User reviews

The movie was a waste of time and i am really disappointed. I could describe this movie as a "wanna be movie"...the director wants to be Guy Ritchie but he is not...50 cent wants to be an actor but he is not, Ryan Phillipe wants to be a bad guy but he is not, because of his baby face...when you see Bruce Willis on the cover you expect him to be actually present in the movie but he is not...everything in this project is poor...i really gave it a chance and watched all 90 min but it was a waste of time. The act was too slow, it tried to build up characters but it failed...many things were simply not there as script and acting. I had hard time understanding the words of 50 cent, Ryan Phillipe was OK but this character was simply not for him...he matches other roles much better...Bruce Willis was OK too but he had a very small and insignificant role.

OK, so I didn't have particularly high expectations for this, and I'm not going to bother emphasising Curtis Jackson's flat performance, since it's likely you've seen how "expressive" this guy is in everything else he's ever done, as it is, if I know he's in a movie, I already have a pretty good clue that he won't be the highlight.

So what else have we got? Ryan Phillippe, and Bruce Willis... OK, Bruce pulls out a reasonable performance, but he really doesn't have much to work with, due to a muddled, thin script.

So of course the same difficulties apply to Ryan Phillippe, however, since he has a much larger part in this it's difficult to see that his performance is OK, and really he's let down by the poor script.

Well, look, Curtis Jackson, I'm not sure why this guy wants to be an actor, for the moment he'll have to keep wanting, because he hasn't pulled anything out the sack with this one. It's not that his performance is dreadful, it's just ... empty, and he really isn't bringing any soul to his character, and I've got to say, I really hope he gets better than this, because I know he's going to keep trying.

Anyway, if you watch this, brush the sick off yourself and go watch Way of the Gun so you can forgive Ryan Phillippe.

In summary even casting a lead that could act probably wouldn't have save this shoddy script, but there's a few good moments that will entertain.

In Detroit, Sonny (50 Cent), Vincent Long (Ryan Phillippe) and Dave Hall (Brett Granstaff) are friends since high-school. They reunite to successfully heist 5 million dollars in diamonds in a daring operation. However, Sonny and Dave are betrayed by Vincent that shots them and steel the diamonds.

Sonny miraculously saves and seeks revenge against Vincent. Meanwhile the owner of the diamonds sends a hit-man to find Sonny and Vincent while the powerful mobster Biggs (Bruce Willis) forces Sonny to steal 2 million dollars from a Russian mafia. Sonny seeks out Vincent not only to revenge, but also to get rid off Biggs and his gangsters.

"Setup" is a disappointing film with a poor screenplay. Bruce Willis, Ryan Phillippe and James Remar have minor participations and the character of 50 Cent is not well developed with an ambiguous personality. The director Mike Gunther makes another weak rip-off of Guy Ritchie's style and this comedy-action movie does not work. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Sem Lei" ("Without Law")

Well this type of genre, i.e action, crime, heist is right up my street. Add Bruce Willis to the frame and you would think that I was onto a winner. Unfortunately this was not the case. I found the film to be poorly directed, the acting wooden and the storyline predictable if slightly erratic. After reading the synopsis I kind of thought I would be in for a decent hour and a half. I found myself dropping off 55 minutes into the film which for an action film is pretty poor. Of course, I say action but the truth is there was very little action in it. Add to it a strange religious undertone which I suppose is to signify the lead role is looking for redemption and you get a complete mismatch/ conflict of interests. I give it a generous four out of ten but take into consideration this is about the lowest I have ever scored a film.

Having noticed that this movie contains two big names such as Bruce Willis and Ryan Phillippe, you may think that this is a worthy film. No, you are entirely wrong.

I've never seen such an amateurish film with such high-profile actors. It seems like out of $22 million spent on this flick, $20 million have been spent on actors' fees, and the remaining trifling sum of money was spent on production.

This film lacks everything - what you get is very bad acting, an incoherent unrealistic plot. Basically, you cannot help but wonder why everything happens the way it's portrayed because most of the scenes in the movie make no sense at all.

