CRIME 101’s star cast simmers but can’t reproduce HEAT…
Davis is a thief, but a man determined to execute his plans with the minimum of risk to himself and others. He spends time planning his cash-grabs along the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles, studying targets, controlling the amount of evidence left behind and only using a gun to intimidate. The real victims, he decides, are not so much the shady criminals left in his wake, but the insurance companies who have to pay-out thereafter.
But Money, the man who gives him the targets, is growing impatient with Davis’ delays and decides to hire someone else for the next job, a far less-principled enfant-terrible named Orman.
Lou Lubesnick is a detective who is starting to visualise and anticipate Davis’ methods but his dogged pursuit puts him at odds with his own department. But as Lubesnick gets closer to his quarry, an emotionally-stunted Davis is courting both a young woman, Maya, and trying to convince an insurer named Sharon that he’s her ticket out of male-dominated business.
But as carefully-laid plans begin to unravel, it’s only a matter of time before Davis and Ormon collide and everyone’s principles are called into question…
*Some spoilers*
With Crime 101 – a story about thieves operating along the Los Angeles 101 freeway rather than the idea of a how-to instruction book – director Bart Layton gives us a stylish outing, putting familiar faces in the frame . From the very first moments where he mixes the neon silhouettes of a Los Angeles night with the drone of a self-motivational tape, it suggests that we’re going to be involved in a landscape of people wanting to better themselves but likely falling foul of life in the process. But it also suggests the pacing.
It’s easy to see why Crime 101, adapted from the Don Winslow novella, attracted such a strong cast – it’s exactly the kind of timeless, character-based thriller that can work and does so to a some extent here. But for an audience that’s often demanding quick, fast-footed story, the pace here is sometimes agonisingly glacial – and may wrong-foot some of the audience who might be expecting a brisker pace from a production that boasts so many prominent MCU faces.
Though it takes a while, we discover that Hemsworth’s Davis came from a poor background and wanted to better himself, setting an undisclosed ‘target’ amount that he wants to get to feel successful, but still has a code-of-conduct in his crimes, making sure no-one is physically hurt in the process and it’s more likely that only the insurance companies will suffer. He can plan ‘jobs’ down to specific details, but can’t look anyone in the eye with a genuine emotional connection. While Hemsworth certainly makes us care about Davis and we root for him to survive the chaos, if you scrutinise that background for more than a few seconds it’s rather superficial for even an anti-hero. Emotionally stunted he may be, principled though he may persuade himself to be, does he really deserve all our sympathy? He may be at the high-end of the job description, organised and strategic but he’s still a petty thief in a nice suit and stubble creating high-risk situations for others.
Mark Ruffalo is Lou, the outwardly ramshackle detective whose excellent instinct for the job is at odds with his personal life and his feeling that he’s surrounded by a department wanting easy answers and quick, protect-your-own fixes. He’s doggedly determined to genuinely solve the ‘101’ case even if it costs him professionally amongst his colleagues. If Hemsworth’s Davis is the person we’d like to be, Ruffalo’s Lou is the more realistic. Pedro Pascal was originally attached to the role, but Ruffalo brings a more earthy, world-weary air, a niche he’s mastered over recent years.
Halle Berry is a savvy pick for a role of Sharon, an insurance salesperson who is beginning to realise that the promised partnership in the firm is a carrot she’s never going to be allowed to reach. Confronting her boss, who has just hired another bright young female go-getter (and who has already nabbed one of Sharon’s prospective clients), he casually notes that Sharon’s 53 years of age is no match for the ‘prettier’, less cynical next generation. You can feel the sting and though it later gives her a ‘Jerry Maguire’ moment in the office, you can see why she is tempted by Davis’ offer for an easier payday, if only as an F-U to her employers.
There’s also Barry Keoghan’s Ormon, a young thug with none of the patience or discipline needed – and whose causal willingness to use overt violence in the same pursuits as Davis makes him a wild-card that makes you wonder how he’s survived this long. Keoghan’s a good actor, but is required to do little more than push-shove and sneer.
But beyond these familiar, sleek yet sometimes surface set-ups, it also feels that some of the characters are given traits rather than fully-formed backgrounds which could have been given more time to be explored. Nick Nolte appears as Davis’ boss-level organiser ‘Money’ (who actually sets in motion the chaos when he switches loyalties to Barry Keoghan’s undisciplined psycho). That move feels strange for a character who might be frustrated by Davis taking too much time to scope targets but surely wouldn’t have been this reckless about hiring a replacement. ‘Money’ ultimately gets side-lined by the plot and disappears without karma playing a part (one suspects there’s more of the grumbling, growling Nolte on the cutting-room floor, which is a shame). Equally, Jennifer Jason-Leigh makes what amounts to nothing more than a cameo as Lou’s estranged wife, dumping him at a midnight diner to pursue another affair. Even more prominent roles such as Lou’s police partner Tillman (Corey Hawkins) and Maya (the woman whom Davis seems to want to open up to) played by Monica Barbaro, are there for a couple of plot-points alone, essentially to add to our main characters’ inner conflicts.
Judged in its own right, Crime 101 is an interesting, involving, stylish and well-acted endeavour, slow but deep enough to successfully challenge most of 2026’s more-tepid offerings and fully enjoy in the moment… yet also strangely shallow in hindsight. Though it purposefully references a number of Steve McQueen movies, it’s not hard to see that the film wants to occupy a similar space to Michael Mann’s classic HEAT – another character-driven cop v. robber film that still holds up to this day. But in such an easy, obvious comparison, the modern film suffers – earnest and moody, yes, and full of good performances- but a little too eager to seek audience compassion with a somewhat fickle, transient empathy and a neatness in its ending that defies its genre clothing. It’s not willing fully commit itself to the far more cynical territory that it initially promises or was mined more successfully by De Niro and Pacino or even the plentiful Elmore Leonard adaptations. In a film about principles, it’s not entirely clear what the film is saying about them by the time the credits roll. Ultimately, it’s a good movie that should have been a great one.
Rating: 8.5/10