SET IT OFF (PG-13)
Director: F Gary Gray
Stars: Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A Fox, Kimberly Elise, John C. McGinley
Running Time: 120 minutes.
It's unusual to find a tough, contemporary crime
thriller in which the main protagonists are
Afro-American women, which is probably why local
film distributors have not known how to handle or
effectively market Set It Off. This surprisingly moral,
yet exciting and proficiently staged action movie
breaks some of the unwritten rules of the crime
thriller genre.
Set It Off begins with a bank robbery that goes
horribly wrong. Although initially a simple crime it has
deeper repercussions as it sends out ripples into the
larger community. Eventually the robbery and its
tragic aftermath has a devastating impact on four
women who live in the same decaying housing
project, and a number of other people who are
unwittingly drawn into a vortex of violence.
After the bank where she works is robbed by a black
youth who lives in the same housing project as her,
Frankie (Vivica A Fox, from Independence Day)
loses her job when the manager and the cops suspects
her of being in collusion. Angry at the harsh treatment
meted out by "the system" she soon forges a bond
with Stony (Jada Pinkett, from the recent remake of
The Nutty Professor) whose younger brother is shot
by police after they mistake him for the bank robber.
These two women become united when they feel that
the system has betrayed them and failed them, and
decide to exact a fitting vengeance by robbing a bank.
Frankie is the cool planner, drawing upon her
knowledge of the workings of banks, while Stony is
initially fuelled by cold rage and thirst for revenge.
The aggressive lesbian and mechanic Cleo (Queen
Latifah) is also drawn into this small group of tyro
criminals, along with Tisean (a wonderful debut
performance from newcomer Kimberly Elise), a
single mother who desperately needs money to keep
the child welfare agencies off her back. They take out
their frustrations by robbing a smaller suburban bank,
but once they get the taste for crime and a fix for the
adrenaline rush that accompanies it, they decide to
rob another, and another, until they over reach
themselves with fatal consequences.
With its brutal and effective violence and slick car
chases, Set It Off marks a radical change of pace for
F Gary Gray, a former director of rock videos,
whose last film was the laid back and hilarious black
satire Friday. Gray handles the superb action
sequences proficiently, and he manages to bring some
tension to the exciting climax. Gray also draws a
quartet of strong performances from his ensemble
cast. Pinkett delivers a strong performance as the
moral voice of the group, urging caution and restraint,
while the brassy and bold Latifah provides the
necessary anger and aggression. Elise has the more
emotionally fragile character but she too is engaging
and touchingly vulnerable. John C McGinley (Point
Break, etc) is also good as Strode, the tough cop who
eventually shows a streak of humanity when he tries
to prevent bloodshed and needless deaths while trying
to stop the crime wave.
Gray is also careful to avoid any hints of the cheap
"blaxploitation" that characterised most of the black
action movies of the '70's. The characters are well
drawn and their different and desperate motivations
are succinctly established, as is the patent inequality
of the social strata that leads to these women feeling
neglected, cheated and ignored. This is an action
thriller done with some intelligence and compassion
for the plight of its central characters, and ultimately
their race and sex becomes irrelevant to the overall
ambition or aims of the film. However, Set It Off also
develops a strong moral core as it looks at how the
relationship between the four women is temporarily
changed by sudden greed and the need for money.
The film effectively makes the point that money and
friendship make for incompatible bedfellows, although
Gray never permits the worthy moral to slow down
the flow of the action.