Seeing it had a good cast I thought this could be a good film, wrong! It's just a over hyped B grader by using a few big name actors, sure Ryan Phillippe is in it here and there but Bruce Willis is in it only for the name, as he is in this film for around 20 minutes, Bruce is only in it to prop up this film. 50 cents is just not credible as an actor, and Bruce and Ryan can't help him raise the bar past the level of B grade.

The story is nothing new, it's predictable and plain boring, and that music score! they are really trying to make this sound like a serious crime drama, but they failed, it just proves again it takes more then well know actors to make a good film.

Would I recommend this film? yeah sure if I did not like you! give it a miss, walk your dog instead, wash your car, ring your mum! as this film is not worth wasting your time on.

Solid 1 out of 10, it would have been a zero but I did love that GTO, the main high light of the film.

Desperately bad acting, paralleled only by the plot (or lack thereof).

The movie was totally disjointed, and was completely devoid of anything that would grab the attention of any audience with an IQ greater the date of the month on which they were unfortunate enough to be subjected to this, for want of a better or more appropriate phrase, B-Movie.

I rarely comment on movies, but this is possibly the worst movie I've ever had the misfortune of sharing the same room as, far less, watching.

As much as I'd like to blame the writer, it's impossible to lay the blame at the door of any single person. As far as I can see, everyone involved in the making of this movie is equally to blame, and as a foot-note, it's sad to see that Bruce Willis never matured into a decent actor...

I endured watching this film just so i can get a good laugh. It has no story, everything happens in a random way, the plot is almost inexistent.

The thing that is hard to believe is that Bruce Willis is in this movie. It has a 5 minute role in total so you can imagine that they used his image just to make this movie interesting, but after 15 minutes of watching you will realize that its a very poor movie.

If you are in the mood of laughing and making fun and you are with friends, i recommend it, there is a lot to mock in the movie.

I never wrote a review before, but this movie made me do this.

A film that relies far more on the fame of its stars than the contents of the story itself, this low-budget action-thriller is an extremely basic crime/heist movie, attempting to highlight the "talents" of its star(s). In reality, Jackson is at best average as Sonny, with his monotone narration. His scenes with Willis highlight how far the rapper-turned-actor is from being a bona fide movie star, even if the Die Hard actor looks uninterested. Gunther also brings in odd direction, with sudden, jerky camera movements giving the feel of a television drama. There are plus points, such as the occasional humour in the script, but overall, awkward is probably a good adjective to describe this disjointed and strained film. Pity because the cast is excellent and the story might make sense, in spite of some plot holes.

The screenplay feels like a teenager wrote it, who learned to cuss by his wangster older brother, and now uses his overly foul language in the most inappropriate situations.

On top of the horrific acting and terrible dialogue, the characters seem to feel the need to describe what they're doing as their doing it. And hey 50-cent, it's called pronunciation, try it!

The plot can't decide what type of action movie it wants to be. It feels like the writers just strung a series of their favorite movie scenes from all their favorite movies randomly together. There is no action leading to the next action, just 50 running around sticking a gun in everyone's face and explaining the plot over and over again.

Question: WHY ARE ALL THE CHARACTERS EXPLAINING TO ME WHAT I'M WATCH?! Answer: it's a dumbed-down movie for those people who are always asking questions during a movie.

Oh and the music sucks, sounds like stock music or the temp soundtrack was never changed.

(2011) Setup THRILLER

Co-written and directed by Mike Gunther that despite mediocre acting by it's centered star who is popular rapper 50 Cent/ Curtis Jackson,, this film is still quite decent about a young African American man, Sonny seeking for a little retribution after him and his best friend was being left for dead from a successful diamond heist, double crossed by Vincent played by Ryan Phillipe. Bruce Willis also stars for a small part as one of the tough gangsters. Without the ending I wouldn't even liked this film at all. Former rapper and actor, 50 Cent or Curtis Jackson is also credited as co-producer.

A modern "Heist" caper, starring Bruce Willis?

Should be good, uh-huh...

I'm legally deaf and far-sighted and I have an IQ that would probably qualify me to be marked down 30% at your local 99-cent store. I only completed two years of high school and when people start talking about things like "character arcs", "long shots", "cutaway", "out-takes", "dailies", etc., regarding the art of film-making, I really have no idea as to what they're talking about.

But even I could make a better movie than this one.

