In 2012 Magic Mike made his debut on the screens as handyman by day and dancer by night. With raging popularity the film was granted a sequel in 2015, and now 8 years later fans have been given the last of the trilogy, Magic Mike’s Last Dance.
The film begins with Mike working an odd job as a bartender, as he usually does, for a wealthy woman running an event. The woman, Max as she goes by, has recently separated from her husband and is attempting to make a name for herself rather than live off his fortune.
Max takes a liking to Mike almost immediately and within a day has him in a first class seat to London with her. No one knows exactly what Mike’s purpose is in this endeavor, other than Max has a plan for him.
Upon arrival, Max takes Mike to the theater she has bought from her husband. The pair walk into rehearsal of an 1800s set play where the story line boils down to the classic tale of a woman picking between two men, either rich and mean or poor and nice, to be her husband.
Max has clearly entered this production with an agenda and immediately shuts down the play, forcing the cast and crew to quit. From there her plan begins: bring new life to the theater.
She decides the way to do this is to bring Mike’s talents on stage. From there, their relationship blossoms, Mike finds new passion, and Max finally makes something of her own.
The plot seems great, right? Unfortunately, no.
Magic Mike’s Last Dance had all the right plot points: love, passion, feminism, good looking men, but in the end failed to be executed properly.
Mike served to be the only developed character in the film, and that only being because it’s the third movie in a trilogy about him. Max, her daughter, and the other characters- they all lacked something to make the audience truly care about them.
On the topic of Max, the relationship between her and Mike was also underdeveloped. They have virtually nothing in common and have never met before their night together, but suddenly Mike is flying first class to London to stay in Max’s home. Again, it lacked the layers needed to make the audience care about their endgame.
The one positive note I can make about this film is that there was a strong female role and an underlying theme of feminism throughout. In Magic Mike it would be easy to objectify women, but rather Mike’s career was used to empower women and their ability to make choices in the twenty-first century.
All and all, the film was ultimately anticlimactic and not worth the ten dollar ticket. The ending was extremely predictable and the characters were completely static throughout.
The only way I can recommend this film is for a low stress girls night out, but at the end of the day you would be better off waiting to rent it for half the price.
BY Kennedy Austin
Photo by Collider
The Gambit 
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