Director Bart Layton is given an all-star cast to work with in Crime 101.
The Los Angeles-set crime caper stars Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry and more.
All-star talent makes up for a familiar affair, writes Film News Blitz’s Dan Lawrence.
Rating: ⭐⭐.5
What is ‘Crime 101’ about?
Crime 101 stars Hemsworth as Davis, an elusive, reclusive jewel thief who follows a strict non-violent code, while carrying out a series of untraceable heists along the Los Angeles 101 freeway.
Ruffalo is the beleaguered detective trying his best to track Davis down, and Berry is the down-on-her-luck professional working in a high-end insurance firm who gets caught between them.
Rounding out the cast and story are Nick Nolte, who serves as Davis’ spurned peer, Barry Keoghan, as the anarchic criminal Notle lets loose on our central protagonist, and Monica Barbaro as Maya, the paint-by-numbers love interest.
All of these characters’ stories intertwine as Hemsowrth’s Davis eyes up a get-out-of-the-game job before he gets caught in the act.
The verdict
Crime 101 is an entertaining watch, competently put together, even if the script is pretty bland when measured against the best thrillers of modern cinema.
The beats are familiar, the dialogue is familiar, and the character motivations are all pretty simple, too.
Still, it’s a talented cast pulling it all together, which enlivens the material no end.
Hemsworth’s Davis is an oddball, part OCD, part social recluse, using his foster care upbringing as a way to guard himself from being anything apart from outrageously dull and secretive.
It’s a wonder he’s able to enter a relationship with Barbaro’s Maya, who probably wouldn’t give him a string of second chances if it weren’t for his impressive looks.
Keoghan’s erratic character is cut from very similar cloth to other crazed lunatics the Irishman has portrayed on screen in past films.
So while he performs the role admirably, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before.
Therefore, Crime 101’s strength lies broadly in its more senior cast members: Ruffalo’s seasoned detective going through a divorce, and Berry’s insurance worker suffering in a corporate world of misogyny.
Their collective plight is easy to get on board with, and the duo begin to forge a chemistry as the film moves along.
Sure, Ruffalo as a grizzled detective, going through a divorce and dwindling career prospects, isn’t exactly new ground, but he is so watchable and convincing in the role that you wouldn’t care.
So while Hemsworth takes up most of the room on the poster, it’s Ruffalo’s likability that earns the ticket price for Crime 101.
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