Drumline: A New Beat

Drumline: A New Beat

Drumline: A New Beat

Drumline: A New Beat

So I heard a saying that if you don't expect anything, then you won't be disappointed. That's not true in this case; i expected little and received less. The acting is forced and unnatural. In the first film, the actors seemed like they had the type of camaraderie that you see with teams. They may have hated each other off set but they were definitely believable. In this film, they come off as soap opera characters. Part of that is the script. They introduced some new characters that have a past with each other but are brand new to the audience. I just don't care for that because i watch sequels for familiarity and tie-ins. So Sean and the dean felt forced. Other beefs is that they take long pauses which slows the pacing of the film and adds to the soapy feel. The redeeming qualities are seeing the band perform and I'm glad they brought Roberts and Cannon back since their dynamic was the most interesting in the first film. I miss Dr. Lee though; Orlando Brown always gives great performances and he is underrated.

A New Beat picks up twelve years after the original. This time the movie finds itself centered around a talented but overly ambitious young female freshman, Dani (Alexandria Shipp), new to Atlanta A&T's marching band and drum section instead of the hotheaded but equally talented male lead Nick Cannon played in the original. Let me start off by saying I really liked the first Drumline, and I didn't expect a sequel that actually lived up to the first one, especially given its "made for TV" status. However, since I was in the marching band myself while in college and high school, as you can imagine, I absolutely love movies centered around marching bands. This genre is so small, I'm willing to give every single film a chance, but while A New Beat was certainly entertaining, it just wasn't memorable. The biggest thing that holds A New Beat back is while various aspects of the main characters' lives were different enough that we didn't get exactly the same movie, most of the main plot elements were just a rehash of the first film. I just felt like I was watching a remake created solely for the purpose of showing what this movie would look like if shot in the social media/smartphone era. Let's talk about some other aspects of the film Alexandria Shipp does a decent job as the lead. Leonard Roberts reprises his role as Sean Taylor. This time he's back as the head band director. Not too bad considering how perfect Orlando Jones was as the band director in the first film. Nick Cannon also reprises his role for a much less significant part. Truthfully, his part could have been written out and it wouldn't have had any impact on the film whatsoever. The rest of the cast? Clearly one of the most beautiful set of co-starts they could find; however, the acting itself left much to be desired. It all just seemed so forced and stale – and the goes for the movie overall. The scenes and camera-work for the band performances were underwhelming and the dialogue, script, and plot were indicative of a "made for TV" movie. I'm actually a little surprised at how mediocre the band performance scenes came out considering the director, Bille Woodruff, specializes in R&B/hip-hop music videos. In addition, the tension and drama Woodruff and the writers tried to create just didn't resonate with me - very over the top and unconvincing. The biggest thing lacking though from this movie was the band itself - not nearly enough performances. They placed too much emphasis on the backstory. I mean, don't get me wrong, I wish more filmmakers would spend additional time on character development; however, the band aspects of this film just felt much less significant this time around. Not to mention, when you have this much backstory and the characters still seem one dimensional, then someone has failed. All that said, I still enjoyed watching A New Beat. It didn't have the charm and originality of the first film, being more of a remake with a female lead rather than a sequel. But seeing this remade from the perspective of the social media/smartphone era was interesting. As you might already have guessed, text messaging is used heavily in the film and the communications of our characters are nicely plastered across the screen for viewers to see. We also get to see spectators in the stands filming band performances on their smartphones; the main characters can check out their roommates on Facebook prior to meeting for the first time on campus; and the fight that breaks out after the first drumline challenge ends up on YouTube and probably WorldStar HipHop. (Rolls eyes…) A lot has changed in the real world since the first movie just 12 years prior to the sequel. Unfortunately, not enough of the movie plot itself has changed to make this truly a "new beat". It gets a "generous" 5 stars simply because I love this genre – oh, and did I mention how attractive the cast members are?

Nothing compares the first but have potential... I just dont like the love affair between the lead female and the lead guy... Its corny... that she begs for his attention. I just enjoyed it because of the band performance but with the story and all its a fail.

To start off, I do not think it was absolutely horrible, but it also wasn't very good either. One of the good things they did, your eyes won't be sorry you watched this movie, there is plenty of sexy eye candy for girls and boys. Overall this movie seemed a lot lighter than the first. Some of the acting was either over the top or below the bar. The actor playing Kevin Taylor- they should have picked someone else, he just doesn't fit the role. Nick Cannon's short reprisal of his role felt forced and fake. The story was way too predictable, you knew that ANT was going to win, you knew that the white boy and black girl would get together, you knew that the gay guys crush was on the down low, etc. But I guess what else is there to expect from this type of movie, originality? Also, a lot of the band music and step moves were just watered down copies of the first movie. There a few good moments like when the lead actress is trying to help her boyfriend get past family drama. Also the role they had for one of the characters playing the butthole/meathead, he didn't want a girl on the line, they never resolved this, the character did not repent of his ways or get his comeuppance. This was kind of annoying, a bad character just stays bad with no consequences? One of the good things about the first movie was seeing how Nick Cannon's character went from an arrogant punk to being a team player. Well that's my 2 cents, take it or leave it, you won't miss anything if you don't watch this movie.

I could not watch this film. The background was moving and jerking when the characters were standing still. The shots of the majorette were out of focus in certain shots. Where was the film editor during production.

To say Drumline: A New Beat was predictable is, well, predictable. The female lead goes from an ultra successful, intelligent, self assured but pampered high school senior inundated with full academic scholarships from top universities to lack-luster, insecure college freshman whose only goal, only passion is to play in a marching band at so-so college as a P1 drummer in the center of the front line. And throughout the movie there is little if any, mention of anything to do with actual day to day requirements and the reason for attending college....(classes, grades, studying and earning a degree) just high school like drama of being in the marching band. The college, A&T, while never mention in the film as such, appears to be an HBCU (Historically Black College and Universities) as the only white -or Asian, Hispanic- people are seen in the background and only briefly. Additionally, the fictional A&T marching band is reminiscent of Florida A&M University's marching band that was disbanded and several members were prosecuted for the death of Robert Champion, one of it's members as a direct result of hazing. I won't go into how many stereo-types were displayed throughout the movie (gold chains, black males calling black women "bi!ch", chocolate used to describe black skinned men being black). Finally, when all is said and done, this is still just a movie about high school "band geeks" that are now college "band geeks". A movie where they try to equate the demands, rigors and competition of playing in a college marching band to those of playing a college level sport be it football, wrestling, basketball or swimming. In this regard, they failed.

So many amazing action and drama packed scenes, and the acting was beyond perfect. The movie teaches that you have to follow your dreams no matter what other people will think about you. "Drumline: A New Beat" was something amazing and I hope they'll make a 3rd movie sometime soon. Hopefully the future generations will get a chance to see this movie and understand that no matter what you do, you cannot give up if that's what you want to reach. Alexandra Shipp nailed it with her amazing acting skills as well as the fellow cast stars like Jordan Calloway, LeToya Luckett, Jasmine Burke, Nick Cannon etc. I really enjoyed watching this movie.