch of everything.It shows what can happen when a person's influence can change lives.These young boys had no hope,they could not see a promising future.The streets are what they knew,and of course,some of you can't relate, but if you are a fair person,then you will try to understand it from that viewpoint.I was not raised in a bad neighborhood,nor the streets, and i still totally get this movie.Life is about sacrifices and there were many a lessons in this movie that are based on real life for so many young people out there.This is their reality, and however fate made an entrance in these young boys life.It brought them someone that made them believe in themselves. Whether dance is an art to you, or not.Only the true artistic, and creative minds can get this.The art of dance comes in many forms.I don't know why you all just see it being a stereotypical movie.I do not think they are exploited in this movie.All the reviews that are voicing this opinion is so Wrong!The point i am making is, some can't understand because their mindset is stayed or stuck on only the parts of these little boys being kids and the street dancing.But people who are giving bad reviews are using half of their brain.If you were to consider their upbringing,then any good positive element or opportunity that can make them productive or get them in a positive frame of mind is the greatest thing. Of course,some part of it might not be realistic to some folks, but they are clearly missing the point of the movie.This is a great and positive not to forget encouraging movie,especially for young people.If you cannot see the positive part which outweigh the environment,then you are close-minded and out of touch with the generation of young people that enjoy this kind of dance.Some need dance to be a part of keeping them occupied and productive.Thumbs up to Marques Houston!He has done an exceptional job.I could watch this with my nieces and nephews many times and keep this in a collection of good movies.I applaud the message of this movie and i will leave close minded people with this quote from Albert Einstein."Imagination is more important than knowledge".

Street dance films are the rage these days, and this genre probably won't see extinction at least in this decade, with the American Step Up franchise seeing the latest installment coming here in August, and the European Streetdance films having its latest release earlier this year. All versions now boast of the use of 3D to try and jack some extra revenue from its target teenage audience looking out for inspiration to hit the dance floors, and eyebrows definitely got raised when the dancers here are, well, kids.Not that they're doing a bad job. I belong to the camp of those who feel a little bit awkward with children being dolled up and having their parents push them into participating in modelling or beauty pageants, and to take competition that come their way so seriously, you wonder if the lack of a proper, normal childhood will have any detrimental effects later in their lives. And here, a handful of kids no older than 12, get to move and groove in what I thought was gangsta style, some adopting the same attitude outside of the dance floor, and you'd wonder just what's going on behind the scenes in bringing these kids up. And to my surprise too are two of the kids, one being really androgynous, and the other I thought was female until it was revealed much later to be male instead.That aside, the dance moves if you ignore the age, are pretty OK as far as the Step Up and Streetdance standards go, minus a notch. Being kids, they don't have the mileage chalked up in executing more fanciful sequences, the best of the best here being nothing more than a somersault flip that turned out to be the finishing move, which in the other mentioned films are nothing but a walk in the park. Clinically choreographed, it's a pity we don't get to see much dances by opposite parties since the preliminaries en route to the titular competition largely went by without being able to see much. Even the finals were just a one round three- cornered fight, ending with a dance off between two groups, following formula that's established for the genre.And the excuse of a plot got wrapped around a high flying, arrogant executive Sean Lewis (Marques Houston) who got to serve time in community service, falling in love with the beautiful supervisor at the center played by Mekia Cox, and having to develop friendship and camaraderie with a group of troubled kids there by teaching them dance. It got a little bit tired with the usual man-hating-kids to man-warming-up-to-kids and vice versa, since you're likely to stay many steps in the way the plot develops, right down to expecting the type of challenges and road blocks that come their way. Think Dead Poets Society dumbed down by a lot, and you have what Battlefield America attempts to achieve. Even the way the kids get into trouble and the way their challengers behave, remind you of how the Karate Kid goes about dealing with adversary, right down to extrapolating that to the adult, supervisory level.Director Chris Stokes may have seen an opportunity in adapting the modern street dance film formula for teens into something for and at the kids level, but it's street dance we're dealing with, that comes with a certain territory with it that's out of reach for the underaged. That made the film suffer a little bit in having a story that's rather generic and done ad nauseam, having to dwell in safe and feel good themes despite being a tale set in the underground dance scene, and ultimately felt something like after sitting through a moral education lesson. Still, for those involved in the world of street dance, I'm pretty sure this would just be another feather in the cap to try and be inspired by.