(I do understand what "plot holes" are though - so in addition to those *many* already mentioned, I'll add one more):

Let's do the surreptitious "hot diamonds for money swap" in an out-of-the-way place - like a rooftop parking area - so nobody can watch and get suspicious, OK? Best if we choose one *without* a minimum of 180 windows overlooking it from directly across the street, (yes, I counted), as we saunter around outside the getaway vehicle, dressed in our identical dark coveralls and knit watch-caps while carrying the big black bag of booty and clutching our machine guns. Ya think?

Maybe the second half of this movie gets better. I don't know because I couldn't stand watching any more than I did. I forgave the cheesy film look, figuring it was intended to be part of the look and feel of calibre of these characters - low grade hoodlums and unprofessional professionals. The sequencing of events is clumsy. The believability of what each of the characters is doing is way low. How one of the mob guys shoots himself in the head while waiting for "a bag" (was it pot? big deal!) is highly questionable. That the diamond guy ("hit man") finds our protagonist so easily, then tells him he's got a week (a week!?) to make good...well it was about there I began to consider to quitting this movie. How did they get Bruce Willis to sign on? Willis as the "mob boss" was...well, what can I say. His smirk just didn't convey Godfather. This movie is not worth watching.

This is a straight to DVD crap and the only remotely good thing about it is that it has Bruce Willis and he plays a ruthless mob boss. The script is just really dumb and it's clear none of the writers thought things through. It's just poorly written and doesn't make much sense. 50 cent is a horrible actor and I don't know why he keeps getting roles. He is the protagonist in this and it's difficult to sit through his acting. I am not sure if it's intentional but some scenes came off more humorous than serious and intimidating. It's tries to be cool and slick but just comes off dull, corny, lame and boring. And tries to copy Guy Ritchie's trademark movies but fails miserably. This is a skip. Not even worth a rental.

1/10

THE GOOD - Honestly, not much! The trailer was okay if that counts.

THE QUESTIONABLE - Everything in this movie is questionable.

THE BAD - Okay, what is this movie about? We have a revenge story; the main character (who is a bad guy) is left for dead after a heist. Our hero and his friend are shot by their best friend in the whole world, the "badder" bad guy. But our hero who is also a bad man gets off lucky; he lives to fight another day because he is just a lucky man as previously stated. In fact, he is lucky throughout the whole movie setting things up to help him facilitate his revenge. Hence the title, Setup. Okay, a story involving a bunch of characters that make no sense enfolds before our eyes. In the story that enfolds before us we experience bad acting, bad directing, bad cinematography, bad action, bad story, bad plot, bad dialogue, bad editing, bad camera-work, and bad everything... And to make it even better the story ends in a "stupid" way. Okay, maybe stupid is not the most clever word in the dictionary but this story is all over the place. I will not comment on the rest of the movie's plot but if you choose to watch this movie, this is what you will be heading into.

WHY - Do I give this movie a 2/10 IMDb style or a regular 1 out of 4 stars. Honestly, look, obviously $20,000,000 out of the $22,000,000 spent on making this movie was spent on casting the actors and nothing else. Instead, it should have been spent on a competent director and writer. Usually I don't go so hard on a movie but hey, what do they say, "I can never get back the hour and a half" I spent setting up to watch the "Setup".

I started watching this expecting a bad action flick, but jeez. This is the worst film I've seen in a long, long time. Inconsistent, poor-acted, poor-directed, poor-written trash riddled with plot holes.

To think that 22 million dollars was spent on this makes me depressed. I am sure that at least 21 of those could have been saved by not hiring the poster names, and the film would have been better off. When you are peddling garbage like this you DON'T want to get the audience's expectations up, even if the expectations already are low.

Do yourself a favor. Don't waste your time on this. And for god's sake, don't waste your money.

This is probably the worst movie i've seen this year. Dreadful acting by almost everyone. Most of the characters at first sight appear to have a major scene in the movie but somehow they're never shown again after a minute of screen time. 50 cent is nowhere near a Rambo like gangster but instead a gangster who is slapped on the head after every few minutes and his character is not the least bit likable considering he has the main role. This movie is not recommended even if you are watching it for free on blue-ray. If you are looking to have a laugh at 50 cent's acting then this might be the film for you but it's the sort which leaves you regretting that you watched it, I mean it's so bad that you can't even laugh at how terrible it is rather than feeling sorry for yourself and your money.

