Based on the novel of the same name by Don Winslow, Crime 101 comes across as a Michael Mann crime thriller copycat. It is not a bad imitation, but it doesn’t achieve the same level of quality in storytelling and filmmaking that makes its inspirations, like Mann’s Heat, seminal classics. Writer/director Bart Layton and team display competent and assured filmmaking and storytelling, but not much about the style and content truly stands out. That said, Crime 101 is an intriguing, sometimes compelling, and mostly entertaining crime flick. However, I cannot honestly state that it will have lasting power years from now.
Chris Hemsworth stars as Mike Davis, a highly skilled professional thief so meticulous in his heists that he has managed to keep working without getting caught by law enforcement. However meticulous he is, he still shows a pattern in how he chooses his marks. This pattern gets deciphered by Det. Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo), a detective who wishes to further investigate Mike’s work despite pushback from the police department. The work and lives of Mike and Lou intersect with those of Sharon Combs (Halle Berry), an insurance broker involved in their previous jobs/cases.
Overall, I enjoyed this movie. I find the three main characters mostly likable and their lives compelling. Layton and his crew do great work in executing the heist sequences. They play out with precision while building tension and delivering thrills. There isn’t much originality, though, in the development of the story and characters. We have seen stories like these previously. Crime 101 is definitely reminiscent of Michael Mann’s Heat and Thief, with a few sprinkles of The Thomas Crown Affair (any version). So many tropes are ever-present–the skilled, but burnt-out detective, the skilled thief who finds love, but must finish one last job, etc.
The movie has a mostly exceptional cast, with Ruffalo and Berry as the MVPs.Hemsworth is charming enough and is fine at playing socially awkward, but at times, he can be a bit dull. He is good at portraying a likable protagonist, but doesn’t bring much dynamism to the role. Barry Keoghan is also not terribly interesting as his intense, unhinged antagonist, Ormon, a competing thief and killer hired to eliminate Mike and take over his job. I mostly blame the writing for this misstep, as the character’s development is certainly lacking.
Crime 101 is now playing in theaters, but it’s also totally enjoyable at home. It is an entertaining movie despite its flaws, but it doesn’t exactly reinvent the crime story or the heist thriller. It is a serviceable imitator of some of Michael Mann’s more iconic crime thrillers.