The Rice Thresher

Location: http://the.ricethresher.org/ae/2007/10/26/feel_the_noise_review

October 26, 2007 > Arts & Entertainment > Bizarre Noise needs more dancing, less drama

Bizarre Noise needs more dancing, less drama

By Lily Chun | Thresher Editorial Staff

According to its tagline, Feel the Noise is a movie about achieving your dreams, but really it is a movie that seems as confused as the teenage audience it was intended for. The film is not meant to enlighten viewers. Some cool dance moves would have been nice considering the film’s topic, but the audience is left without even that. In fact, the audience leaves without much of anything.

In Feel the Noise, Omarion Grandberry (You Got Served) plays Rob Vega, an aspiring rapper in New York City who gets sent to Puerto Rico because a gang is out to get him for stealing tire rims. There, Rob meets his long-lost father, Roberto Vega (Racing Daylight’s Giancarlo Esposito), who used to be a musician. From there, Rob and his step-brother Javi (Lords of Dogtown’s Victor Rasuk) find out they share a love of music, and they both become interested in Reggaeton, a music genre with Latin and African influences.

Eventually, the two are offered a record deal by an American producer thanks to a promiscuous dancer named C.C. (Illegal Tender’s Zulay Henao) who doubles as Rob’s love interest. But when the record label listens to the demo, they decide to change the song completely. Rob and Javi call it quits, saying they want to make music their own way, and the movie follows them on their journey to make it as Reggaeton stars.

On one hand, the previews make it seem as if this film is another movie about showcasing awesome dance moves like in You Got Served or Honey — movies that were interesting solely because they had awesome dance moves. Instead, Feel The Noise seems more like an opportunity to cash in on the popularity of hip-hop culture.

Grandberry’s performance as Rob is lacking. In You Got Served, he had his energy to redeem him. But in Feel the Noise, Rob is a sullen, moody teenager who gets hot-tempered when his girlfriend postpones a date with him to do something for her career. Acting aside, Grandberry’s hair is typically atrocious — pigtails in Served and a pufffball-like hairstyle in Noise — to the point that it makes him seem like a ridiculous character.

Not surprisingly for a lame and cliche movie like this, there is violence, and it does nothing to further the plot. Crime and gore follow Rob wherever he goes without any explanation. The entire film is fraught with tension, as if an assailant is constantly ready to jump out from behind a bush. This was perhaps in part because of the cinematography: a trembling, handheld camera that seems more at place in an action film or documentary.

Uncomfortably sweaty and raunchy dance scenes that punctuate the movie transport the viewer to a dirty club where dancers are being felt up. The colors are so bleak and washed out that the audience can always see the perspiration on the characters’ faces. In fact, the shaky, dark aura over constant Reggaeton — the music being the single saving grace of the movie — inspires moviegoers to go to a club instead.

End of article

Back to top