Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Set It Off (1996)

Director: F Gary Gray

Average user rating
2 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Frankie (Fox) has a bank job - until someone she knows from South Central LA holds her at gun-point, the attempted robbery turns into a blood-bath, and the boss sends her packing. Life gets much harder. Her homegirls (Pinkett, Latifah, Elise) fix her up with the office-cleaning firm where they work nights, but it's not long before they hatch a plan to capitalise on Frankie's qualifications, in particular her inside knowledge of bank security procedures. In the wake of all those gun-toting white women and black men, black women are due their own loaded action adventure. This noir Thelma and Louise rekindles some of the subversive fire of Jonathan Demme's '70s exploitation flicks, although it's far too polished to have come from the Corman stable. The intense heist sequences show a command of thriller dynamics that's right up there with the best of them, but director Gray is equally convincing on the character front, eliciting funny, grounded performances from the four women (Latifah notably refuses to caricature her lesbian role). On the down side, Blair Underwood is too good to be true as the man who comes into Pinkett's life, while the police procedural stuff is strictly routine. Minor misdemeanours, though, given such an energising spree for the Girlz n the hood.

Author: TCh 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

User reviews of this film

  • tanya breen said...
    Posted on Nov 07 2007 10:46 this is the best film i've ever seen i ried and cried and cried i've looked for it in my local video shops but cant get it
    Report as inappropriate
  • Robin Morgan said...
    Posted on Jul 08 2007 22:13 i love this movie set it off it really tells me that i have the guts to do it and show me how i react how i feel hurting and depressed makes me how Dangerous i can be and have a darkside to feel free and make me hurt someone and kill someone make me feel better who i am i dont care what people say about me or thinking about me i dont take people for granded or i dont take a crap form no one longs i feel free to be safe and ar the end of the movie i know the fact i am doing right thing and care for people who i loved and it takes me away from my problems and relax to take a stress off of me and i feel godd about myself again.
    Report as inappropriate

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: F Gary Gray

Producer: Dale Pollock, Oren Koules

Cast: Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A Fox, John C McGinley, Kimberly Elise, Blair Underwood full cast

Genre(s): Thrillers

Duration: 122 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.