Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Tina Willis I originally saw this film when it was first released, almost 20 years ago. I really enjoyed the movie a lot then, so I decided to re-watch it and see if I felt the same way.Please don't let my critique deter you from watching this movie as I still think it's worth a watch. This film is labeled an "action" which is misleading. Action fans will be disappointed. It is appropriately labeled a "crime" and a "drama" and it has some comical/light hearted moments as well as a side romance. The second half of the movie picks up in action and the last 20 minutes is pretty intense.The film opens with a bang, drawing the audience in immediately. Which is always a nice start. It slows down for the first half of the movie as we are introduced to 4 African American women who are friends with each other from their neighborhood, and the circumstances/crisis of each of their lives. Early on it felt a little cliché and simplistic. I had not noticed that the first viewing in 1996.What redeems this movie considerably is the performances of the actresses, and a unique storyline with some twists and surprises in the plot.The choreography/setting/camera use/sound/lighting/editing all appear realistic and seamlessly well done. The Setting could of been more open/obvious with their neighborhood as the "feel" of the community and the economic struggle all around them was too minimal. It could of really added to the backdrop of what these women were going thru in their circle. The diverse styles of music (score/soundtrack) was nice,and was appropriate to each scene.The pace. A half hour into the film, all major characters have been introduced and we get an idea of the direction it's going. By this time, besides the opening scene, 2 more pivotal events occur and a side romance blossoms. Acting was considerably well done despite the occasional simplistic and clichéd lines. (And at the end, a few things that weren't realistic and didn't make sense) However I was still able to look past the very few flaws (The film is, after all, over 20 years old) and just enjoy the journey. I especially thought Jada P. Smith and Queen Latifah were exceptional. And I noticed that this time around more the I did the first. Just a side note. When Stony and Keith are at a restaurant on their first date he says "It's black only, I like that." I am unsure what that is implying, and specifically what it was supposed to add to the story. I suppose if the roles were reversed and a white man had said that, accusations of racism would fly.I still enjoyed this film a lot. And would recommend it to people who wont be dis satisfied of an action labeled film, that is truly not really action packed. The story is about friendship, loyalty, greed, social inequality, despair and loss.

jaguar_alignment I remember that i saw this movie when it launched in 1996. The appealing performance of the characters introduced a new area for action drama. The performance of the women Is marvelous and the story line Is breath taking.I watched this movie again yesterday and the story never gets doll. It's safe to say that this Is one of the greatest action 'movies out there.I'm looking forward seeing more of these dramatic action movies, since they portrait a more realistic image and get you to empathizes with the characters - even when there villains!Many compliments to the directors and total cast of this movie production.

kvatter A coincidental but unlikely stream of bad luck among four women leads them all to the only solution to their problems--rob a bank. And so begins a tale of silliness. Things happen in this film that just can't be believed no matter how much one tries to check the brain at the door. Four women are doing janitorial work. One brings her kid to the job. All four turn their backs together and as quick as you can say, "contrived", the kid is under a sink drinking ammonia. The main detective character knows exactly who is behind it and wants permission to follow up on the suspects but the boss says no because the police have accidentally killed the one suspect's brother. We wouldn't want to upset them despite the overwhelming evidence against them. And then they are never watched as they enter bank after bank to rob them. In one ridiculous scene, they stand in the hallway adjusting their wigs and dark glasses disguises arguing whether or not to rob the place. No one is suspicious of these characters outside the bank entrance?? And one very glaring goof-up is when they have breakfast and then head right off to the robbery(Vivica Fox is sporting a designer baseball cap turned backwards so you know she means business) . As soon as they finish the robbery,it's suddenly night time. The flick is chock full of cliché lines and actions. The tough Queen Latifah has just driven through a line of heavily armed police who open fire on her car, turning it into swiss cheese, yet she manages to take a very long pause and then emerge with a machine gun blazing. You'll slap a knee at that scene. EVERYONE in this movie is trigger happy. All the cops and security guards shoot to kill at the blink of an eye. The main detective spends several scenes just trying to get people to hold their fire. I gave it three stars because it's so darned goofy that you will probably be entertained at the implausibility of it all.

Nick Dets I've never lived in the projects. I have in no way experienced the plight of the marginalized. I've never known what it's like to be kept below the line that divides those who should be educated and those who should be left in the dark. For that reason I, by no means, have any right to speak for those people. But after watching the 1996 movie "Set it Off," I can't understand why no one seemed to get offended at its ignorance about, and exploitation of, the lower class- in particular the struggling black communities of urban areas."Set it Off" is about four close-knit women who have all had tough breaks in life. They made the best out of growing up in the projects and became, for the most part, honest, hard-working and self-respecting young women. The story starts off with Francesca, a bank clerk, getting held up and witnessing a violent shoot out that her fear crippled her from possibly preventing. A by the numbers detective named Strode blames her for it, causing her to get fired. The story shifts to its main character Lida, Francesca's friend who is a janitor in an upper-class apartment building, soon learning she has to compromise all of her good traits just to break even in life. To help her little brother get some money for college, she gives in to her shady employer's sexual demands. When her brother is coincidentally mistaken for the bank robber by Strode, he is shot and killed with no apologies.The movie was off to a good start, but I quickly started noticing that its scenes were getting progressively dumber. First off all, Strode seems to be on every case that the L.A.P.D. has to offer. Being that I have heard much praise for this film, I was surprised when more and more coincidences started trying my patience. The movie started feeling like a predictable crowd-pleaser, although it was supposed to be a hard-hitting protest about why the lower class seems to have abandoned.Any high school or college writing class teaches that to evaluate something is to see how closely or effectively it comes to its intended mark. My problem with "Set it Off" is that it is unclear as to what its mark really is. It shakily walks the line between action movie and socially-conscious drama so much that I started to question how dumb does the screenwriter thought his audience was. Since there is an objective made early on in the script, that there must be a reckoning for the unfair treatment of these women (and the lower-class community at large), it is questionable when it starts to stray.In his three and a half star (out of four) review of the film, Roger Ebert calls it "observant and well-informed." Sure the film had some very relatable characters and situations, but the screenplay is far from "Observant and well-informed." If anything, the writing is histrionic. A realistic screenplay would have characters who were less heroic and aware of their exploitation. Sure Queen Latifah is fabulous as a gun-toting lesbian, but does such a character really represent underprivileged women? A competent screenplay also wouldn't rely on coincidences and action sequences to make its point.(1 and 1/2 out of 4)