Product Details

• Actors: Jada Pickett, Vivica a. Fox
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• DVD Release Date: September 14, 1999
• Run Time: 123 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305505799
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,992 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Set It Off (Snap Case)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Even when it misses a dramatic opportunity in favor of generic action, Set It Off benefits from a sharp understanding of its well-drawn central characters. They're a quartet of young African American women in Los Angeles (Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Kimberly Elise), all struggling against a system that seems designed to prevent them from realizing their dreams. The movie establishes their plight with credible attention to emotional detail, making their decision to rob banks believable enough to give the ensuing plot its inevitably tragic momentum. Cowritten by the screenwriter of What's Love Got to Do With It?, the film conveys genuine compassion for its characters, and the ensemble cast is uniformly strong--especially Queen Latifah as a brash lesbian whose fate is as certain as her forceful attitude.

Set It Off expresses a real sense that these women have been close friends for years, and that gives the film additional impact, even when their transition to crime and violence feels somewhat forced and superficial. A romantic subplot involving Pinkett and a social-climbing banker (Blair Underwood) is too contrived to be convincing, and director F. Gary Gray (Friday) tries too hard to combine hard-hitting action with social relevance (a weakness shared by Gray's following film, The Negotiator). Still, Set It Off effectively avoids passing judgment; its emotional complexity transcends simple notions of right and wrong, injecting vitality--and a kind of renegade integrity--into the traditions of a familiar plot. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Four women take the law into their own hands and try to get some pay-back by robbing the city's biggest banks in this riveting action drama starring Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Kimberly Elise and Blair Underwood. Directed by Gary Gray.

DVD Features:
Music Video
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jada,Vivica,Kimberly and Queen set this thing off!!, September 20, 2001

By 

I. Allison (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Set It Off (Snap Case) (DVD)

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!!!

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars DISTURBING BUT POWERFUL, October 19, 2000

By 

D. Lewis (Memphis, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Set It Off (Snap Case) (DVD)

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!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This movie is positivly THE movie of the '90s!, July 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Set It Off [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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!!