Stomp the Yard is a movie I had never even heard of prior to arriving on my doorstep. I have never really been a fan of “Dancing” movies and this film did not change that opinion of mine.

Who knew about the traditions of “stepping”? Stomp the Yard lets moviegoers in on this age-old style of dance customarily done in the black fraternities and sororities, where teams demonstrate complex moves and create rhythmic sounds by using their bodies. It’s exciting to watch, to say the least. But in between the powerful dance sequences, we’re handed a corny plot, revolving around a wrong-side-of-the-tracks guy named DJ (Columbus Short), who moves from L.A. to Atlanta to escape his woes and inadvertently gets in on the whole step deal when he attends Truth University. DJ’s raw talent as a hip-hop inspired dancer places him at the center of a fierce rivalry between two fraternities – one who has won the annual stepping championship seven years in a row and the other who wants to claim it for themselves. Guess which fraternity DJ joins? Guess who wins? This one was easy to figure-out.

Video

For this transfer Sony went with a Blu-ray 50 GB disc (BD50) and an AVC 2.35:1 encode averaging around 28- 32 Mbps. This transfer is very solid and does an exceptional job with fast movement, which this film has plenty of. Flesh tones seemed to be spot-on and this transfer lacked any film debris or noise to my eye. This film also has little to no grain, which is nice for such a fast-paced film. As mentioned before this film exhibits movement perfectly. I saw absolutely no macro blocking at all during this presentation.

Audio

Audio is where this release excels. To my knowledge it is the first HD release to have both a 5.1 PCM track and a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track. Both of these tracks sound fantastic, but I would give the edge to PCM in overall quality. This film make good use of the center and fronts and makes incredible use of the surrounds and solid use of the LFE. The dialog in this film is very clear and understandable and the surrounds are well used and balanced nicely.

Special Features

This release of Stomp the Yard has a fair amount of Special Features. Here is a glimpse of what is included:

• Battles.Rivals.Brothers. ? The Story of Stomp the Yard
• Filmmaker?s Commentary
• Extended Dance Sequences: Get Buck & Opening Battle
• Deleted Scene: The Clean Up (Standard Definition)
• Gag Reel (Standard Definition)

Final Thoughts

I went in to this viewing with a somewhat closed-mind as I despise dance movies. The storyline still did little for me, but the picture quality and especially the sound quality blew me away. The sound quality easily rivals the best I have heard on any HD disc thus far. If you are a fan of this film and would like to see it in glorious HD, by all means I recommend this purchase.

Special Features List

• Battles.Rivals.Brothers. ? The Story of Stomp the Yard
• Filmmaker?s Commentary
• Extended Dance Sequences: Get Buck & Opening Battle
• Deleted Scene: The Clean Up (Standard Definition)
• Gag Reel (Standard Definition)