CRIME 101 Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Bart Layton
Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Halle Berry, Nick Nolte, Monica Barbaro, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Corey Hawkins, Tate Donovan, Devon Bostick, Matthew Del Negro.
This slick, sleek and well-made heist thriller set in Los Angeles pays homage to the classic heist films of yesteryear. The plot again centres around a jewel thief who plans one last crime that will set him up for life.
Mike Davis (played by Chris Hemsworth) is a thief who specialises in high end jewel robberies. His carefully choreographed crimes are planned down to the last detail and follow a strict set of rules – plenty of surveillance beforehand, nobody gets hurt – and all of his robberies take place along Route 101, which gives him plenty of access to facilitate his getaway. He also leaves behind no traces of DNA.
Mike works for a man named Money (a typically gruff and surly Nick Nolte), who took him out of foster care and mentored him into a life of crime. But when Mike meets Maya (Monica Barbaro, from the Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, etc) he begins to question his priorities.
Insurance assessor Sharon (Halle Berry) feels underappreciated having given thirteen years to her company, only to be passed over for a promised promotion. Tired of the misogyny and office politics, she provides Mike with some vital information regarding a fortune in diamonds being brought into Los Angeles for a society wedding. Mike makes plans, hoping that this score will enable him to walk away from his life of crime. However, Money begins to suspect Mike’s reticence and brings in his new young more volatile protégé Ormon (Barry Keoghan, from Saltburn, etc), who wears leather and rides a motorbike. Ormon is a loose cannon who is more brutal in his approach to the robberies he undertakes.
On Mike’s trail is tenacious but slovenly detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo), who has detected a pattern behind the robbery spree and developed a theory. However, his partner Tillman (Corey Hawkins, from Straight Outta Compton, etc) and his superiors dismiss his theory and insist on him quickly closing out the case.
All of these characters clash in the leadup to the climactic heist.
British writer/director Bart Layton has adapted author Don Winslow’s 2021 crime novella of the same name for the screen. Coming from a background as a documentary filmmaker, Layton previously brought a documentary like realism to his 2017 film American Animals which detailed the ambitious heist of rare books from a library, and here in Crime 101 the stakes are considerably higher. Layton ramps up the suspense and tension in the film’s second half during the lead up to the climactic heist. There are also a couple of well-staged adrenaline-charged chase sequences.
As the taciturn and emotionally detached Mike, Hemsworth is channelling the cool attitude and magnetism of Steve McQueen from his heyday of the 60s and 70s. And in case audiences miss the obvious, the film references both Bullitt and The Thomas Crown Affair, two classic films from McQueen’s filmography. Hemsworth also brings a vulnerability to the character as he leans into his conscience.
For a while there have been rumours of a remake of Columbo, with Ruffalo cast in the role of the crumpled crime fighter made famous in the tv series by Peter Falk, and his role here as the unkempt but savvy detective could be seen as his audition. Berry brings a touch of gravitas and class to her role. Cast against type here Keoghan brings a violent and unpredictable energy to his role.
Crime 101 looks good thanks to the glossy cinematography of Erik Wilson who has obviously studied the classic LA noir films of the past (Michael Mann’s Heat, To Live And Die In LA, LA Confidential, etc) to shape the look of the film. He gives the usually gritty Los Angeles landscapes a glittering surface, especially through his superb nocturnal shots of glass high rise towers and the stream of red taillights along the busy highways and streets of the city. The city almost becomes another important character in the film.
★★★☆
