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Magic Mike’s Last Dance Blu-ray Review

The Magic Mike trilogy goes out with a whimper.

“Magic Mike’s Last Dance” is the third and allegedly final installment in the trilogy. At the start of the film, we find Mike is broke, single and bartending for a catering company. While working at a fundraising event for the wealthy Max, she offers to buy a lap dance from him knowing about his past from a friend. Mike accepts the job for 6 grand, but he gets more than he bargained for when she offers him 60 grand to go to London for her for a month. Upon arrival, Mike learns that Max wants him to direct a stage show for her. He accepts and soon finds himself falling for Max too. Matters become complicated as the stage show runs into legal troubles from Max’s soon to be ex-husband. 

The esteemed filmmaker Steven Soderbergh returns to the directing chair for this third installment penned by Reid Carolin and the result is quite possibly Soderbergh’s weakest film to date. Instead of making a titillating dance movie, ‘Last Dance’ is more of a romantic drama between Mike and Max that contains shockingly few dance scenes. Sure, there’s a couple showstoppers (namely the bus dance and the sexy rain dance), but the slow paced sequel is bogged down by a slight story that feels like the kind of plot you’d see in a golden age Hollywood musical. It doesn’t help that the big stage show itself turns out to be a cheesy affair complete with a unicorn (don’t ask).

Perhaps the most glaring issue is the fact that Matt Bomer and Joe Manganiello only appear in a short Zoom cameo. Leaving out fan favorite characters is a strange move to be sure and the movie suffers for it. 

Speaking of Mike and Max, Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek Pinault do turn in solid performances here. Tatum is a bit stiff dramatically in spots, but his dance moves and chemistry with Hayek are on point. Hayek herself gives a quality dramatic performance. 

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 2.39:1 1080p. How does it look? Expect a sharp hi-def transfer that makes the colors pop.

Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? From the dialogue to the bass thumping music, this 5.1 track delivers.

Extras:
* Deleted scene
* “Magic Mike’s New Moves”- A short featurette on the dancing choreography.
* Digital copy
* DVD copy

April 17, 2023 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Channing Tatum, Magic Mike 3, Magic Mike's Last Dance Blu-ray Review, Steven Soderbergh