Battle of the Year 3D | Featuring Chris Brown and Real Bboys

Battle of the Year 3D, a movie-drama spinoff of the documentary Planet B-boy (from the same director, Benson Lee), is one of the most anticipated films this year, at least in the bboy community. It's got quite a cliché storyline but most of us will probably still watch it because it actually has a cast of some pretty commendable bboys.

In a nutshell, we have a group of remarkable American dancers who have the potential to reclaim the championship title from one of the most infamous annual bboy competitions, Battle Of The Year. The catch is, these boys stick together like dry sand. They are as divided as the earth and sky, and will take an incredible “coach” to get them to work together to find the true meaning of being a team.

Check the trailer out if you haven’t already:

Unfortunately, the inaccurate representation of bboys and the bboy culture in the film has sparked some controversy. Long before its release, heated debates have been exchanged and important questions were thrown in the fray. With so many extraordinary bboys out there, why use Chris Brown as the lead? Why are they calling 'bboying' a sport and a 'crew' team? Why are they using only good looking bboys when all bboys I know are ugly?! Or is that last one just me?

Watching the trailer, you probably felt the same. I know that when I first saw the trailer my reaction was just like this:

But hey, I’m not about to pass up a bboy movie. Besides, we don’t get these too often, and when we got actual dope bboys on the screen, and even better, bboys who can act, you know it will be worth its watch. Real bboys make it real. “Check it out, it’s the Koreans.” That line too is real – a real sentiment most bboys share that is. Chris Brown was trained by Kmel for this movie and that makes him better than me, which I pretty much envy already.

Where there are negative sides resides also the positive. Using Chris Brown steers this movie into the mainstream and that got me thinking about how many kids this movie would inspire into bboying. It happened with Quest Crew before. I was looking through the internet to see what else people were saying, and there was only one I’d say was worth reading and sharing.

“…it is not Hollywood’s job to promote our community, it is our job. I for one will never turn down a kid willing to learn regardless of what sparked his interest... If Battle of the Year is the reason they start, the culture will be the reason they keep breaking.” - Mex One.

Each One Teach One. Peace :)



Movie Release Dates