Customer Reviews

Set It Off [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Four Black women struggling with trying to keep afloat and fighting off the biting sharks of poverty: One a single mother, another a single woman raising her only sibling: a brother, another who was wrongfully terminated from her position as a bank teller after a robbery-gone-bad, and another just fed up with her position working for Luther, the foul-mouthed owner of his own janitorial company. For each of their own individual reason, they all band together and decide to pull their own bank heist. Disguised in wigs and clear masks, they coolly and calmly walk into banks and demand money. To make matters more complicated, Stoney {Pinkett} meets and begins to fall for a branch manager played by Blair Underwood. While working for Luther, the discover he runs out with their money, and now they have to "hit" the bank one more time. With the police hot on their trail, the ill-conceived robberies fly out of control. This movie is filled with emotion, honesty, and a tragic ending. Guest appearances by Dr Dre as Black Sam and Dub-C as one of the bank robbers. This movie is a real crowd pleaser!!!

F. Gary Gray is one of the most talented directors today (not black directors, but director, period!) A film major, I look forward to the day I meet him.

I can't watch this movie when I am down, because it will make me think life just ain't worth living. It has a very very depressing ending. But overall, the narrative was excellent. Each one of the girls had a motive, whether it was directly indicated or not. Black intellects trash this movie because they see it as trapping African Americans in the Boyz N the Hood genre (which was also an excellent film). But they fail to see there are so many stories within the inner cities of African Americans. It is not just about robbing banks, gangs, or drugs, it is out survival, loyalty and frienship. Which I think mainstream America really does not understand and why I think so many black women go to jail for protecting their men involved in illegal activities.

Not to veer off the subject, but set it off is about loyalty and true friendship, (just like waiting to exhale, just a different neighborhood) with a fresh twist. Hats off to F. Gary Gray!

I thought that the movie would be another 'Waiting to Exhale' and a friend of mine said to me "This movie is great, you have to watch it!" I thought that I would give it a try. Watching it one night the movie made such an impact on me that I was crying from almost the begining credits. I think that the charactors are ones that people can identify with and feel sorry for... I especially thought that Jada Pinkett Smith played her role with brillience and Queen LaTefa played her role stunningly. I was quite moved by Cleo, she had real class. All in all a great movie... a must for all people with hearts!!

Saw this for the 3rd time recently, and while it's entertaining, it's hardly an essential film. Props to Queen Latifah and Viveca Fox for some really effective acting, and for an original premise. Unfortnately, it tends to go somewhat -- not totally -- downhill from there. It holds your interest, but you have to suspend disbelief and have some tolerance. For one, Elise and Pinkett are major weak links in the characters; their acting is uncompelling, hammy, and often scenery-chewing. Jada Pinkett is simply not a good actress; she's mediocre, and her performances, while adequate, are never standouts. The plot was completely predictable, as was the ending, and the sub-plot of Stoney's romance was particularly unbelievable; 2 people from those backgrounds would never hook up in real life. The Godfather scene was particularly lame. Sorry, but it was. There were some touches of realism, but not enough to elevate the movie from the cliche. Not a worthless film by any means, but again, no classic. A slightly better-than-average action flick.

A great movie with a great cast, this movie shows what can happen when you push a black woman to her last straw. From the beginning to the end this movie shows how easily one can be profiled as a criminal just by the company she keeps. Like how one of the characters were surrounded and killed by the SWAT team just because he had the same hair cut as one of the bank robbers. And he was a soon-to-be college student. There is a lot of emotions shown in this movie when the it takes you into each characters personal life and thier reasons for robbing the bank. Don't get me wrong there are no reasons for committing a crime like a bank robbery but their stories are compelling. The ending is sad, even though there was a bright side to the ending. It kind've teaches you a lesson about friendship and material things.

The acting was fantastic, you almost felt like the characters were real individuals(of course that is the point of acting). Queen, Jada, Kimberly, and Vivic really make this movie come to life. I would watch this movie all day everyday, just because it's so great.

The is the best movie I have ever seen dealing with the following themes: Friendship, Loyalty and Trust. Even though the movie is about crime, these themes dominate the plot. The girls' commitment to each other and loyalty to their cause is very impressive. Also the director of the movie deals with these themes in a easy, playful and humourous manner, even though the girls' couse is a risky and dangerous one. This keeps the audience interested. There is no dull moment or lousy scene in this movie.

It was my first time seeing this video, and it really touched me.It was about these friens roobong banks, because they needded the money, even if it caused them their life, wich unfortunately did for most of them. It showed how loyal some friends can be even in the bad times. The ending was really sad and made my whole family cry. I really urge you to go see this film, it will touch your heart. It will be wise if you have a tissue box by your side. Very good actresses played in this movie!

This is one of the best movies. I could understand what everyone of the characters were enduring. I have to give much props to Queen La b/c she has endured much controversy & gossip b/c of her character Cleo. Each women were involved in the life of crime because of different reasons. When you are constantly seen in negative light, never seeming to amount to anything, and always told of what you won't be able to accomplish you think, so what, who cares what I do. That's how Frankie (Vivica A. Fox) and Stony (Jada Pinkett-Smith) both felt. Frankie got involved in robbing banks after she was accused of helping the man that pointed a gun to her head and robbed the bank she worked in just because they were from the same sides of the track. Stony saw her brother gunned down because he was the victim of police violence. It didn't matter that her brother was going to college and that he happen to be friends with the wrong people, all they seen was another black boy that needed to be taken down. All they wanted was a life better than what they had, which wasn't much. You see the life on television that others seem to have, but for you, it's always out of reaching distance. This is a great movie with a really sad ending. I cried out for Stony because she really got the bad end of the deal, even though she's the only one that made it out.

Not a happy ending here, folks! Four African-American women figure out that crime has a quicker, and better, pay off than good ole all-American minimum-wage work. Of course, in the long run, their new lifestyle (and the law) catches up with them. A wild ride!

Ah man when I first saw this movie I watched it like 3 times the first night. I mean it's da bomb I mean you know how they always have the movies where the men do the wild and bad things and the women are just these stupid girls who sleep with them to get money, but gary layed the rules down in this movie,and showed people that men aren't the only ones who can be bad women can do anything men can do probably even better. You see how good these girls were I mean they was just doing they thang, but it was sad at the end, because spooney(jada pinkett) was the only one left and she was rememberin what they did earlier in the movie while they were robbing banks, and everybody got killed at the end except for her. That was soo sad but I do agree her relationship with blair underwood was a one night stand and it did kind of drag the movie but that was the only mistake otherwise this movie is off the hook if you haven't seen it yet you betta run to the video store and get it now because you missing out on a lot.