With the surplus of releases this weekend, Crime 101 may be off your radar, but I’m here to tell you it should be on your radar. Crime 101 is a sprawling crime thriller with many colorful characters, including Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and Halle Berry. Some of the actors are playing to type, but Hemsworth does his most interesting work in a long time. The film follows Mike (Hemsworth) as a very meticulous thief who robs unsuspecting couriers on the 101 freeway in Los Angeles. As tensions mount and the crimes grow more complex, police detective Lou (Ruffalo) makes it his mission to figure out who is robbing these individuals. A battle of wits plays out between them as they head toward a collision course.
Now this makes it seem like Heat (1995) lite, but it is fully its own story, even if it wears its influences proudly on its sleeve. Director Bart Layton makes LA feel like its own character through thrilling chases through downtown and the sleek nature of its streets and businesses. It feels so lived-in and vibrant, with characters each with quirks that make them feel singular.
Hemsworth plays the meticulous thief but is also a quietly anxious and caring man who never wants to see anyone get hurt. It’s quite fun seeing him play a role that plays against his previous persona. You really care for him, and you don’t want anything bad to happen to him.
Berry, in her best recent work, really chews up her scenes and fully gives herself over to the role. She goes from a stable, well-meaning citizen to “breaking bad” because she feels her job and the people in her life don’t truly appreciate her enough. There is an outstanding scene in the back half that showcases this switch.
Ruffalo is also just great as a tired, overworking cop. Bringing nothing but his best, he shows a sense of humanity throughout, realizing that the thief they are looking for is not inherently a bad guy.
Director Layton has a keen eye and talent for telling stories like this, as this was his follow-up to his film American Animals (2018), which also starred Barry Keoghan in a similarly slimy part. Layton is so great at crafting these stories, seamlessly weaving many plotlines into the overall narrative.
Crime 101 has a sleek, gorgeous atmosphere, reminiscent of a neo-noir. Its slow-burning world-building enriches the screenplay and the number of smart tactics used behind the camera. The best example of these tactics is attaching cameras to car doors as they open and close, then using that point of view for many of the driving shots. The editing choices also beautifully complement the cinematography, especially in the third act, as it begins to subvert expectations, cutting between high-tension moments and beautiful b-roll shots of the LA skyline and suburbs, showing how sprawling and huge the production truly is.
It’s truly something to get a movie like this in February, as in years past, these early months have proved to be a landscape to just dump movies, and studios have no idea what to do with them. Although this year has proved vastly different. Within the first two months, we have gotten 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Wuthering Heights, Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie, and Crime 101. All hits that hit the four quadrants and cross-programming Hollywood should be doing daily. Of all those, Crime 101 stands out because of the immense surprises it holds.
It easily could have been a thriller we had seen before, with a basic plot structure and familiar trope characters, but it’s not. What sets it apart from the basic thrillers wehave seen is the depth of each character. Usually, you get depth on our main character, but in this, each character gets their time to be fleshed out and seen.
In the end, it is movies like Crime 101 that we should be championing. Original stories with compelling characters that subvert expectations. These are the sort of films people yearn for, and this weekend, they have gotten one. It’s the craft and talent on display that can make you appreciate everything about it.
Review Courtesy of Jacob Diedenhofer
Feature Image Credit to Amazon MGM