Review 771: Crime 101

The first time I heard of Crime 101, I thought it looked like a generic crime film without much   As it turns out, it was only the trailer. This movie turned out to be a lot better than I expected it to be. 

Based on the novella Crime 101 by Don Winslow; Set against the sun-bleached grit of Los Angeles, elusive jewel thief Mike Davis (Chris "Thor" Hemsworth) heists along the 101 freeway have the police mystified. When he eyes the score of a lifetime, he crosses paths with Sharon Combs (Halle "Storm" Berry) a disillusioned insurance broker who is facing her own crossroads. Convinced he has found a pattern, relentless detective, Lou Lubesnick (Mark "Hulk" Ruffalo) closes in, raising the stakes even higher. As the big heist approaches, the line between hunter and hunted begins to blur and all three parties are faced with life-defining choices and the realisation that there can be no turning back.

It's a film about defining who you are by what you own. But also defining who you are by the anxiety about what other people think of you.

It's also a sly critique of materialism

This is a well made, handsome looking film. Writer/director Bart Layton made the documentary, The Imposter (2012) and the docudrama American Animals (2018) which I'll freely admit I'm not very familiar with  Fat chance moviegoers will be enticed to seek out his previous work, but with this being his third directorial effort, he directs with a strong sense of style, panache and intensity and is able to give complexities to all his characters.  The film also features a damn good score by Blanck Mass 

Chris Hemsworth, in a role that casts him against type, is a  in the role of jewel thief Mike Davis, channeling his inner Robert DeNiro from Heat. He may be a thief, but he has a code and a sense of honour. He's extremely calculated; there's a rawness to how he approaches his heists and he doesn't want to hurt anyone and avoids violence  

Just like in Zodiac, Now You See Me and more recently the excellent HBO miniseries, Task, Mark Ruffalo plays a law enforcement character hellbent on catching a thief. 

Halle Berry is  playing Sharon Combs  Sharon is very good at reading people, she's got to be different people for different things. She's been part of this insurance company for 11 years and she's a VP when she should be a partner; she feels undervalued because they've dragged her post out. She wants to have her worth and her value be recognised. She's worked hard, she's been honest, but now she wants what she deserves. Her encounter with Mike, while initially shocked by his line of work, presents her with an opportunity to  she's been sleeping poorly   She's being used as bait for all these billionaires. 

Monica Barbaro from Top Gun: Maverick and who also played Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown alongside Oscar darling Timothee Chalamet   Hemsworth and Barbaro share good chemistry 

Barry Keogan plays an absolutely unhinged  Keogan is clearly having a blast 

Tate Donovan has a very noticeable role as a sleazy, filthy rich dirtbag