Set It Off
Set It Off started out with a scene that shocked me in a way, but also made me cringe. I thought that the film was just going to be another dumb action film with no depth to the characters and no plot. The film opens with a bank robbery as we are introduced to a bank teller, Frankie (Vivica A. Fox) who is held at gun point and told to give them the money. Frankie knows the guy holding her up and refuses to get involved. A shootout occurs and two of the three robbers are shot. The other gets away with the money. Watching the scene unfold was interesting, but I settled down for another silly crime drama.
Boy was I wrong. What I got shocked me more than the opening scene. Don't get me wrong--this is an action picture. However, there is so much more involved than your average action flick. Instead of one main character you don't care about, we get to know four different women and we begin to care about them. All four have different personalities and different needs, and none of their needs is trouble with the law. However, they get it soon after problems arise. This film made me think quite a bit. It showed the criminal side of the crime, not the police side, and this caused many mixed emotions to flow throughout the film. On one hand I wanted the cops to win. On the other, I wanted the girls to get away. But there is a slight problem that I had to cope with. I wanted the girls to get away throughout the entire film. This isn't supposed to be the right kind of attitude in our society today, but watching Set It Off makes you think.
And it's that social issue that stands at the center of this film. While it is about crime and robbery, it has a more deeper meaning. It asks questions that the police would rather you not think about. I could relate to these four characters so much (even though I'm white) that I was rooting for them all the way. Stoney (Jada Pinkett) is the main character and we get to know her more than the others. Stoney has many problems, and one of them include her brother being accepted to UCLA, but he isn't able to get a scholarship. Immediately I figured that she was going to rob a bank to pay for it. However, the script is very well written and throws a different plot twist at us. This new twist gives an entire new reason for Stoney to fight back.
The other three characters are well-developed as well, but not quite as much as Stoney. Cleo (Queen Latifah) is a big, bad-ass lesbian who wants to rob a bank just to prove to herself that she can do it. Many times I have thought of this, but I have and never will do it. Frankie, who gets fired from the bank because she apparently didn't react to the situation correctly and they don't exactly like the idea that she knew one of the perpetrators, wants revenge on the system. Tisean (newcomer Kimberly Elise) is one of the most interesting characters. She is a single mother who is just trying to raise her son. However, after an accident at her work, the State takes her son away, claiming that she is an incompetent parent. There is mainly one common aspect that they all share: their social status. They all work together at a low paying cleaning service and they barely have enough to get by. But with all their new problems, they just can't make it on their income.
One day, while sitting on the rooftop of their house, they discuss the robbery that occured in the beginning of the film. The man who got away made $20,000 off of it. They realize that if he can do it, they can as well. So they begin to plan out and stake out different banks. During one stakeout, Stoney stumbles onto Keith (Blair Underwood), a bank worker who finds her very attractive. They begin a relationship which sets up a predictable conflict in the end of the film. However, the way they handle it is unexpected. Finally, the action picks up and shifts into full gear... and almost never lets down. After their first bank robbery, they decide that the money they got won't cut it and they will have to rob another one.
The plot soon twists and turns into unexpected places, and the resolution is quite shocking. Now, the film isn't perfect and it has several flaws, especially their reaction to a murder which takes place. They never planned on killing anyone, but they almost react to it like it's a natural part of their lives. One of the other flaws is the relationship between Stoney and Keith. While it provides a break in the tense action scenes, it slows it down way too much and it also provides some unobligatory sex scenes. We don't have to see them do this. The connection between the two is so real that the sex scene almost seems like a cop-out.
That said, the four characters are some of the best I have seen in a crime thriller. I have never really cared about the characters in one of these films, mainly because we don't usually get to know about them. The writers are usually so content with providing us with action scenes, that they don't stop to think that we won't care what happens to them if we don't know anything about them. Writers Takashi Bufford and Kate Lanier have written a wonderful and very underseen film that makes going to the movies so much fun. I was captivated up until the very final moments of the film. Were they going to get away, or were they going to be caught? I never really knew, and that was what held my interest. That unpredictability is almost totally lacking in other crime movies where you know the cops will win.
And to top it all off, the movie boasts four wonderful performances from four great actresses. Jada Pinkett gives a great performance and her final scene is one that I will remember for a while. Queen Latifah is over-the-top in a good way. Her character is so energetic and lively that watching her perform made me smile everytime she was on screen. Vivica A. Fox is extremely interesting and watching her turn from a good working woman to a revengeful "kick the system's butt" woman was a more subtle Falling Down. Kimberly Elise has some terrific scenes and she does a good job of handling them. She was one of my favorites because her character ran from the first robbery because she was frightened. She did a very good job of portraying her character. Blair Underwood was quite good, but his character seemed dull and uninteresting. And finally, John C. McGinley portrays the non-stereotypical cop very well.
Set It Off is rated R. There is extreme graphic violence and gore, pervasive language, some sex, and drug use. Director F. Gary Gray handles this material extremely well and the action scenes are directed with the utmost precision. I've never really cared about a chase scene before. Gray finds the perfect note to display these four characters and his style isn't like the crazy quick cuts present in many action films today. But the real stars of this film are the four main actresses. If the previews had shown this film as more than a regular action film, maybe it would have gotten more viewers. I know I would have watched it.