Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004)

Memorable, crazy movie

Crappy film

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Well, I like this movie. Filmed in Puerto Rico though? Nothing against Puerto Rico because I love it there. I just wish it was filmed in Havana, Cuba considering the title, but I guess we weren't allowed to film there in 2004. Oh well! But there's a song on the soundtrack that I want to hear again. I can't figure out the name of it, but I've heard a version of it before. I'm guessing the song is mixed unusually, but I really liked it. I'll have to research all the songs. I wasn't expecting to see Patrick Swayze in this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. He's just a natural born dancer, a very good one as well. Even though there's a competition near the end of this movie and it doesn't have the outcome I was expecting, it was still a pretty good flick.

The story is a rendition of the original Dirty Dancing of 1987, with some of its own flavor as well. Set with the back-drop of Cuban revolution in 1958, the movie opens with Katey, an upper American girl's visit to Havana with her parents. As it turns out Katey was a true book lover and never took dance as her object of interest. Katey finds herself stranger amongst the fun-loving Cuban society.Oneday while strolling across the streets, she meets a club waiter, Javier(whom she met earlier) dancing to the tunes of cool Cuban locals. Katey soon find interest in the charming Javier and the amusing dance forms in Havanan clubs of Cuba. When Javier gets fired due to his interaction with Katey, she offers to help Javier and tries to convince Javier to enter the palace club dance contest with her to end his misery.The chemistry between the two charismatic dancers kicks off after a few early glitches when Katey was circumspect about Javier touching her body. Soon she learns to flow like the motion of waves and let go her fear and atrocities. On the eve of Christmas, much to her parent's utter dismay(as they thought Katey dating well-suited Phleps and not indigent Javier) and surprise (being great dancers themselves), Katey and Javier dances their way to qualify for the prestigious final of dance competition. There are a few glimpses of melodrama oozing out at few instances, when the love across class boundaries is not received well by both the families. As the name suggests there is some fine blend of "dirty" sensual Cuban dancing and classical salsa to some upbeat grooving tunes.The movie ends on a little dramatic note as well when Katey had to part ways as Cuba got liberated from Batista's regime. But the dialogues where Javier promises to keep a part of Katey with him at home(Cuba) and Katey to take a part of Javier with her to America touches audience's heart soothingly. The film ends on a good note when the couple became 'the king and the queen' at the floors of the local Havanan Club and optimistically opines that it was definitely not their last dance together.The movie may lack some originality in its story line which is made up by good direction and dance sequences. It may-not contain any mind-blowing dance sequence or body hugging sensual dance but it is elegant, smooth and beautiful in its own way, a definite treat for music and dance lovers.

DIRTY DANCING: HAVANA NIGHTS, although a sequel to the '80s classic, is actually a prequel set in 1950s Cuba. Although I'm not the ideal viewer for these kinds of films (I gravitate towards horrors and thrillers) I found this to be an enjoyable piece of film-making.The political backdrop is eventful, and the character of Diego Luna (the actor already having come a long way from VAMPIRES: LOS MUERTOS) was sufficiently interesting to keep me watching. Romola Garai put in good work in both this and the same year's INSIDE I'M DANCING, while Patrick Swayze (RIP) inevitably steals his scenes in his extended cameo role.Perhaps not a wonderful film, but an engaging dance-drama with a interesting historical backdrop nonetheless.

Romola Garai did a bad job on the American accents. Few times I could hear the British accent slip through. The scene on the beach where she tell Javier that he was making a different to his family, could hear the English accent coming through plus the scene when she telling Patrick Swayze she trying to feel free and dancing like an Iron board was bad. A few times she let slip up when trying American accent. The plot of the film was weak. The dancing was crap. I didn't like the mixing of modern music with the 1950s style setting that spoiled the movie. The ending of the movie was bad. The only good thing was the Cuban music in the film. As for Luna dancing skills he wasn't very convincing dancer since he and Romola only had ten week's lessons before shooting the movie. The other dancers in the movie showed up Luna lack of dancing skills