Enjoyable! If you enjoyed the first “Stomp the Yard”, more than likely your going to enjoy the sequel. Featuring a solid story as well as a solid performance from main character Collins Pennie. The sequel also showcases cool and innovative stepping dance routines and maintains the spirit of the first film.
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TITLE: Stomp the Yard: Homecoming
DURATION: 88 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 1:78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English, French (Par) 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French and Spanish
RATED: PG-13 (For Some Violence, Sensuality and Language)
COMPANY: Stage 6/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Released Dated: September 21, 2010
Directed by Rob Hardy
Screenplay by Albert Leon and Meena Payne
Story by Albert Leon
Executive Producers: Rui Costa Reis, Columbus Short
Producer: William Packer
Co-Producer: Meena Payne
Line Producer: Dianne Ashford
Music by Todd Bozung
Cinematography by Maz Makani
Edited by Paul Millspaugh
Casting by Twinkie Byrd, George Pierre
Production Design by Korey Washington
Set Decoration by Kristen McGary
Starring:
Keith David as Mr. Harris (Chance’s father)
Jasmine Guy as Janice
Collins Pennie as Chance Harris
Stephen Boss as Taz
Kiely Williams as Brenda
Pooch Hall as Dane
David Banner as Jay
Edward Bryan as Mu Gamma
Tika Sumpter as Nikki
Tyler Nelson as Bryce
George Alexander as Craig
Terrence Jenkins as Ty
Terrance T.P. Polite as Roy
In the countdown to a national step-off, rivalries at Truth University run red hot. The Theta Nus are counting on new pledge Chance Harris (Collins Pennie) to lead the team to victory. But he’s too caught up in his own problems to focus. At odds with his father, caught up in romantic troubles and targeted by a street gang for an unpaid debt, Chance must decide what is truly important and make the choices that will shape his life. Stomp the Yard: Homecoming unites a powerful cast featuring Terrence J and Pooch Hall with a soundtrack packed with pulse-pounding tracks.
In 2007, “Stomp the Yard” took America by storm by showcasing life of college students from a Black university who are part of a Greek fraternity and how many of these frats and sororities compete against each other in Stepping competitions. The first film featured Columbus Short as the character DJ Williams, pop star Ne-Yo and helped establish pop star Chris Brown as an actor.
The film which was budgeted for $13 million, went on to make $75 million in the box office and was a major success.
A new sequel was created in 2010 titled “Stomp the Yard: Homecoming” and is directed by Rob Hardy (“The Gospel”, “Trois” and worked on episodes of “Criminal Minds” and “Heroes: The Recruit”), who co-produced the first film with Will Packer (who returns as producer for the sequel) and a screenplay by Albert Leon (“Feel the Noise”) and Meena Payne.
“Stomp the Yard: Homecoming” focuses on dancer Chance Harris (played by Collins Pennie, “HawthoRNe”, “Fame”, “Prom Night”) who has lost a major street dance competition and because he was dealing with a group of thugs (who had bet against him and winning), the thugs want to exploit Chance and make him think that he owes them $5,000. Unfortunately, Chance doesn’t have the money and during a shootout, Chance manages to escape the thugs but because they know he’s in the area, the thugs will be on his tail.
We then get to see how Chance’s life is in the meantime. Chance returns back to his home in Atlanta (after leaving for awhile after his mother died) and now due to family obligation, Chance works at his father’s (played by Keith David, “Death at a Funeral”, “Chronicles of Riddick”, “Spawn”) Crispy Catfish restaurant, while attending Truth University in Atlanta and is a member of the fraternity Theta Nu Theta.
Chance’s father thinks his son’s dedication to the fraternity is a waste of time and wants his son to take responsibility. His father feels that he did so much for him, that while Chance is now back home…the least he can do is help him out at the store and show that he can take on responsibility.  But with the next Stepping competition coming up at school, Chance’s Theta brothers are expecting nothing but the best from their members and also hoping they can win this year against their rivals, the Mu Gamma Xi.
Meanwhile, Chance is dating a stepper and sorority member Nikki (played by Tika Sumpter, “One Life To Live”) and she knows that Chance has a major rivalry with Mu Gamma Xi leader Taz (played by Stephen “Twitch” Boss, “So You Think You Can Dance?) because his ex-girlfriend Brenda (played by The Cheetah Girls Kiely Williams) left him and is now dating Taz.
But Taz and the Mu Gamma Xi love to get under the Theta’s skin, especially as the current champions of previous stepping competitions at school. But no matter how Taz tries to tick the Theta’s off, Theta leader Dane (played by Pooch Hall) tries to keep things cool within the Theta’s and make sure they don’t get involved in any trouble. If anything, he tries to remind his fellow Theta’s that they are family and they think and work as a family not as individuals.
The only problem is Chance has a hot temper and doesn’t like to be dissed by anyone including Taz and the Mu’s and thus, tends to walk on the beat of his own drum. But he knows, the only way to show them up is by winning the Step competition but their current routine is old.
Chance wants to win the Step Up competition because it guarantees him winning $5,000 and a scholarship and knows that their current Step Up routine is not good enough to beat the Mu’s, so he comes up with an innovative dance routine for his brothers that he hopes will beat their rivals in competition.
