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Being a Queen Latifah fan and also Jada Pinkett Smith , this movie was good, not all that great because of the typical sterotype saga of blacks robbing banks. I think one of the best scenes was when they were at work around the big round table portraying and imitating the Godfather, and of course when Queen Latifah met her dome in the hail of bullets after she rode past the bridge.

It's being along time since I've seen a film that really took my breath away, but this shook me to my bones. What seems to start off as a stereotypical film about racial injustice, ends as a story of the highest calibre. The 4 leading ladies act to perfection, making the tragedy and heartbreak so real. If you don't cry at the end of this, I suggest you get out in the sunshine and thaw!

"Set it Off" is another brilliant little B sleeper by the talented F. Gary Gray. What sets this film apart from your routine crime caper/heist flick is that it features some very impressive and strong performances by Jada Pinkett-Smith (one of her very best roles) and Quen Latifah. Vivica Fox, Kimberly Elise and the underrated John C. McGinty were also quite effective in supporting roles. Blair Underwood, who I lilke, was sort of wasted as reverse eye candy. The love story sub plot was a bit if a distraction, only in a minor way. But at the core of this film was the bond between these ladies, all driven to rob banks for various reasons. What they all shared was their desperation. Instead of cliched cardboard characters, we are served pretty well fleshed out characters with as much depth as time allows. Some have mentioned they didn't like the ending, but I rather did. Queen Latifah was outstanding as a hardened career criminal. There is one scene where Jada's character stands up to her and it's tasty.

All in all, a pretty dang good thriller film that should be seen. The performances are what elevates it above the norm for this genre.

From start to finish, "Set It Off" is a fast-paced urban drama that never lets up for a minute. The four leads (Jada Pinkett-Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Kimberly Elise) turn in realistic and sincere performances. Queen Latifah's strong performance as a tough gun-packing lesbian who takes s*** from no one steals the show. She plays Cleo, who sees her friends suffer at the hands of injustice. Her best friend, Stony (Jada Pinkett-Smith), loses her brother to the LAPD. Frankie (Vivica A. Fox) is unfairly discharged from the bank that got robbed in the first scene. T.T. (Kimberly Elise) is a young struggling single mother who sees her son get taken away by Child Protective Services after a small "accident." Their solution: rob a few banks and get out of town. F. Gary Gray ("Friday," "The Negotiator") knows what buttons to push to make "Set It Off" a cut above most ghetto films and gives us characters to root for. My evaluation: *** out of ****.

Four black female friends are struggling in their own ways. Frankie has a good job at the bank but, when someone she knows robs the place she gets fired for being potentially involved. She gets a job with the others as a cleaning service but soon all their situations worsen leading them to plan a bank robbery themselves. The job goes great but soon they need another job and another - but the police are slowly closing in on them.

I'm missed seeing this several times and looked forward to it a bit. The plot is basically the same as several other crime flicks you'll have seen - gang begins robbery spree, how will it turn out? etc. However the twist here is that the gang are all women and all black. As a twist this is quite good as there are very few all black, all female thrillers out there, so they deserve at least one! The plot is pretty solid and allows for good robbery pieces as well as the usual standoffs and quite exciting climax.

It does also have many weaknesses. There are too many ghetto movie clichés thrown into the mix for my liking. Whether it be the boy bound for college who gets shot, the single mother trying to make it, the low riders etc. I understand why they're all there but really it hurts the film a bit. One little weakness that bothered me was Stony's romance with Keith - he seemed too good to be true and doesn't fit in with all the grit etc that's going on around the rest of the film. But that's it - aside from some sex scenes to help get men into the cinema and some lesbian stuff that appears to be the only reason to have made Cleo gay.

Pinkett (as she was then) is pretty good -in fact pretty and good! She's the only one whose character stays someone resembling reality. I like Fox in several things but she starts normal and quickly turns into a gun-toting criminal. Elsie is OK in her first role and is suitably soft and trapped, but Latifah overplays her butch lesbian. Underwood is as greasy as his hair and I didn't like him and McGinley does good despite his role basically being an attempt to make the white audience feel good about their role. Outside of that Dr Dre makes a laid back cameo.

Overall it doesn't rise above the level of the heist thriller generally but it's still enjoyable and is at least a different direction for all black female films - at least it's not yet another `waiting to exhale'!