// Breakin’ 2?
Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo was not a film I had heard of a week ago. Now, it’s a movie I will never forget.
Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo is a musical movie – basically a series of dance sequences loosely strung together into a plot. This is definitely a film that’s title has had greater influence than the film itself.
In reality, it’s not great. What it is, however, is weird, fun, confounding, and funky. I love it.
// Electric Boogaloo
If you know anything of this movie, it’s likely the subtitle: Electric Boogaloo. For years, people have thrown the subtitle Electric Boogaloo as a joke subtitle onto derivative sequels. It’s ballooned even past the original intended joke at this point, seeing itself added to just about anything after the number 2 is stated in a title.
This is the only reason I watched this movie. I needed to make a selection for a movie night with the theme of, “meme movie,” and this seemed to fit the definition quite literally.
So even if you don’t watch this film, you can leave with a little piece of trivia: Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo is where that saying came from.
But you should watch it.
// Pure 80s
If you want a movie that is very of the times, look no further. Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo was released in 1984. The vibes will not disappoint you.
The one thing that the movie does legitimately nail is the musical aspect. A film in this genre might be expected to at least nail the music, but given the state of the rest of it, this was never a guarantee.
Thankfully, they did. I would say that 75% of the movie is dancing. Large ensembles dance frequently in fun and varied set pieces. I never grew tired of it! The music is a perfect match, and you’ll be tapping your foot through the whole thing. That is, unless you give in and dance.
The cast is clad in head to toe with pure 80s madness. The bright colours and sheer quantity of accessories is astounding. This is a great movie to just get lost in a decade of yore.
Plus, here’s a fun fact for you: all the fits that Turbo and Ozone wore in the film were from their own wardrobes.
// One Bizarre Boogie
This movie is weird. Not in the way that some movies are weird and can manage a consistent, unique tone though. It’s weird randomly.
It really feels like nobody every said, “no,” to the question, “should we put this in the movie.”
The whiplash you get between relatively serious scenes (that are usually delivered poorly) and one of the main characters saying or doing something completely out of place is frequent. But I liked it. It legitimately made me laugh in a, “what the fuck is going on here,” kind of way.
Then there’s the magical power that dancing holds in this world. They dance on bulldozers to protect a building from destruction, they dance on TV to raise thousands of dollars, they even dance in the hospital to help injured people get back on their feet. At one point, the music even brings a man back from the dead!
Now, I give the movie the benefit of the doubt here because I did not watch the first Breakin’ movie, but the character relationships do not seem to make any sense. It’s not totally clear if people are dating each other, if anyone knows who else is dating who, or if they are all in some sort of open relationship where they hate each other. There’s one particular love triangle going on that feel like I was missing some context from the first movie to understand.
You likely won’t care about their relationships, so it matters little.
The plot will progress and characters will change their opinions on things simply because it’s that time in the movie, and the next dance scene requires a setup. This may all sound horrible. Mostly, it is! But it’s so horrible, you can basically forget about it, kick your feet up, and just hang on for the ride.
// Spinning room
One scene that actually knocked my socks off was the spinning room scene. Turbo begins dancing alone in his room – something I assume all the characters do anytime they have a free moment.
He jumps up on his bed and begins to dance across that. He totally steps on his pillow with his shoes on, which is disgusting.
Then he proceeds to climb/dance up the wall and onto the ceiling.
I had a genuine moment of awe for a couple of seconds while I was like, “hold on, how did they do that,” then it clicked they were doing the spinning-set trick.
Move over Inception, because Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo beat you to the punch by about two and a half decades.
It’s a long scene with minimal cuts. Turbo dances all around the walls and ceiling for quite some time. It’s a very impressive scene! Even if you don’t want to watch the movie, I’d check it out here:
Another fun tidbit for you: this is the same rotating room they used in Nightmare on Elm Street (seen at the beginning of this video). Of course, the internals had to be totally re-designed for Breakin’ 2, but they borrowed the spinning set to shoot this scene.
So there you have it: Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo. Is it a great movie? No. But, is it a good movie? Well, also no. But it’s something special.
If you’re in the mood to watch a, “bad,” movie with great 80s vibes and legitimately great dancing, I heartily recommend it.
If you want something more modern, check out our recent reviews of Mickey 17 and The Monkey.
