Crime 101 Review

Crime 101 may sound like a generic title, but the execution is anything but run-of-the-mill. Director Bart Layton (American Animals) is at the top of his game in a slick ensemble piece that’s more about its characters than the caper. The film revolves around several individuals from very different backgrounds, ranging from criminals to cops. They all share a common thread, however. Each wants to build a better life and will bend the rules to do so. Exactly how dirty they’re willing to get their hands is where mileage varies. Yet, even the noblest person in the mix sees the world through a morally gray lens.  

Chris Hemsworth continues to prove that there’s more to him than Thor as Mike Davis, a thief who pulls off a series of heists on the 101 freeway. Suddenly, the title Crime 101 seems more clever. Despite arming himself, Mike is so efficient that he’s never had to kill anybody. In Mike’s line of work, though, something is eventually bound to go wrong. The instant that Mike expresses his desire to get out, his employer (Nick Nolte) enlists the hotheaded Ormon (Barry Keoghan) to take over a few jobs. Mike’s life is as empty as his beachside apartment, which lacks any photos of loved ones. He nonetheless forms a connection with a woman named Maya (Monica Barbaro), but struggles to let her in. Maya says at one point that she doesn’t really know Mike, who doesn’t seem to know himself. 

As a new romance begins, another ends as Mark Ruffalo’s Detective Lubesnick separates from his wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Lubesnick is more focused on finding the guy hitting up the 101, cracking his pattern. Between Hemsworth’s unattached thief and Ruffalo’s grizzled detective, these may sound like stock characters. Layton’s script offers unexpected nuances, however. Mike and Lubesnick both try to do their jobs as honestly as possible. In Mike’s case, that may sound like a contradiction, but when you compare his methods to Orman’s violent tendencies, at least Mike has a code. Lubesnick’s hard work often goes overlooked in a department where everyone else is looking out for themselves. Although Lubesnick won’t compromise his ethics, he finds that if his colleagues don’t do things by the book, he can turn a blind eye as well. 

It makes for a fascinating parallel between Hemsworth and Ruffalo. When their characters inevitably clash, it’s reminiscent of when Al Pacino and Robert De Niro finally meet in Heat or when Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio come face to face in The Departed. Crime 101 might not be in the same league as those films, but it’s worthy of being used in the same sentence. Caught in the middle of Hemsworth and Ruffalo is Halle Berry’s Sharon, an insurance broker trying to work her way up the corporate ladder. Now in her fifties with that promotion perpetually out of reach, Sharon considers sharing information that’ll grant her and Mike walkway money. Mike isn’t confident that either can walk away unscathed, though. 

Layton balances every character arc in a sharply edited thriller that effortlessly transitions from one scene to another. At more than two hours, Crime 101 is never slow, but it doesn’t over-rely on action to hold our interest. That said, the set pieces are expertly crafted, flooring it from the opening scene and keeping its foot on the gas until the end. The resolution may wrap things up a little too tidily, but the final destination for each character nonetheless feels appropriate. Time will only tell whether Crime 101 becomes a movie they’ll show in film classes. Watching Layton at work, though, it’s apparent that he’s more than learned his craft.