Break dancing (or B-Boyin' - thanks Wikipedia) is one of those trends that could only have a huge explosion of popularity in the 80s. It seemingly came and went in 1984, the same year that BOTH of the Breakin' (another name for break dancing) movies came out. In fact, the first film came out in May, and the second just before Christmas. To be fair, any later and it would have been too late. Americans would have latched on to a new trend like Top Gun shades or Whitesnake.
The first film's most notable moment happens about 10 minutes in during the first (of many) dance-off scenes, where a pre-fame Jean-Claude Van Damme can be seen as an extra in the background, busting a groove whilst wearing a black vest and shorts combination. It's a surreal moment. You can see him here, but do check out his performance on YouTube.
This bit here was where I was going to tell you the plot of Breakin', but it escaped me. A quick check on another site, and I'm still struggling to locate it. Basically there is Kelly (Lucinda Dickey), who is a jazz dancer. She discovers the wonders of breakin' and meets Turbo (Michael 'Boogaloo Shrimp' Chambers) and potential love interest Ozone (Adolfo 'Shabba Doo' Quinones) and has to overcome the...irritation is probably the best word of former dance teacher/mentor/sleazebag Franco (Ben Lokey, missing a funky nickname) and the competition of some 'poppers', which is another kind of breakin' called Electro Rock (they have nicknames like 'Pop'N Taco' and 'Poppin' Pete) to become the sensation of the street.
Kelly is given a 'funky fresh' nickname (That saying may not be in the film, I'm just riffing now) in 'Special K' and some other stuff happens that usually ends up with dancing. Kelly also has a friend, Adam, a hilariously camp creation that is phased out of the film so quickly it's shocking. He does return at the end though, in skintight lycra doing a slow motion jump, junk flailing everywhere.
Flailing everywhere brings me nicely to try and sum up the dancing. It's terrible. I know I'm no expert but everyone dances like, and is dressed like an idiot. Trousers up to the chest, or cut off shirts...it's horrific. Much like the acting and the plot. This isn't a good film, folks.
But not so bad that a young Ice-T wouldn't be in it though! He appears as a DJ at a club during a - you guessed it - dance off. Sad thing is, he came back for the sequel! The things we do when we're young (although he still calls his appearance in the films "wack".)
And it's a bit unwittingly racist too. The amount of times someone says "You people.." is quite startling. But it never gets to the point where it's just unpleasant, like Flashdance for example, a film where I found everything so unlikable I turned it off!
But, Breakin' was a huge hit, and turned into one of Canon's biggest films, so the sequel was rushed through in what has to be record time, and landed 6 months later. Electric Boogaloo is apparently another type of break dancing, but that still doesn't explain why it was used as a subtitle. It has, however, left a legacy of being used every time a slightly suspect sounding (or not in some cases) sequel comes out.
The rule for Boogaloo seemed to be more dancing, less plot. Since the events of the first film, Kelly, Ozone and Turbo have drifted apart a bit (that is Ozone and Turbo from Kelly), but they get together near the start for a entire street dance sequence, and I guess other things like that. But the community centre they use (mainly for dancing, it seems) is in danger of being bulldozed down so they all just dance loads to raise the money. They also seem to buy a lot of paint with the money they raise, so they can paint a massive totalizer on the side of a wall. It's just ludicrous.
The meager plot mentioned is just a means to an end to squeeze in as many dance routines and dance offs as possible. One character is hospitalized just so they can have a big dance number in a hospital, its utter garbage. As with the first one, the acting is terrible, and frankly everyone looks like an idiot. You can just put it down to the excessive decade that break dancing was popular in, I guess. Who needs a well made movie with actors when you can just churn out two cheap films, with a bunch of dancers?
I don't think anyone need fear a remake here.
Breakin'
*1/2
The half mark is for the Van Damme cameo, in this otherwise worthless, plotless mess. If you like seeing badly dressed people dance like idiots though, this is for you.
Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
*
Dialing back the plot even more for extra dancing, this is even worst than the first one. A rushed mess, although you can see why they rushed it. Even then they knew this would have a very limited shelf life!
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