Magic Mike’s Last Dance: Channing Tatum Bumps and Grinds This Franchise to Its End

The post Magic Mike’s Last Dance: Channing Tatum Bumps and Grinds This Franchise to Its End appeared first on Consequence.

The Pitch: Our old pal Magic Mike Lane (Channing Tatum), to quote the poets of old, is “just a bachelor / Looking for a partner / Someone who knows how to ride / Without even falling off.” He’s not looking that hard at the moment, though, as he’s currently down on his luck, scraping together gigs in Miami following the pandemic-induced end of his custom furniture business.

Enter Maxandra (Salma Hayek Pinault), a very wealthy soon-to-be divorcee who meets Mike at a charity fundraiser she’s hosting and he’s bartending at. After hearing from another attendee that the guy behind the bar has a certain set of skills, Maxandra asks Mike for a private show, and the sparks fly — leaving her so transformed that she decides to whisk Mike away to London, where she puts him to work directing a new show in her soon-to-be ex-husband’s family’s theater. It’s a stodgy historic venue. Is it ready for Mike’s magic?

“It’s Not Bro Time, It’s Showtime”: After staying out of the director’s chair for the second Magic Mike film, Magic Mike XXL, Steven Soderbergh slides back in for the third film in the series, which strips… um, that is, it streamlines its narrative down to the most simple of plot points. The reason for this is simple: It’s a Magic Mike movie, and we supposedly know what we’re really here for.

That being said, Last Dance proves to be a fascinating experience for at least one reason: lesser films might, and often do, succumb to some degree of fan service. (Especially in a movie which promises to be the final installment of a trilogy.) What Soderbergh and writer Reid Carolin instead do is take this very simple framework, and use it to explore the love story they want to tell — one that doesn’t dive deep into the mysteries of the human heart, but does deliver some sweetness along with the gyrating and thrusting.

“Who Are We?” “Male Entertainers!” As we of course all remember, Channing Tatum broke into entertainment as a dancer, a craft he did originally hone in Florida strip clubs before movies like Step Up and She’s the Man led to him becoming a legitimate box office draw. One thing that hasn’t changed in the last 20 years: The man still knows how to move. More importantly, he’s come a long way as an actor, especially when playing this particular character, finding the natural grace in Mike’s knocked-down-but-never-knocked-out approach to life.

Working with Hayek Pinault brings out the best in him, too, and maybe also her. Maxandra’s foibles and flaws make her a rich enough character to stand opposite Mike in what is essentially a two-hander with a lot of strapping young back-up dancers, and the always versatile actress isn’t afraid to lean into her more childish instincts, oftentimes quite effectively. (Some actors know how to sit in a chair better than anyone else. Hayek Pinault could give similar lessons on how to flop across a bed.)

Magic Mike’s Last Dance (Warner Bros.)

“Nobody Messes With the Mojo on the Last Ride!” Honestly, the biggest issue with Last Dance is that it plays less like a Soderbergh film and more like a Step Up film (and not just because of Tatum’s presence). No insult meant to the Step Up oeuvre, a very watchable series of dance movies — it’s just that we’ve come to expect a grittier, more grounded vibe here. Also, multiple Step Up movies begin with voiceover about what makes dance so important and inspiring, which is a trope this film leans on as well, using monologues from Maxandra’s precocious tweenage daughter Zadie (Jemelia George) in an attempt to hang together its themes.

Despite Zadie’s speeches, though, Last Dance doesn’t succeed at finding much depth. The first Magic Mike, released in 2012, was in many ways framed as a response to the 2009 financial crisis; XXL, released in 2015, was a lighter and frothier concoction, befitting what we can now look back on as a comparatively simpler time. The result was a film so thoroughly committed to the concept of “living in the moment” that its final montage of triumph barely lasts a full 90 seconds of DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win.”

Yet XXL had a depth to its seemingly shallow narrative, entirely rooted in its emphasis on each character’s individual journey, which climaxed in that dazzling final showcase at Myrtle Beach. Unfortunately, this film is lacking similar layers, with the emphasis solely on that core connection between Mike and Maxandra.

It doesn’t help that the troupe of dancers that Maxandra and Mike assemble for the big show are pretty much nameless voids without personality. They all seem very nice and supportive of each other, and they’re beautiful dancers, but in some ways they’ve been objectified to the point of becoming posable objects — which feels like the exact opposite of the point of a Magic Mike movie.

The Verdict: The Magic Mike franchise (yes, three movies, a reality series, and a very successful live show more than equals a franchise these days) is such a curious one because of the beautiful fantasy bubble it exists in. While a comic book movie asks us to believe a man can fly, Magic Mike asks us to believe in a world that’s purer and better than ours, one where men always treat women with respect and reverence, consent is always freely and enthusiastically given, and there is never a shortage on singles.

Last Dance never compromises this fantasy, but it also doesn’t elevate it or find anything particularly impactful to say about this world in which it exists. Soderbergh is so good at letting his actors find their most naturalistic performances within a scene, and capturing the details that make it come alive. He also is very good at stepping back and letting the camera capture very talented people moving like no one else on earth can move. Unfortunately, the relative lack of ambition proves to be a disappointment. It’s not the way we hoped this dance would end.

Where to Watch: Magic Mike’s Last Dance will be your Mr. Right and fill your appetite in theaters beginning Friday, February 10th.

Trailer:

Magic Mike’s Last Dance: Channing Tatum Bumps and Grinds This Franchise to Its End
Liz Shannon Miller

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