Set It Off Movie Recap (1996)

 

Francesca Sutton (aka Frankie) (Vivica A Fox) has been one of the bank’s best workers. That was until a guy named Darnell (William Calhoun or WC) decided it would be a good idea to rob the bank. After Frankie refuses to comply, he proceeds to blow the brains of one of the customers, just imagine you going to the bank to make a deposit next thing you know you take a bullet to the brain scary to think about. After the robbery, a visibly shaken Frankie is interrogated by Detective Stroude and Waller (John C McGinley & Ella Joyce). Then the owner of the bank tells Frankie that she failed to comply with the procedure, which was silent alarm on the left, money on the right. Since Frankie recognized Darnell, they fire her. The Detective believes she was involved with the robbery. Was she, stay tuned to find out.

Set it Off Movie Recap

The movie shows Stony (Jada Pinkett) throwing a 1970s graduation party for her brother Stevie (Chaz Lamar Sheppard). We also meet Tisean (aka TT) (Kimberly Elise in her first ever role) and Cleopatra (aka Cleo) (Queen Latifah). She has been taking care of her brother since their parents were killed in a car accident. During the party, they have a conversation about how he doesn’t want to go to college as he didn’t get a scholarship. She tells him not to sweat as she’ll come up with a plan. For now, we meet Luther (Thomas Jefferson Byrd RIP) whom the girls work for. He calls out TT for throwing the recyclables in the trash and docks her pay. She begs him not to do as he promised to pay her under the table since she struggling to pay for a babysitter for her son. Once Luther leaves, they talk about Frankie and the robbery that she wasn’t involved in.

The next day we see the director Gary Gray talking to Cleo clowning her ride and he also tells Frankie to keep her head up after the robbery. This would be the first time Cleo teases the idea on how they should rob a bank. They girls scoff at the idea for now, and Frankie don’t want to rob it but instead going to go full Dead Presidents on it. We meet Ursula, Cleo’s girlfriend one the first lesbian couples showcased on film, she’ll only have like two lines in the whole movie. We also meet Nate who offers Stony a job on selling cars. She wants an advance to help Stevie get the money to go to college. He initially refuses but offers him the unthinkable that can’t be mention here on YouTube. That night Frankie gets a job with the girls working for Luther and she’s having a hard time. The next day they go on the roof, roll up some weed and bumping “Days of Our Lives” by Bone Thugs. This would be the second time they tease the bank robbery.

That night, Stony show Stevie the check for him to get college. That’s when Stevie tells her that he didn’t get into UCLA. He tells her that college isn’t for him and she rips up the check meaning she did the unthinkable for nothing. Stevie goes to Lorenz (Samuel Monroe Jr) to hang out and clear his head. He ignorantly gets an AP cut into his head (which stand for the projects Lorenz is from). But what he doesn’t know, police and SWAT is planning to raid Lorenz’s hiding quarters and AP haircut was a clue in identification. They ambush him and tells him to get on the ground. He’s having a hard time doing this as the champagne Lorenz gave him is in his coat pocket. As he reaches to remove it, police do what the police do best towards black men, assume it gun and pummel him with bullets. Stoude realizes it was the wrong dude and tries to ask for help but it was too little to late for Stevie Newsome. Stony finds out and obviously not taking this well.

They talk about the bank robbery again. With Frankie’s knowledge about banks, they all agree to start planning their first hit. They send Stony and TT to case Downtown Federal and Stony get’s distracted by Keith Weston (Blair Underwood). That night since TT is struggling to pay for her babysitter, she now has to bring her son to work. And he does what kids do best, getting into things they aren’t suppose to. He drinks some cleaning supplies and is rushed to the hospital. He survives but TT is confronted by Child Protected Services who takes him away.

Now everyone has motivation to rob a bank. Stony want retribution for what they did to her brother, Frankie wants retribution on how the bank has treating her, TT retribution from Child Protection Services, & Cleo I guess retribution for Gary Gray clowning her car. She goes to Black Sam (Dr. Dre) for a favor in borrowing weapons for his first hit. Cleo then offers him interest which he accepts, as long as they don’t get caught. They need a getaway car for their first robbery and thanks to Cleo’s experience in car theft, she’s the perfect person for the job. She then stalls for time by throwing out CDs until she gets her hands on Eric B & Rakim. Bank Robbery #1: They go to South LA Savings and Loans and they are nervous. They idiotically get into their disguises in the lobby, not to mention Cleo left evidence on the CDs and cassette tapes she thrown out all this while TT nerves get the best of her and flees. In one minute, they were able to get $12,000 dollars (3,000 each, which is less if you factor in Sam’s interest). Frankie believes TT don’t deserve a cut as she didn’t participate. But TT stood up for herself and Frankie concedes. Stoude and Waller want to pursue Stony as a possible suspect but one man told him to drop it over the Stevie Newsome headline.

