When it comes to heist films, the motivating factor that drives pretty much every plot is quite simply revenge. "Setup" is your basic revenge film in the same vein as "Get Carter" or "Edge of Darkness." And by "basic," I mean "run-of-the-mill."
It's not a bad film per se, just painstakingly average. Curtis Jackson (aka 50 Cent) is the star of the film and, consequently, one of the only shining beacons of excellence. Ryan Phillippe and Bruce Willis round out the lineup and manage to put forth pretty lackluster performances. I'm not entirely sure if 50 Cent actually outshined his co-stars or if he just looked better in comparison to Phillippe's cringe worthy accent and Willis' atypical '90s tough-guy routine. In any regard, 50 Cent has certainly come a long way in terms of his acting ability. This is easily his best performance since his semi-autobiographical "Get Rich or Die Tryin' "; dare I even mention the monstrosity that is "Streets of Blood"?
Longtime friends Vincent (Phillipe) and Sonny (50 Cent) are involved in a diamond heist worth a cool $5 million, but when Vincent turns on his partner and steals the money for himself, Sonny must track him down to exact revenge. Tied up in all this thievery is a mob boss (Willis) who's hellbent on collecting the money/diamonds for himself. Throw in a chase scene here and an interrogation scene there, tack on a predictable ending and there you have it.
The film could have benefited from scrapping the hokey voiceover narration that is present throughout. It doesn't help that 50 Cent is quite the mumbler; to put him in a Morgan Freeman narrative position is just hard to sit through. Not to mention, I hate being guided along via voiceovers as if this was my first heist rodeo. The introduction of every character equipped with a videogame graphic baring their character name just really put it over the edge for me.
It's not all bad, though; despite the predictable nature of "Setup," the movie is visually striking. It holds back in the CGI department in exchange for more realistic violence. While "Setup" is technically sound and even ripe with humor at times, it just lacks the heart and intelligence necessary to classify it as anything but mediocre. I respect the film's straightforward nature, but it's definitely not something that's worthy of repeat viewings. The DVD extras are as predictable as the plot itself: director commentary, behind-the-scenes special, and a making-of portion. Pretty standard fare for a movie such as this.
Film: 2.5 Yaps Extras: 3 Yaps