''Setup'' is a

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

heist film The heist film or caper film is a subgenre of crime film focused on the planning, execution, and aftermath of a significant robbery. One of the early defining heist films was '' The Asphalt Jungle'' (1950), which ''Film Genre 2000'' wrote "almo ...

directed by Mike Gunther and written by Gunther and Mike Behrman. It stars

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series '' Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero ...

and

Ryan Phillippe Matthew Ryan Phillippe (; born September 10, 1974) is an American actor. After appearing as Billy Douglas on the soap opera '' One Life to Live'', he came to fame in the late 1990s with starring roles in films including '' I Know What You Did L ...

. It was released straight to

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of s ...

on September 20, 2011 in the United States.

Plot

In Detroit three friends, Sonny (

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

), Dave (Brett Granstaff) and Vincent (

), plan out a detailed heist of $5 million dollars worth of diamonds. Their plans turn deadly when Vincent betrays the others, shooting Sonny and Dave (who dies on the spot). Sonny manages to survive and seeks revenge by teaming up with the most dangerous mob boss in town (

) to retrieve the money from the heist. Biggs, the mob boss sends Petey (one of his henchmen) and Sonny to retrieve $2 million buried in a cemetery. They get the money and Petey puts the money in the trunk of his car. But Petey accidentally shoots himself. Sonny brings Petey's body to the Butcher. He follows Mia to the fence's home and threatens him. The fence runs to Vincent saying that he has to clean up his mess because he left Sonny alive as a loose end. Vincent kills him. Biggs inquires about Petey and Sonny. Sal interrogates Ivan to death trying to find out information on Petey. Sonny heads to the church where the pastor asks, "do you believe in free will? the idea that you are free to make your own choices in this world?". Sonny replies "of course", the pastor continues, "then how could you make a choice between right and wrong if god did not offer the two extremes?". Vincent seeks John's help to close on the Sonny loose end. Sonny visits the cemetery and Dave's grave. Sonny visits the Prison where Vincent's father is and he asks if there is anything you want me to ask your son before I kill him? Mia is attacked in her home by the owner of the diamonds demanding his diamonds back. Vincent visits Mia and finds her dead body. Sal and Tony interrogate another Russian who says "the black man took the money that's all I see, he took it." After the Russian dies in interrogation, Biggs says "I think he was telling the truth". Vincent meets with Saunders in the prison, who extorts him for $100,000 in protection money to protect his father. Vincent visits his father who divulges that he knows that Sonny is alive and he visited him. He tells his son "Big men make big moves, are you a big man?". Sonny takes some of Biggs' $2 million and puts it into a Teddy Bear and then into a Box. Then, Sonny goes to Biggs and falsely claims that Vincent has his money. John arranges a meeting with Vincent and Biggs. Biggs demands his money; and there is a shootout with many casualties. Sonny chases Vincent but is eluded by him. The owner of the diamonds breaks into Vincent's home and confronts him as he is packing away his money, but he kills him. Sonny ambushes Vincent just as he is about to open his car door. Sonny dowses him in oil and asks Vincent to dig his own grave. Vincent confesses that he was forced to kill Sonny and Dave because Saunders had threatened to kill his father; and that he needed all of the money to get out of trouble. Sonny spares his life. In the next scene, pans to the prison where Vincent's father is and he is murdered by another inmate. Dave's girlfriend receives the package with the Teddy bear with the money put there by Sonny. Sonny takes the money from the locker and quips "An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. As i was not my brother's keeper, neither was I his killer. I could live with the fact that Vincent was still alive. Question was, could he?" Sonny drives off - cut to credits.

Cast

as Sonny *

as Biggs *

as Vincent *

Jenna Dewan Jenna Lee Dewan (; born December 3, 1980) is an American actress and dancer. She started her career as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, and later worked with artists including Christina Aguilera, Pink, and Missy Elliott. She is known for her ...

as Mia *

Randy Couture Randall Duane Couture (; born June 22, 1963) is an American actor, former U.S. Army sergeant, former mixed martial artist and former collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestler. During his tenures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), he became ...

as Petey *

James Remar William James Remar (born December 31, 1953) is an American actor. He has played numerous roles over a 40 year career, most notably Ajax in '' The Warriors'' (1979), Albert Ganz in ''48 Hrs.'' (1982), Dutch Schultz in '' The Cotton Club'' (198 ...

as William *Brett Granstaff as Dave * Will Yun Lee as Joey * Shaun Toub as Roth *Susie Abromeit as Valerie *

Rory Markham Rory is a given name of Gaelic origin. It is an anglicisation of the ga, Ruairí/''Ruaidhrí'' and gd, Ruairidh and is common to the Irish, Highland Scots and their diasporas. for the given name "Rory". The meaning of the name is "red king ...

as Markus * Jay Karnes as Russell * Ambyr Childers as Waitress Haley * Omar Dorsey as G Money * Richard Goteri as John R * Michael Mili as Gangster 1

Production

Filming began in November 2010 in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

. ''Set Up'' is the first film in a $200 million deal with the production companies

Cheetah Vision 'Cheetah Vision'' is an American film production company founded in 2009 by Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson and Randall Emmett. The company produces low budget action thrillers for foreign film markets across the world. The company's first film was '' ...

and George Furla's Hedge Fund Film Partners. Grindstone Entertainment Group and

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian- American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquarter ...

distributed the film in the United States and Canada.

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...

under the

Chernin Entertainment Chernin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded and owned by former News Corporation president and chief operating officer Peter Chernin, also CEO and chairman of the company. Jenno Topping is the current Head ...

label distributed the film internationally.

Box office

As of November 11, 2022, ''Setup'' grossed $2,140,476 in the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, and Lebanon.

References

External links

* * {{50 Cent 2011 films 2011 direct-to-video films 2011 action thriller films 2011 crime thriller films 2011 independent films 2010s heist films American action thriller films American crime thriller films American direct-to-video films American heist films MoviePass Films films American films about revenge Films shot in Michigan 2010s English-language films 2010s American films