Unfortunately this film took Bruce Willis and dragged him down to 50 cent's level of acting, poor show all round.

The plot is very thin, they have tried to add several twists which just come off as cheesy and ill thought. The supporting cast is weak at best and the awkward acting inabilities shines through scene after scene which gets frustrating after about 10 minutes.

If you want to see a revenge film then I would recommend Faster, or Death Sentence, a Bruce Willis film then take your pick.

I really don't like film companies using A list actors as bait to sell a poor film, hence why I felt compelled to warn others.

This is a heist movie set in Detroit during the winter holiday season. When is the last time you saw a movie that was set in Detroit in the winter time? This movie surprisingly made Detroit look fairly nice.

One old man character says he loves reading the sports page. And he was upset to learn all news was going digital. Lol 2011 was way back in the past.

Another character stashes loot in a duffel bag in a bus station locker. So trite. But it was comforting in its ordinariness.

The real star was a blue 1965 Pontiac GTO coupe. Fiddy cent is the nominal star, but his acting is wooden and lacking in verisimilitude. Fiddy's delivery is appalling yet hilarious. It's like dude is mocking acting as a profession. I get his point. Anybody can do it as long as they can remember their lines.

So this is a mediocre heist movie that was entertaining. Watch it, but don't expect to be enthralled.

Everything about this movie is horrible, except for Bruce Willis (Just cause hes Bruce Willis). However, Bruce Willis is barely in the movie at all, he doesn't even appear until almost the end of the film and also has a very insignificant role in the film (Which I find very humorous considering his front and center image on the cover). Mike Gunther simply tries way to hard, and is just not good at what he does. The acting, plot, writing, and characters are outrageously cheesy, extremely predictable, and poorly made. I really don't know why Bruce Willis agreed to even show his face in this movie, but then again he has been in some pretty questionable movies. All in all, don't let Bruce Willis draw you in to watch the film as hes not really in it. Also stay away from anything Mike Gunther makes, and/or 50-Cent "Acts" in.

sure , this movie have some obvious disadvantages- some b or c list actors , plot holes , clichés and so on . but it also has it merits - nice cinematography , high production values, cool soundtrack , the use of unprofessional actors who gives it an almost neorealism flare , the locations , but most of all i enjoyed the non Hollywood feel , an almost anarchistic feel i might say , of going off the platform of your regular blockbaster .

50 cent is no denzel washington but still he possesses some genuine quality that is hard to define .

it really give you some kind of weird rush that no mainstream Hollywood film would give you .

The first scene of the movie you knew it was going to be bad. You can easily get lost in the dialog. Characters walking in and out of the scenes is very predictable. You can almost guess what is going to happen at every turn and what they are going to say. Bruce Willis acted normal in this one, good. Curtis Jackson played another role of the gangster who has the good heart, and Ryan Phillippe played the backstabber. Jackson did a good job but when he tries to show emotion it's just poor acting. Phillippe should pick some roles that fit him better, not ones where he has to be the bad guy, just not believable. Overall this movie gets a 5 only because the script was decent. The acting was too quick and the conversations weren't too in-depth. Every scene with Willis in it slowed down to film speed, where you could actually pay attention. The emotional parts in the movie lasted 5 seconds at a time and the action parts lasted even shorter. Mike Gunther, if your reading, you have way more talent than this, please try again for us all.

I'll make this short and sweet.

I saw this movie so you don't have to !

1) Worst script/screenplay EVER!

2) Nothing made any sense! I mean... nothing !

3) Worst plot ever, plot holes so big you want to cry!

4) Worst dialogue ever in the history of cinema...

This felt like totally amateur night... all the scenes were put together as if two twelve year old boys were sitting down and making the "best action movie of all times".

The director clearly wanted to make something "cool", and tried to copy movies like Pulp Fiction and every gangster movie made by Guy Richie.

But in the end, everything just fails. The movie is totally filled up with WTF moments... actually almost EVERY single scene didn't make any sense!

I hope this director NEVER will make another film again in his life.

I had to give it 1/10... but this disaster of a "movie" truly deserves a "0".