Bring It On: All or Nothing Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Bring It On: All or Nothing Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 5, 2018

All or Nothing? Not quite. This third installment in the popular Bring It On franchise (following up on the original and the first DTV sequel and preceding Bring It On: In It to Win It, Bring It On: Fight to the Finish, and Bring It On: Worldwide #Cheersmack) offers less than all and more than nothing, in moviemaking terms, anyway. The film is another middling, unrelated-beyond-the-title "sequel" or perhaps better said "universe film" that follows the exploits of various cheerleaders who seems always destined to split and meet up again at some grueling, prominent competition. It's a basic formula that All or Nothing follows nearly to a fault, but the film at least shakes up convention a little bit by adding in a "fish out of water" story for good measure.

Britney Allen (Hayden Panettiere) is the well-liked captain of her high school cheerleading team. Her boyfriend is the football team’s quarterback. She’s smart, she’s pretty, she has it all...until her father looses his job and the family is forced to move away. Now, rather than a hotshot at school, she’s the new transfer student, the girl on the outside looking in, and worst of all she’s sworn to her friends back home that she’ll never cheer again. Worse, she’s a fish out of water. Her music, her look, her style don’t go over well in the more urban Crenshaw Heights. She quickly realizes that the only way she’ll fit in, to make a name for herself, is to get back in the cheering game, which proves to be an uphill battle when she’s forced to not only impress, but win over, the team’s captain, Camille (Solange Knowles), who has little interest in letting Britney anywhere near the team, even when she demonstrates her world-class skills. But with a major competition on the horizon, the Crenshaw team has no choice but to add the talented Britney, which means she breaks her word to her friends which will only motivate them to beat Crenshaw in the tournament.

At least it's not a straight regurgitation of the first two films. All or Nothing goes a bit off the beaten path. It's a rogue cheerleading movie, of sorts, one in which two distinctly different worlds collide but common ground is found in the art of and love for the cheer. Britney may not understand the culture at Crenshaw. It's an hour away from her old home and the school and friends and the styles and beats and way of life she knew, but it may as well be an alien planet. She's rejected outright when she arrives, and she certainly doesn't look the part. But she wrestles her way into the cheerleaders' inner circle by sheer force of will, almost by a survival instinct, by taking what she knows and loves and running with it, even if it means betraying her friends in the process. The themes all circle back to the same old, same old, but there's at least a different enough dynamic as a critical layer of the journey towards the inevitable showdown that interest can be maintained where it might have otherwise waned in a movie with a more repetitious core plot line.

That said, story predictability drags the movie down a couple of pegs. From the opening minutes -- no later than the time Britney arrives in Crenshaw -- it's extremely easy to see where the story is headed. With a film like this, however, it's not so much the destination but rather the journey that counts. The film can be rowdy and raunchy and it's unafraid to explore -- albeit somewhat timidly and in a PG-safe manner -- issues of class and race with the typical middle ground meeting point being, here, the ability and opportunity for the otherwise dissimilar individuals to come together through cheer. The dance routines are fine, nothing more or less than what fans have seen in other films, though certainly with something of a sharper, more urban edge here that was missing in the previous two films. Performances are fine, with all of the leads finding the right balance between charm and attitude and cheering skill.

Bring It On: All or Nothing Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bring It On: All or Nothing impresses in its 1080p debut. The Blu-ray delivers a pleasing filmic image, with tight, well defined grain and detailing across the board. Facial textures are impressive, revealing with consistently firm, natural displays of various pores and lines, at least as many of those things as the largely smooth-skinned characters have to reveal. Environments are crisp, clothing is clean, and sharpness never abandons the image. Spirited colors abound, particularly Crenshaw blues and yellows. Saturation is a strength, color nuance is impressive, and there's never any draw to over saturation or push to faded hues. Black levels are strong and flesh tones appear accurate. The image suffers through sporadic but mild examples of print wear while other image deteriorating eyesores are very few and far between.

Bring It On: All or Nothing Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bring It On: All or Nothing's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack may not be a rousing success but it offers a capably balanced listening presentation. More aggressive notes enjoy positive delivery from front and rear channels alike. Balance is a strong point but music isn't extremely intensive. It lacks the all-in energy of some tracks but the spaciousness and immersive qualities do well to mask any deficiencies. There is some room-stretching ambience inside the school cafeteria and hallway in chapter three, and other locations, too, bear the fruits of decently realized environments coming to sonic life with the proper stage placement and prominence as any scene demands. Dialogue dominates with positive front-center location, good prioritization, and vocal clarity for every actor.

Bring It On: All or Nothing Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Bring It On: All or Nothing contains a handful of bonuses which must be accessed in-film via the pop-up menu. No top menu is included. No DVD or digital versions are included. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

• Gag Reel (1080p, 11:34).
• Behind the Cheers (1080i, 8:22): An exploration of the film's story which exists "outside the rules," cast and performances, dance work, the script's humor, and more.
• Cheer Camp: From Wannabe to Cheerleader (1080i, 7:16): A run through of the cast's vigorous three-week cheer camp training.
• Break It Down (1080i, 19:22): Choreographer Tony G and several players from the film run through some of the dance moves from the movie.
• From the Street to the Set (1080i, 5:40): A discussion of the how's and why's of bringing an "edge" to the film's cheer routines.

Bring It On: All or Nothing Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bring It On: All or Nothing doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it does bring a couple of different wheels together for a common purpose. And that's at least something, even as they just roll on over some rough ground towards the same tire(d) destination. Genre fans will probably find enough to like here, and there's enough decent character interactions and drama in between cheer scenes to keep the movie modestly edgy and interesting...just don't expect the movie to change the world. Universal's Blu-ray delivers surprisingly good video, agreeable audio, and a couple of featurettes. The disc is priced too high, but fans should not be discouraged from buying from a technical delivery perspective.