Movie

Set It Off (1996)

Female cat burglars were covered much earlier in the rankings list, and now it’s the turn of an all-female heist crew. This 1990s movie centres on four women from inner-city Los Angeles who rob banks to get back at the system that failed them. This leads to three action-packed, increasingly frantic heists, though it finishes in tragedy, as violent crime sprees often do.

Other than Cleo, who’s essentially a gangster, the characters have sympathetic backstories. Frankie loses her job as a bank teller after she panics during a robbery. Stony does everything to support her brother, only for him to be gunned down by police after they mistake him for a criminal. Tisean loses custody of her child because she can’t afford to pay for care. None of these women are evil, but despite the origin stories, they are criminals. With exceptional performances all around, the charismatic team earns a place in the Goddess tier.

While Stony and Tisean are reluctant to become career offenders, Cleo and Frankie are eager to rob banks. These “ringleaders” are on personal power trips and enjoy their addictive new life of crime, which leads to tense arguments. The film benefits from the unusual situation where the women begin as amateurs with weak disguises, but finish as an organised, masked-up professional crew.

The detective hunting the four women is the same man who mistakenly shot Stony’s brother. He’s onto them from the first heist, leading to personal standoffs and a nighttime gun battle on the streets of L.A. Don’t expect a happy ending – it’s not that kind of film.

Villainesses

Stony (Jada Pinkett), Cleo (Queen Latifah), Frankie (Vivica A. Fox), Tisean (Kimberly Elise)

The women pull off their first job at a bank they haven’t cased, wearing wigs and sunglasses. Hectic, panicky stuff from the newbie robbers, and Tisean gets nervous and backs out. There are no major complications, and the gang escapes with the money. That’s cause for celebration, with Frankie gleeful and Cleo dancing in celebration, though whether Tisean deserves her cut becomes a heated discussion point.

The argument boils over after Cleo spends her money on her girlfriend and booze. For Stony and Tisean, the robbery was a one-time deal, but the others are desperate for more money. A second heist follows, with a much better planned robbery where Tisean plays an innocent customer and disarms a would-be hero. The heist almost goes to pieces when a pedestrian outside causes a commotion and the police show up. Then Cleo rams a stolen vehicle through the window, and the women make a dramatic getaway.

Away from the action, Stony romances an account manager she met while staking out a target bank. The relationship blossoms, and Stony’s boyfriend buys her an evening dress. After her taste of high society, she’s reluctant to continue her criminal career. But as the main character, it’s inevitable she will join her team for a big heist. The women see themselves as gangsters and even do jokey mafioso impersonations at a boardroom table. With classical music playing in the background.

Things go smoothly when the women take advantage of their day (actually night) job to stash the stolen money in a tower block vent shaft. This turns out to be a mistake when their shady employer, Luther, discovers the money and absconds with it. He’s not a smart man, so the women track him down. Cleo is angry and armed, so viewers will expect her to get trigger-happy. Instead, a nervous Tisean shoots Luther fatally in the back.

The police suspect Cleo (she is the obvious choice) and bring her in to take part in a lineup. The suspect intimidates a witness into silence through cold, psycho stares – enough to frighten anyone – and tapping her pocket where she stowed the woman’s ID. Scare tactics work, and the police are forced to release Cleo. Now wanted women with no money, it’s time for a big payday.

Naturally, the bank is the same one where Stony’s lover works, but she lures him out of the building beforehand. This time the heisters move smoothly, dressed in true armed robber gear: blue overalls, braided haircuts and face masks. Someone trips a silent alarm, leading to a standoff between the police and the thieves. The women remove their masks when they realise the game is up and are on the verge of surrender when a nervy security guard guns down Tisean.

The aftermath is as bloody as you’d expect, with Stony and Cleo shooting cops and guards in retaliation. Cleo has a submachine gun she empties into any target available. Time for a Heat-style car chase and shootout on the streets. It’s satisfying to see an all-female team engage in such carnage, but it’s a losing battle since every local cop is after them and roadblocks are everywhere. There’s time to grieve Tisean as she bleeds out, before the women abandon her to go on the run.

Eventually, the police trap the robbers in a tunnel, and Cleo goes out in a blaze of glory to buy time for Stony and Frankie to escape. Frankie gets cornered and is confronted by the detective, but she refuses to give herself up. Stony can only watch from a bus to Mexico as the cops shoot her friend, and she’s left to reminisce and count her hard-earned money south of the border.

It’s Cleo – who else? – that gets the best death scene, surviving a hail of bullets that wreck her car as she rides a police gauntlet. As epic music plays, she steps out for one last confrontation. But even this tough cookie isn’t invincible, and a small army of cops put her down.