Crime 101 ☆☆☆☆

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Nick Nolte and Halle Berry

Directed by: Bart Layton

hy do we love crime movies? Better yet, why do we especially love the ones where the criminals are typically portrayed as the protagonists? We’re all taught at a young age that “crime doesn’t pay,” but the older one gets, the easier it becomes to justify criminal actions (to a certain extent, at least). Goodfellas and The Godfather are the most popular examples and both aren’t just considered the best the crime genre has to offer, but also just happen to be considered among the greatest movies ever made. Going deeper than just the core filmmaking of it all, these movies are often character-driven pieces about a societal underdog, with audiences falling head over heels in love with Danny Ocean’s (George Clooney) casino heist antics in the Ocean’s trilogy and the shockingly endearing Sonny’s (Al Pacino) quest for quick cash in Dog Day Afternoon.

The list of great crime films is endless, though two in particular, Drive and Heat, feel like particular influences for Crime 101. Hailing from American Animals director Bart Layton and boasting a starry ensemble cast that consists of two Avengers and an X-Man, Crime 101 is certainly bringing quite a lot to the driver’s seat. While the film’s reliance on established crime stories dips a bit too much into the realm of cliche, the overall result is a thrilling ride that’s fun to watch, from its quietest character moments to its loudest chase sequences.

Chris Hemsworth takes a break from the action-packed worlds of the MCU and Extraction for a smaller-scale thriller as a man named Davis, a soft-spoken master thief who has gained a reputation as a serial offender known for stealing scores along the 101 freeway. Not everyone believes he exists, but one who does is a detective on the brink of divorce named Lou (Mark Ruffalo), who becomes obsessed with finding Davis and bringing him to justice.

Meanwhile, Davis has to juggle finding his next score with the potentially unwilling help of an insurance specialist, Sharon (Halle Berry), keeping that score a secret from his violent competitor, Ormon (Barry Keoghan), and potentially throwing all of that away for a woman he meets named Maya (Monica Barbaro).

Those bolded names alone should show just how much star power Crime 101 is working with, and it doesn’t even include other supporting players like Corey Hawkins and Nick Nolte. At a somewhat beefy runtime of 2 hours and 20 minutes, Crime 101 manages to keep a pretty good balance with its large cast of characters, with the story serving as something of a three-way tale following Davis, Lou and Sharon on their own journeys. Those intimidated by the longer runtime also needn’t worry, as Bart Layton’s impressive directing, both for the more intimate dialogue sequences and the high-octane car chases, makes the pacing a breeze.

“Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Halle Berry are all more than competent leads who each bring something interesting to the table. Sure, on their basis, they are a bit derivative of other crime movie archetypes, with Hemsworth being the Drive-like anti-hero with a heart of gold, Ruffalo being the tenacious detective that nobody believes and Berry being the everyday person who’s fed up with their current set of circumstances. That being said, there are enough fine details and nuances in each of their performances that help them stand on their own without mounting the shoulders of giants too much.”

Circling back to the characters, Hemsworth, Ruffalo and Berry are all more than competent leads who each bring something interesting to the table. Sure, on their basis, they are a bit derivative of other crime movie archetypes, with Hemsworth being the Drive-like anti-hero with a heart of gold, Ruffalo being the tenacious detective that nobody believes and Berry being the everyday person who’s fed up with their current set of circumstances. That being said, there are enough fine details and nuances in each of their performances that help them stand on their own without mounting the shoulders of giants too much. Keoghan and Barbaro also fit the bill as Crime 101’s main antagonist and love interest, respectively, each giving great performances in their own right.

Bart Layton may be most comfortable with the world of documentary filmmaking, but with American Animals and now Crime 101, he’s shown a real knack for the heist/ crime genre. While the characters and writing itself do occasionally dip its toes one too many times into derivative clichés despite being overall well-written, the loudest voice in Crime 101 is some top-notch filmmaking on display. While fans of Hemsworth shouldn’t expect him to be wielding a magic hammer like Thor or getting caught up in one-take brawls with endless enemies like Tyler Rake, they should expect plenty of tense action sequences that the renowned movie star has become so revered for.

The film has everything from very clear, well-shot car chases that don’t feel so abundant as to be tiresome to a lot of slower, more tense moments. Cinematographer Erik Wilson and editors Julian Hart and Jacob Schulsinger also deserve credit for giving Crime 101’s vision of Los Angeles a clean and aesthetically pleasing look and also helping enhance its story with clever editing and camera transitions.

Crime 101 always feels like it maintains a good, steady momentum with its characters and the stories it wants to tell with them. Their stories aren’t reinventing the wheel in the crime genre, but they are handled with enough care, solid direction, and competent performances to avoid feeling overly reminiscent of what we’ve seen before. The bulk of Crime 101 consists of shorter dialogue sequences between characters, yet they still maintain the frenetic momentum of the other tense scenes. Things reach an excellent boiling point in the film’s grand climax, which has all the great pacing and appropriate level of suspense that one would hope for from a crime thriller like this. The ending itself does sadly edge a bit too close to the melodramatic, wrapping a few things up in a bit too tight a bow.

2026 is turning out to be a winner for smaller-scale action thrillers, with Crime 101 joining the ranks of Dead Man’s Wire and Good Luck, Have Fun Don’t Die as potential new contenders for the “cult classic action-thriller club.”

The fingerprints of other all-time hits from crime movies’ past are undeniably present and perhaps there’s one too many of them, but they don’t stop Crime 101 from showing that it has the formula behind a great, entertaining crime thriller down to a tee.

Chris Hemsworth is a likable enough anti-hero that he makes Bart Layton’s crime journey a more than satisfying ride from start to finish.

– Courtesy: Collider.com