If there was one thing that was most frustrating about watching Step Up 3 last year, whether it be the 3D version or otherwise, it was the fact that there were moments that were magic about it that were almost immediately contradicted or overwhelmed. You could see that Director Jon Chu had latched onto something, at least for a fleeting moment, that was like catching lightning in a bottle – – but there just wasn’t quite enough in the story to propel the film past a few moments of grace and charm.
While I typically avoid any sort of comparative analysis in a review of a single film, I mention this to begin the case for Never Say Never and may need to resort to it again to make a point. Chu is, in fact, the perfect candidate for this project. Despite what he hasn’t been able to accomplish with some other films, here the story existed and it’s the kind of thing you can’t make up. He absolutely nailed it as far as making it a piece of narrative cinema.
Absolutely stripping away any notions you may have ( pre-conceived or otherwise) about Bieber’s music, this film is quite amazing and exhilarating and that has every bit as much to do with the crafting of the film as it does with the narrative it relates.