But with his increasing friction with his father who is demanding for Chance to become more responsible and to be there for him at the restaurant (especially during homecoming), Chance finds his life spiraling downhill when the thugs who are wanting their money end up beating up his childhood friend and brothers at the fraternity. Life becomes more problematic for Chance and when he starts thinking for himself instead of his brothers, he starts to distance himself away from them including his girlfriend.
With Chance facing more problems in his life, will he ever be able to recover?
VIDEO:
“Stomp the Yard: Homecoming” is presented in 1:78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen.   Director Rob Hardy did a great job in working with a large number of people (especially the volunteers for the crowds who participated for long hours for the making of this film). Cinematographer Maz Makani did a great job in filming the dance battles, stepping battles, the dance training but working with a large crowd. Some scenes seem as if they were handheld and there are some unbalanced shots with shaking but by no means did I feel it was anything majorly distracting. I also have to give Paul Millspaugh some props of taking a lot of the dance footage and taking many cuts, editing those scenes and making the battles feel realistic and definitely bringing energy to the film. Picture quality for the DVD was good, I didn’t see any major compression artifacts on the DVD release or any major video anomalies.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Stomp the Yard: Homecoming” is presented in English and French 5.1 Dolby Digital.   For the most part, this is a dialogue-driven film that has a pretty cool soundtrack. In a film like this, you’re not going to get much surround usage since there aren’t any major action sequences (with the exception of a fight and tables and chairs being knocked over) but you do get crowd ambiance and if anything, it’s music that tends to utilize the bass. For the most part, dialogue is clear and understandable.
Subtitles are presented in English, English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Stomp the Yard: Homecoming” comes with the following special features:
- Commentary with Director Rob Hardy, Producer Will Packer, Collins Pennie and Stephen “tWitch” Boss – (12:30) A hilarious commentary as Rob Hardy breaks the film down and how certain scenes were shot, Will Packer brings some humor to the commentary scenes and good in-depth background info. from the dancing portions of the film to the acting by Collins Pennie (Chance) and Stephen “tWitch” Boss (Taz). Interesting commentary in regards to Collins Pennie’s kissing scene.
- Deleted Scenes– (11:11) A total of eight deleted scenes. Overall, good cuts were made for pacing purposes and focuses a lot on the diner scenes featuring Collins Pennie and Keith David, Jasmine Guy.
- Stomp the Yard: Choreography – (10:13) A featurette on the choreography of “Stomp the Yard: Homecoming” and taking stepping into the next level. Featuring choreographer Chuck Maldonado training the cast with their routine and director Rob Hardy, Producer Will Packer and the cast talk about the choreography of the film.
- Previews – Trailers for upcoming Sony Pictures Home Entertainment titles.
In the tradition of the original “Stomp the Yard”, I enjoyed the sequel. It keeps the theme going between the rivalry between the Theta’s and the Mu’s and features new students facing problems in their personal life and needing to get things together with themselves, especially at college and their obligations to their fraternity.
It’s kind of hard for a sequel, especially for “Stomp the Yard: Homecoming” when the original had star power with two major pop stars Ne-Yo and Chris Brown involved with the project but if anything, what I enjoyed about this film is that director Rob Hardy and producer Will Packer know how life is in the fraternity and are able to really fine-tune the character of Chance Harris but also not bring the story down by introducing anything that is too unrealistic. They keep the story real and most of all, trying to incorporate something new, innovative into the world of Step dancing through this film.
The first film was wonderful when it came to choreography but this time around, they really brought an even more physical and intense style of choreography to the routines and the fact that these guys had to learn within two weeks and nail it down, was pretty cool.
For the most part, Collins Pennie does a good job in playing the character of Chance Harris and also to see him and Keith David interact with each other onscreen. “Stomp the Yard: Homecoming” also features a cameo by the first film’s main character DJ Williams (played by Columbus Short) who comes to give encouragement to his Theta brothers and also stars Jasmine Guy (“A Different World”) as Janice, an employee at the Harris restaurant. You also get Stephen “Twitch” Boss (for those who enjoyed his dancing in “So You Think You Can Dance?”), playing the character Taz, “One Life to Live” actress Tika Sumpter playing Chance’s current girlfriend, Nikki and Cheetah Girls member Kiely Williams playing Chance’s ex girlfriend Brenda.
As for the DVD, you get a few special features with a hilarious and really cool audio commentary, deleted scenes and also learning how much work went into the talent learning how to prepare for their dance scenes for the film. Choreographer Chuck Maldonado did a very good job in training them and also bringing something new (and challenging) to step dancing.
Overall, “Stomp the Yard: Homecoming” is a film that stays true to the roots of the original film. It’s an enjoyable story, with solid performances by the cast and I enjoy the choreography for this film as well. The film plays it safe with its storyline and although there is a fight scene, there are no deaths or any repeat of what happened in the last film. And it’s probably a good thing of not having to repeat the same kind of tragedy for this sequel. If anything, I liked how the story focused on Chance having to deal with his obligations to his father and the restaurant, being a good boyfriend for Nikki and most of all, having his brothers at the frat depending on him to get them ready for the competition and to add that there are a group of thugs who wouldn’t hesitate killing him if Chance doesn’t produce the money.
“Stomp the Yard: Homecoming” features a good balance of drama and dance and if anything, fans of the original film should find this sequel enjoyable.
