Pom-Pom-p it Up

By C. Daniel

Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (Universal Home Entertainment/Beacon Pictures), 2009

Bring It On: Fight to the Finish

Directed by Bille Woodruff

Universal Pictures Family/Beacon Pictures

2009; Color – Approx. 103 min.

Cheer up! Christina Milian is here to spice things up and bring the heat on the court.

The Grammy-nominated singer stars in the fourth installment of the cheerleading franchise Bring It On: Fight to the Finish. Milian plays Lina Cruz, a feisty ‘round the way East L.A. team captain who relocates to posh Malibu following her mother’s remarriage. Homesick and arrogant, Lina makes every attempt to adapt to her new surroundings and new family. One thing keeps her grounded – cheerleading. With the encouragement of her timid and inept stepsister Sky (Holland Roden), Lina becomes the team captain of the ailing Sea Lions squad.

Always setting her sights on advancing to the Spirit Championships and winning the title bracelet with her East L.A. homegirls Gloria (Vanessa Blue) and Treyvonetta (Gabrielle Dennis) by her side, Lina dukes it out and goes toe-to-toe with her arch nemesis Avery (Rachelle Smith) along with her co-signing sidekick Kayla (Meagan Holder) and their all-stars Malibu Jaguars. In the midst of everything, Lina falls for basketball team captain, Evan (Cody Longo), who coincidentally is Avery’s brother. Confident and ever persistent, Lina will stop at nothing to take the title and shut down her nay-saying competition.

Directed by famed music video director Bille Woodruff (Toni Braxton, OutKast, Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Usher, Lil’ Wayne and R. Kelly) and choreographed by Tony “G” Gonzalez, Fight to the Finish has all the makings of a vintage clip. The acting doesn’t compare to the moves. The routines combine highly stylized yet synchronized choreography full of breakin’; poppin’ and lockin’. Subsequent sequences highlight athletic moves with incredible high definition close up shots and slow motion scenes of the dancers. This is also the first of the Bring It On franchise that uses all-star teams: takin’ on a more Latin-tinged, hip hop flavor. Not bad for a series that has featured Kirsten Dunst; Gabrielle Union; Solange Knowles-Smith and Rihanna in previous installments.

Fight to the Finish comes with its share of extra footage and highlights. There are six deleted scenes; a behind-the-scenes look at the cast and crew; a close up documentary highlighting the stunts and routines (which uses all actors, no stunt doubles) and a candid day in the life of Milian on the set of the film. An episode of MUN2: The Chicas Project, titled “Flip This,” features two girls participating in a cheerleading camp in Texas.

Bring It On: Fight to the Finish is smoking – bringing just enough heat that’s cool enough to possibly round out the series. Of all the installments in the Bring It On series, Fight to the Finish is definitely a hot one!

 Special thanks 2 Universal Home Entertainment as always – and 2 Inma Carbajal 4 her support. Thanks a million!