Magic Mike's Last Dance | Film Review

I'm a fan of the first two Magic Mike movies. Even though I don't think they're perfect, I love the group of actors, and they're both really fun watches. So while I was sceptical about whether this one would be as good as the others, I was excited to see it.

While working as a bartender in Florida, Mike follows wealthy socialite Maxandra (Salma Hayek) to London to help a group of dancers put on the performance of their lives.

I didn't love this film. It was okay as a standalone, but it didn't really feel like a Magic Mike movie.

Particularly in the beginning, some moments feel a lot more cringey than they would have felt in the previous movies, almost like their time had passed.

The story itself isn't that interesting, and at times it feels really far removed from the point of the first two movies - particularly the second which was about the friendship between the group of guys more than anything else.

One of the reasons this didn't feel like a Magic Mike movie was because Mike didn't feel like the main character. That role definitely went to Max.

I liked the progression of Mike from stripper to choreographer, and love the idea of his character becoming a choreographer for future groups of strippers, but that idea in itself didn't feel worthy of this 'Last Dance' finale movie.

Mike and Max have great chemistry, but it's not enough to carry the movie without the other guys (who I keep mentioning because the movie really lost something without these characters).

I never really cared about anything that happened, and although the film tried to make the stakes high, it never really felt like they were.

The final dance started well, but then it felt a bit underwhelming. But having said that, throughout the film there were some really cool, interesting routines.

One thing I wanted was for the dancers to have personalities, or for the film to let us get to know them. Not only did they not get personalities or stories, but they barely got names.

Overall, this probably could have been a cool dance movie without the Magic Mike name, as it didn't really live up to previous Magic Mike movies. I'd recommend it if you're a fan of the movies, but if you haven't seen them, I'd definitely stick to the first two.

4/10