Warner Bros. Pictures movie Magic Mike’s Last Dance; is the third to star Channing Tatum in the titular role and Salma Hayak Pinault also joins the franchise – directed by Steven Soderbergh.
I decided to watch all three movies in one day and it was a mistake, because this third movie does not fit right in the franchise.
All of the passion, motivation and creativity from the first two has been taken away, in order for Mike Lane to end up being back at the beginning once again, because his business deal has gone bust.
Mike and Maxandra (Salma Hayak) spend the majority of the movie wondering what the heck they are even doing there and as a viewer, I was feeling the same!
It’s also missing the larger involvement of the male entertainer group, who Magic Mike was with; their chemistry was great!
The group only appear briefly via video call to create exposition that becomes left unfinished; with Mike owing his former group money, that’s just not addressed any further before the movie finishes.
There’s quite a lot of awkward line delivery and long pauses between Salma Hayak Pinault and Channing Tatum, especially scene entrances from some other supporting actors during the movie. Chemistry between Mike and Maxandra feels forced to create this story, it didn’t click with me.
Jarring and unecessary narrations over scenes, due to the daughter (Jemelia George) of Maxandra reading from a book, they have written about these events. It just feels too disconnected when this type of thing didn’t happen for the other two movies.
Final thoughts
Apart from the beginning and final choreography featuring Channing Tatum that was quite impressive and very saucy, the rest of the dance performances are missing that ‘wow-factor’, that Magic Mike XXL was able to deliver on so well.
Steven Soderbergh tried something different with the direction of this third story and it does not work! It’s also not a very satisfying sequel to sit through.
Out of all three movies, Magic Mike XXL is definitley one of the best to watch, and had a much better story for the character. I regret watching any further than the second movie and it’s highly unlikely that I will be watching Magic Mike’s Last Dance again.