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i thought Set it Off showed how versatile Queen Latifah is when it comes to acting. Having only seen her portrayed as attractive i was amazed at how well she took on the role of 'Cleo'. The movie as a whole i thought was good with a strong story line that held true to the end of the film. I applaud Queen Latifah she certainly has what it takes to do any role asked of her. She showed a different side of herself and it paid off. To you Queen Latifah well done. The other members of the cast also played their roles well especially Jada Pinkett. The story was a good one and even brought a little tear to my eye at the end. I think this is a film in which we can all learn something.

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'!

"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.

This movie gives us a graphic insight into the possibility of what people might do under certain circumstances and situations. These young ladies' misfortunes in life have driven them to do something that otherwise would not have entered their minds: robbing a bank. Their participation in this criminal activity is a crying-out against the evils of their society and environment. In other words, they are saying "because of what you did to me...this is how I will respond". Anyone who has seen this film honestly knows that what they're doing is just as morally wrong as what has happened to each of them, but, for some deep-seated reason, we find ourselves rooting for them - even hoping that they get away with it. Each character reveals a problematic area in our working society: unfair employment and termination practices, inadequate childcare options, hindrances and distractions of the ghetto and other social plights and dilemmas.

We may not agree with what these young ladies are doing but somehow we understand. (please see this movie...)

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 ****.