After his business is shut down by the pandemic, Mike Lane (Channing Tatum) is working as a barman.
Following a chance encounter with a wealthy divorcee, Max (Salma Hayek Pinault), Mike finds himself in London, directing a stage show.
As the show comes together, Max is trying to figure out her feelings for the former stripper.
In order to bridge the gulf between them, Mike falls back on the one thing he knows: dance…
Channing Tatum has said he hopes to make more Magic Mike movies, and based on this movie, I hope he does.
Not because I liked this movie - if you are looking for Magic Mike XXXL, this is not it - but because it presents a future for the franchise where it is a refillable proposition with endless variations.
While Tatum is a part of the story, he is more of a bystander to Hayek Pinault’s personal drama.
This opens up the potential for Magic Mike to turn into the Shane of dance franchises, with Mike Lane as the stranger stumbling into different characters’ stories, providing some kind of dance-inspired inspiration, and going on his way.
Enough speculation. Back to the movie at hand.
After the semi-sabbatical of XXL, Steven Soderbergh returns to the director’s chair.
Mike Lane is back, but this time he is alone - and in the alien environment of London.
Having Mike as a fish out of water is rich with possibilities, but the movie feels strangely circumspect in this regard.
We get some of the cliches of Yanks in the UK, mainly in Mike’s awkward interactions with Max’s social set, including her super-deadpan stepdaughter Zadie (Jemelia George) and butler Victor (Ayub Khan-Din).
The central couple are fine together but there is not the dynamite chemistry of the previous two films.
And the love story is secondary to Max’s own arc, as she finds her footing as a single woman. Hayek Pinault gives the role some pathos, and provides a sense of the character’s existential crisis. Frankly, it feels like she is giving the film more than the script has provided.
Is the movie about a woman’s agency and desire? I guess?
Maybe my expectations are warped by the crowd-pleasing aspects of XXL, but this movie just kind of sits there.
Outside of Max, the film feels a little threadbare - characters exist as signposts for Max’s emotional journey, and the stage show is pushed into the background.
We get to see the full show during the climax, but it lacks the sense of catharsis the movie is driving towards.
That being said, on its own terms, it is a highlight of the film.
As before, Soderbergh shoots each dance in wide, extended shots with little coverage or editing.
The final number is a Singing in the Rain-style duet between Tatum and a ballet dancer (Kylie Shea). This number recreates Mike and Max’s argument earlier in the film.
In a bit of filmmaking that felt a shade obvious, Soderbergh cuts in snippets of that scene and other scenes of the couple from earlier in the film.
The film is meant to show the power of dance, with the couple reunited, but it all feels a tad obvious and tired.
Last Dance is not terrible, but it lacks the energy and emotional investment of its predecessor.
That would be fine - the original film is a good example - if this movie worked as its own piece.
The acting is all fine, but it feels a bit restricted by the uninspired script.
If we are to get another dance from Mike Lane, perhaps the Magic Mike franchise needs new dance partners behind the scenes.
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