Set It Off Set It Off

Deal with this. The only breaks you get are the ones you take.

Four Black women, all of whom have suffered for lack of money and at the hands of the majority, undertake to rob banks. While initially successful, a policeman who was involved in shooting one of the women's brothers is on their trail. As the women add to the loot, their tastes and interests begin to change and their suspicions of each other increase on the way to a climactic robbery.

Jada Pinkett Smith Queen Latifah Vivica A. Fox Kimberly Elise Blair Underwood

New Line Cinema

thriller action

118 mins   More details at IMDb / TMDb

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  • martinblank

    Review by martinblank ★★★★½

    One of the rare movies sporting great action sequences and a ring of truth. Four L.A. women from the projects — Stony (Jada Pinkett), Cleo (Queen Latifah), Frankie (Vivica Fox), and Tisean (Kimberly Elise) — are sick of the marginal lives and injustices they suffer as black women. Frankie, the most assimilationist of the group (the others toil at a cleaning service), is fired from her bank-teller job after a guy she knows from the projects robs her bank. The bitter and desperate women begin to entertain the idea of robbing banks as a fast track to a fresh start.

    Mournful and angry but often exciting, Set It Off treats the women’s actions with a mixture of moral weight and…

  • striver

    Review by striver ★★★

    Its weird watching a film when all you can remember is the outline and the ending.
    The script was well sewn together for the four very powerful female leads. Their motivations meshed well in building to the tipping point. All bar Queen Latifah's character but I guess her human qualities are revealed further down the line.

    I don't think I've seen any of these ladies give a better performance. Why hasn't Jada Pinkett starred in more movies?(selfish kids) and why hasn't Queen Latifah done more serious roles? They just don't get made like this anymore. Can't help but feel like there was something missing. I don't know what it is but it simply isn't there.

    All in all good film, good cast but a little something missing in the recipe.

  • Ron

    Review by Ron ★★★

    A decent flick back in 96. I'm not sure how I would feel about it now.

  • nicksav

    Review by nicksav ★★★

    Enjoyable action movie. Nice to see the ladies enjoying the action too.