In 2012 Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike arrived. The story of male strippers was based in part on lead actor Channing Tatum’s history as a dancer. Magic Mike was a resounding success at the box-office and earned itself a sequel, Magic Mike XXL, and a spin-off live dance show in London’s West End. Having sat out of directing duties for the sequel, Soderbergh is back for the third and final film in the series, Magic Mike’s Last Dance.
After getting out of dancing at the end of Magic Mike XXL, Mike (Channing Tatum) is lured back to the stage once more. Having lost his furniture company, due to complications during the pandemic, Mike now works private events as a bartender. His new work sees him cross paths with the wealthy Max (Salma Hayek Pinault). Max is in the midst of a separation and after hearing of Mike’s former profession, she asks him for a dance. His work impresses her and she quickly whisks him across the pond from Miami to London to breathe life into the theatre show, ‘Isabel Ascende’, which she has recently acquired. Mike is tasked with creating something special within a month, can he rise to the occasion?
Although all of the Magic Mike films have been far more seriously toned than their synopses have suggested, Magic Mike’s Last Dance is the driest. The moments of fun that made previous films so entertaining are hardly there and it will leave fans of the first two scratching their heads. Soderbergh moves into a very different direction, leaving what the viewer has come to know behind. It’s a bold manoeuvre and one that sadly won’t pay off for many. It’s hard to say exactly what the magnus opus is here. Magic Mike’s Last Dance is littered with long periods of nothingness, the occasional montage plugging narrative gaps. It appears that Soderbergh wanted to dig deep into the character of Mike this time around, and yet, somehow does nothing with him. The character just hangs in the air, waiting like the audience, for anything to happen.
After spending two-thirds of the story meandering around a thin narrative of a woman finding herself in the midst of a divorce, and a man embracing his true talents, any story progression comes to a grinding halt. Show night arrives and the last act is Mike’s re-imagining of Isabel Ascende. The camera shifts to the stage and the performance plays out, but with little of the fire that ignited attention during the first film. Instead the action on screen feels like one long advertisement for Magic Mike Live, with some of the choreography lifted directly from it.
One of the biggest travesties in Magic Mike’s Last Dance is that there is no return of Mike’s former friends. There’s a scene where Mike converses with them via Zoom, but it’s a fleeting moment. Worse still, the new roster of performers are almost entirely nameless background characters. Outside of Mike and Max, no other characters get much in the way of development and it ultimately becomes the movies failing. With little to grasp onto, the final performance is wasted. There is no investment or connection to those on stage, and so it all feels flat.
Both Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek Pinault are two of Hollywood’s most attractive and charismatic. On paper, pairing them together in a film about sensual dancing seems like the ultimate win. In reality, Magic Mike’s Last Dance is a massive letdown with neither star shining as they usually do. After years of building anticipation for another dalliance with Mike Lane, Magic Mike’s Last Dance spends too much time fumbling around, causing a distinct lack of gratification for its loyal audience.
Magic Mike’s Last Dance
Summary
There’s little satisfaction to be found in Tatum and Soderbergh’s swan song for Mike Lane. Weak characters, a thin plot, and an ill-thought-out finale that plays like an extended advert, whatever way you look at it, Magic Mike’s Last Dance lacks what made the two other films so fun – pleasure.
Magic Mike’s Last Dance is available to rent and own on Premium Digital now. Magic Mike’s Last Dance will be released on Blu-ray and DVD from 24th April 2023.
