Set It Off

From start to finish, "Set It Off" is a fast-paced urban drama that never lets up for a minute. The four leads (Jada Pinkett-Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Kimberly Elise) turn in realistic and sincere performances. Queen Latifah's strong performance as a tough gun-packing lesbian who takes s*** from no one steals the show. She plays Cleo, who sees her friends suffer at the hands of injustice. Her best friend, Stony (Jada Pinkett-Smith), loses her brother to the LAPD. Frankie (Vivica A. Fox) is unfairly discharged from the bank that got robbed in the first scene. T.T. (Kimberly Elise) is a young struggling single mother who sees her son get taken away by Child Protective Services after a small "accident." Their solution: rob a few banks and get out of town. F. Gary Gray ("Friday," "The Negotiator") knows what buttons to push to make "Set It Off" a cut above most ghetto films and gives us characters to root for. My evaluation: *** out of ****.