Magic Mike XXL

This review may contain spoilers!

If you're going along for a good film you've come to the wrong place; if you're here for Channing well you get your fair share. I would give Magic Mike XXL a 3.5/10.

This film has some brilliant dance work; I mean a film that's built on sexual dancing and body movement was always going to be impressively good in that area. Furthermore the soundtrack for this film works really well; plus adding Donald Glover and Matt Bomer's musical numbers really brought the film up.

Channing Tatum, who played Mike, was a fantastic protagonist; the great thing about Tatum is that he makes his characters feel very real and that is no different in this film. Joe Manganiello, who played Big Dick Ritchie, was the energy of this film; you felt Manganiello in the scenes that he was in and this was especially the case in the convenience store scene. Donald Glover, who played Andre, added something quite refreshing to the film; his singing was a big impact plus he was exceptionally passionate in his performance.

However the best performance came from Jada Pinkett Smith, who played Rome. Smith really brought a lot to this film, there was an exceptional amount of flirtation and temptation from her character. As the film progressed we experience the incredible leader Smith has created. Rome is a role that is rather empowering for women, she expresses the importance of how beautiful all women are several times; Smith really drives this trait home.

The problem with the plot is that it delivers a lot of moments that just happen; it's like watching Magic Mike and his crew put into skits. As such the film really suffers in it's pacing, dragging on for far too long by the time we reach the big stripper convention at the end. The cinematography was another let down in this film, movement like what's seen in this film demands to be captured by a lot of great shots which really didn't happen here sadly. Furthermore the editing was just a lot of basic cutting, there wasn't any exceptional effort put in there.

Kevin Nash, who played Tarzan, has always been an awkward performance on Magic Mike; he seems out of place and is more often than not forgotten. Gabriel Iglesias, who played Tobias, was just quite unnecessary in general; his absence was the only way he ultimately served the plot. Matt Bomer, who played Ken, had a very strange way of portraying his character's personality; his performance was incredibly artificial. Adam Rodriguez, who played Tito, was a bit of a background figure; more often than not I found myself wondering if his character was going to have any impact at all. Andie MacDowell, who played Nancy Davidson, was a really bizarre reflection of the film's audience; like she was just kind of disturbingly goofy to watch. Elizabeth Banks, who played Paris, was a really weird cameo; her purpose for being in the film was just really unclear and shouldn't have happened.