Crime 101

When you consider the star power involved in Crime 101, it's almost shocking that the movie barely raked in $70 million at the box office. Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, these are some of the biggest stars in Hollywood today or some of the most promising up-and-comers, and yet this film proved to have a rather tragic time with cinemagoers. Granted, I'm part of the problem as I waited to see Crime 101 on Prime Video instead, although perhaps that was a mistake.

I say this because what writer and director Bart Layton has cooked up with this film is a rather sleek and thrilling action film that clearly takes a lot of inspiration from Heat. The plot revolves around a skilled robber, who only targets wealthy and well-insured folks, never resorts to violence, and also leaves no trace of his presence. This is Hemsworth's Davis, also known as the 101 Thief as he tends to commit all of his crimes within reach of this signature road stretching through Los Angeles. Davis is conflicted about the life he lives and when one day a rival robber takes a job he planned and leaves a trail of violence in his wake, the local authorities step up their efforts to neutralise this legendary robber, leading to a cat and mouse chase between an emotionally-challenged criminal and a cop beaten down by the blows of life, played by Ruffalo. Oh and in between, we have a cruel and impulsive rival thief played by Keoghan, while Berry appears as an insurance broker trapped in the centre of this twisted triangle.

Sound familiar? If you've seen Heat recently, or need a refresher by reading that movie's plot synopsis, you'll notice some stark comparisons. You could make the argument that this level of familiarity has its problems, but I'd argue that's only the case if Crime 101 failed to put together an entertaining story built on these Heat-like premises. And it actually does. There's interweaving and merging storylines that isolate and then connect the core cast, there's thrilling and chaotic car chases, intense standoffs where anything could happen, and an emotional chassis holding it all together that humanises each character, rounding them out and making them seem more real.

The point is that Crime 101 is a sleek and stylish crime thriller, which gets more right than it does wrong. The cast are capable and well put together, the action is choreographed effectively, and it all comes together for a film that makes Los Angeles feel like the centre of the world again, in the same way that Heat managed.

Is it perfect? Not at all. Clocking in at around 140 minutes, it's a long film and would have benefited from being trimmed down a tad just to ideally get it within the two-hour marker and make for a more evenly-paced narrative. It's not terribly balanced as it stands, but after 90 minutes, you do start wondering if things could have been cut or moved along faster to maintain that more even structure.

Similarly, despite all the breathing room the film has in place as it stands, some of the more minor narrative arcs feel like simple filler than anything more substantial. Whether this is the romance between Davis and Barbaro's Maya or even how Berry's Sharon adapts to an increasingly unfair career situation. All of this has a level of importance to main story and therefore is vital storytelling, but it's not exactly handled in a way that comes across as particularly entertaining or memorable.

So there are areas to be improved but this shouldn't detract from the fact that Layton has put together a rather good action flick with Crime 101. Again, it's sleek and gripping, and for the most part, you will be entertained by this flashy heist thriller.