The plan was to act like nothing happen but for Cleo she blows through her 3 grand quickly. Buying funny looking underwear and not showing up to work. Strode is still pressed in getting Stony booked for the robbery and they get a positive step when they pull up Cleo’s mugshot for a car theft in the past and now know that she, Frankie and Stony are affiliated with each other. We then get a godfather scene ordering TT and Stony to step up their game and orders Balboa Saving and Loans as their next hit. Bank Robbery #2 Balboas Savings and Loans. This next robbery TT finally participates in but with Cleo as the getaway driver. They kind of get lucky. A homeless guy is holding up all the police attention for disorderly conduct. Cleo then comes crashing in, literally and drives through the bank. Fun fact: this scene was done in one take. The second robbery goes much better than the first. They get away with $300,000 about ($75,000 each). After this, they make a pretty dumb decision in storing the money at their place of work and if they were going to store their money in the vents could’ve placed it further down.

Keith is holding a bank event and wants to take Stony and she shows up looking a hot mess and he takes her to get a makeover. After the banking event, they make love while bumping to “Don’t Let Go (Love)” by En Vogue. Back at work, Cleo, Frankie & TT discover that Luther left the business, later finding out he found the girls stash and fled. They get a hint from Sam since his interest is at stake. They find Luther at a hotel, buying a perm, cristae & a white woman. They confront him on the whereabout on the money. He draws a gun on Cleo and that’s when TT comes him put two to his back and that was that. Strode finds out about Luther’s death, and immediately bring Cleo in to participate in a lineup. The lone white woman witness gets intimidated by Cleo and not going to lie it intimidated me. She refuses to snitch on Cleo and she gets away.

Cleo returns and realizes they need to rob another bank and flee for good. They said Downtown Federal should be the third hit. Stony is now reluctant as that’s where Keith works. Bank Robbery #3 Downtown Federal. Before they get to their third robbery Detective Strode and Waller talks with everyone about the three ladies. Keith recognizes that Stony is one of the robbers. After the meeting, Stony calls Keith to get him out of there. They arrive and things go south, Stony tells TT to get out but Cleo tells TT to collect more money. That one second split decision was just enough time for Strode and Waller to intervene. Stony and TT where set to surrender as he brings up Stevie and apologizes. As they where surrender, dumb cop fires two shots at TT. They proceed to get into a shootout with everyone. AS they switch vehicles, TT and Stony have a heart-to-heart, they talk about Keith and try to keep her alive but sadly TT dies in Stony’s arms.

That night they get into a high-speed chase that is locally televised. The chase hits a standstill when two choppers catch the car in the middle of a tunnel. Cleo then tells Stony and Frankie to get as she’ll take on the police head on. Stony runs to a bus depot and Frankie we’ll catch up to her later. Back with Cleo, she gets surrounded. Instead of surrendering, she decides to go out like a gangsta and it’s heartbreaking to watch (maybe it was the music that made this scene gut wrenching). With Frankie, she is confronted by the cops and is order to surrender. He placed the gun to his neck to end and ask him the procedure for when you carrying a gun. As she run, she’s hit with two shots in the back and that was that. Strode then catches Stony on the bus but instead of stopping it, he let’s her go as he made her life a living hell to begin with. In Mexico, Stony is in mourning all while Brandy “Missing you” is playing. She gets a haircut. She then calls Keith one last time, assuring that he’s okay. Let me just say I feel bad for Keith because since this moment, he hasn’t treated a black woman right since.

I said this before in one of my previous videos that this movie is in my top 10. I know a ton of YouTubers have already covered this movie at length, since this was one of my top favorite movies I decided to cover this and of course I have thoughts. Start of with TT, a mother struggling to provide for her son. I felt like she was done the dirtiest here. Mistreated by Luther and later the first one to die. All this just to get her son back. Next is Cleo. I have an unpopular on Cleo’s death. I don’t understand why everyone cried when she went out like a straight out gangsta. What did she had to lose? She was already a criminal in Grand Theft Auto, she didn’t have good purpose other than she had priors and wanting to fix her prize possession, her car. Let me say, she might be the dominant one in the crew but she was submissive towards Stony. But Queen Latifah left no crumbs with this role. Next is Frankie, she was one of the smartest in the bunch since she knew how banks work. But I do feel for her because she didn’t have anything to do with the robbery that got her fired. You see, she obviously traumatized and like she said, she can’t control who she knows. She also took the gangsta route in her demise. Lastly, Stony. She lost everything. Her parents, brother, friend and possible boyfriend whom she played. It was for her, “what I had to lose”. In conclusion, fantastic film, definitely check it out if you haven’t just don’t let desperate times to lead to desperate measures.