6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.3 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
After being fired from her job as a bank teller, Frankie begins working at a janitorial service with her friends Tisean, Cleo, and Stony. The women are struggling with their finances, so they decide to start robbing banks. At first the group is successful, but they soon attract the attention of an obsessive detective.
Starring: Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Kimberly Elise, John C. McGinleyCrime | 100% |
Thriller | 56% |
Heist | 21% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The heist film, in general, is a fairly simple genre. You have a group of characters planning to steal something—usually money or an object that can be sold for money—and a typical three-act plot that leads from motivations and preparation to the heist itself, and eventually to the inevitable downfall or escape. Plot points may differ and there may be serpentine twists and turns along the way, but most caper flicks tend to follow this generic structure. The only real differentiation between films, then, is the style in which they’re told and the characters that inhabit them. Yet, even the characters have a degree of sameness. How many times have we seen a criminal who wants to go clean, setting up that last big job that will give him enough dough to escape his past? Set It Off never deviates from the well-tread plot paths of the archetypal heist film, but it does trade stock, white male criminal characters for four underprivileged and under-empowered African- American women who seek to escape not a criminal past, but the socio-economic constraints of life in “the hood.”
Mo' money, mo' problems...
If you were expecting to be robbed by a mediocre print of a mid-1990s film, you can put your hands down and untighten your sphincter, as Set If Off arrives on Blu-ray with a clean and detailed 1080p/VC-1 encoded transfer. Considering the film's relatively low budget, I was impressed by the quality of the picture. Let's get this out of the way at the start: there's plenty of grain here. Thick, chunky patterns of it buzz over the out-of-focus portions of the image, most noticeably during the dimmer indoor scenes. That said, this is how the film is supposed to look, and the grittiness is more than appropriate for the story. Despite the grain, most of the film has a sharp look, with lots of texture apparent in fine detail—like the threading in cloth and the patterned ripple of cornrow hair braids. While the overall clarity and sense of depth may not drop jaws, Set It Off looks fantastic in high definition. Sunlight shines down on the Los Angeles streets, giving the outdoor scenes a warm, nicely contrasted glow. Colors are pleasingly saturated, from the seedy reds and purples of a cheap motel room to the clean blue of the jumpsuits the women wear while knocking off the downtown Federal bank. There are a few crushed details, but all in all, black levels are tuned well. I did notice two or three instances of minor contrast wavering, where the color depth of background surfaces seemed to flicker and strobe, but I didn't catch any pesky bandwidth-related, blocking and banding problems. Fans of the film will be more than pleased with this release.
Likewise, Set It Off surprises in the audio department with some enveloping sound design, courtesy of a loud and capable Dolby TrueHD 7.1 surround track. The film takes little time in ramping up the sonic action, as the opening bank robbery sequence features sub-machine gun bullets ripping through the rear channels from all directions, sirens sounding off outside, and a throbbing low-end presence holding it all together. Later robberies find slugs pinging off and cracking through marble, plate glass windows shattering with keen directionality, and helicopters panning over the skidding getaway car with convincing fluidity. The quieter, conversational scenes also get their due, with subtle city street ambience in the surrounds and clear-as-a-bell dialogue. The dynamic range is similarly impressive, with nicely defined bass that roars when it needs to, articulate high-end sound effects, and a full mid-range that never hollows out or becomes muffled. This is one mix that never shows signs of the film's age or budget, and it's likely the best that Set It Off has ever sounded.
Setting It Straight: Making Set It Off (1080i, 26:36)
A great retrospective on the creation of Set It Off, Setting It Straight features
interviews with all of the key players in the film's production. Director F. Gary Gray discusses the
bank heist genre and how he wanted the film to emphasize character over style, writer Takashi
Bufford gives some insight into his inspirations while crafting the script, and former New Line
executive Helena Echegoyan talks about the importance of the film's fantasy of empowerment.
The
four main female actors also show up to dissect their roles and comment on the effect that the
film
had on each of their careers. There's very little behind-the-scenes, on-set footage here—it's
mostly
talking head interviews interspersed with clips from the film—but fans will enjoy this look back at
the mid-1990s. And props to Warner for including the documentary in high definition.
Music Video: "Let it Go" by Ray J (SD, 4:55)
Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2:25)
Warner seemed to be playing the six-degrees-of-separation game with their September 8th catalog releases. Catwoman features Sharon Stone, who is also to be found in Sphere with Queen Latifah, who provides a break-out performance in Set It Off. All three films have been given an excellent treatment on Blu-ray (I know, Catwoman doesn't deserve it), but Set It Off is the film I'd recommend most.
Director's Cut
1993
2007
2010
2001
2010
2006
Director's Definitive Edition | Ultimate Collector's Edition
1995
2016
1991
The Director's Cut
2000
Limited Edition
1991
2012
2012
2005
2015
Extended Edition
2011
1972
2018
2-Disc Special Edition
2008
2011