The only breaks you get are the ones you take. Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, and Kimberly Elise star in a searing story about four friends who push back against the racial, gender and class divides of a still smoldering Los Angeles by embarking on a series of bank robberies. Carefully crafting well-detailed characters while balancing the tightrope of heist film thrills, the sophomore feature from Friday director F. Gary Gray is one of the great, unheralded genre classics of the ‘90s.
“Set It Off is advertised as a thriller about four black women who rob banks. But it’s a lot more than that. It creates a portrait of the lives of these women that’s so observant and informed; it’s like Waiting to Exhale with a strong jolt of reality. The movie surprised and moved me: I expected a routine action picture and was amazed how much I started to care about the characters.” – Roger Ebert
“You can hear echoes of Boyz N the Hood, Thelma & Louise, and even Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in Set It Off, but none of those influences account for the very particular, very engaging dark and loose qualities of this fresh piece of work from 27-year-old F. Gary Gray.” – Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
