Set It Off 1996 ****

The ebullience of 1970’s exploitation features in Coffy, Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones finds a more subdued but still entertaining medium in F Gary Gray’s taut thriller Set it Off. Vivian A Fox, Queen Latifah, Kimberly Elise and Jade Pinkett Smith are four South Californian women who plan and execute a series of bank heists, with John C McGinley’s copper on their trail. Based on a true story, Gray’s film has sympathetic protagonists and sparse action, leading to an ending that pushes the audience’s empathy with the girls to the limit. Featuring the eminence grise of rap, Dr Dre, as Black Sam.