Aqib Rasheed
And so it ends. One of cinema’s most influential trilogies featuring a character’s rise and fall as he tries to make it in this world. We all met him in 2012 as he shocked the nation with his bold style. Then we saw him again in 2015, somehow larger than life. Finally, in 2023, his story concludes the same way it started—with a bang and very few clothes. I’m of course talking about the most iconic male stripper Hollywood has ever seen: Magic Mike.
Steven Soderbergh and Channing Tatum team up once again to complete Mike Lane’s story in Magic Mike’s Last Dance. Releasing on February 10, this final tease has everything that made the first two so enjoyable and, simultaneously, the flaws present in those movies. But, if there’s one thing Soderbergh is always good for, it’s delivering crowd-pleasing entertainers and this one is no different.
Mike (Tatum) is out of the stripping game and his furniture business has tanked. He’s forced to become a bartender in Florida and comes across a wealthy and beautiful socialite, Maxandra Mendoza a.k.a Max (Salma Hayek Pinault), and gives her a private dance she’ll never forget. She insists he comes to London to display his talent in the form of a live show. This may be too good to be true for Mike as he finds out Max has been hiding some stuff from him.
To put it eloquently, this film series has been about very muscular men performing tenacious choreography whilst taking off their clothes. Sure, these movies feature themes about the recession, drug abuse, etc., but at the end of the day, it comes down to stripping and dancing. There’s something about the kinetic energy in these scenes that awakes both the movie and the audience. And Magic Mike’s Last Dance essentially starts off with a dance scene that’s up there with some of the best sequences not only in this franchise but in the dance movie genre.
After some quick exposition, Max asks Mike to perform for her and he obliges. What follows is a nearly ten-minute erotic dance that’ll have the audience in total shock. This isn’t your typical lap dance—this is an acrobatic feat. Max is a woman possessed by Mike’s moves and his ability to transport her to a place she’s never gone to before. She wears this bright, stunning fuchsia top which starkly contrasts the mahogany and dark tones of her home. Mike lifts her, twists her, and blindfolds her among other things as a sultry song plays. Soderbergh shoots this scene like an action set piece where the audience wonders how these actors are physically able to do this. If you didn’t already believe this movie was worthy of an R-rating, this scene will do it. It’s an incredibly wild, bodacious, and sexy way to start the movie.
Neither of the actors speaks in this sequence and everything falls on their non-verbal actions. Hayek Pinault is known for having expressive eyes but at one point she’s blindfolded. However, she’s still able to convey so much simply on the choreography. Mike’s moves do all the talking in the scene and it’s truly astonishing. There might not be a better male dancer than Tatum, who seems like he was born for this role. We see Mike at different stages in each of these movies and, often, he’s down on his luck or trying to get out of the business. But, no matter how hard he tries, he always gets pulled in and shows there’s no one better.
Both actors play well off each other, but what prevents this movie—and, overall, this franchise—from cementing to legendary status is its insistence on adding subplots rather than being an amalgamation of euphoric and bravura sequences. One reason why Magic Mike XXL is the best film in the franchise is it doubles down on being a movie about male strippers. There’s a very loose plot that understands why people want to see this movie. The 2015 installment truly feels like an action movie because every 25 minutes or so, you get this incredible sequence of people dancing. The weakest part of that movie is the small subplots (ex. The Amber Heard track) that pull you away from the unbelievable stripping scenes. Magic Mike’s third act has too much of an overarching plot and Magic Mike’s Last Dance’s middle portion has too many threads to connect.
The overall story of creating the show has many different subplots: getting dancers, teaching them, creating a narrative for the audience, setting up the stage, etc. And, while this isn’t the worst thing, it’s the other subplots that are a bummer. There’s stuff about Max’s love life before Mike, her relationship with her estranged daughter, and something about a butler (that still doesn’t really make sense why Soderbergh added it) which don’t add much to the movie. The film’s success lies in its stripping and one wishes Soderbergh had allowed them to go wild with it in this final entrant.
Getting through this middle part, however, only makes the finale more gratifying. Where the first 15 minutes were this elaborate, raunchy Cirque du Soleil-esque sequence, the climax is a full 25-30 minute “Step-Up-but-if-Soderbergh-directed-it” performance featuring tons of Magic Mike proteges. This is where that kinetic energy returns and brings a vivaciousness to the film. It is truly an enthralling piece of filmmaking, similar to the climax of Magic Mike XXL. And, of course, it ends with a dance by Magic Mike himself. If the audience thought the opening sequence was risque, then they aren’t prepared for his final dance. Not only does Tatum bring out all the moves, but Soderbergh also drenches the stage with water. Mike and his dance partner use the stage to slickly move and slide (at points, Tatum literally throws the dancer and makes it look like an elegant move). It’s a soaking-wet and absorbing piece of filmmaking.
Where will Magic Mike go after this? Who knows, but it seems that there’s not much more to be said about his story. He knows and the audience knows: there might not be a dancer like him ever again. And even though his Last Dance has a few missteps, it must be seen to be believed.
