★★★ (3 out of 4)
Chris Hemsworth is a nervous wreck. Not really. But Mike Davis, the closed-off, unchatty jewel thief the Marvel superhero formerly known as Thor plays in “Crime 101,” is kind of coming apart inside. That’s just one of the quirks that saves this heist drama with an overqualified cast from being strictly standard issue—in theaters for a minute before heading to its rightful streaming home on Prime Video or as your upcoming in-flight viewing experience.
Despite my snark-adjacent remarks, I enjoyed myself letting this unashamed B movie take its sweet time working me over. It could have borrowed less from the cliché playbook, but writer-director Bart Layton (“American Animals”) has the good sense to steal from the best. And by that, I mean the great Michael Mann of “Heat,” “Collateral” and other goodies.
And the cast gives the impression of not slumming while hitting its marks. That’s acting. The 101 in the title doesn’t refer to beginner’s status; it’s a reference to the 101 Freeway that runs through the sunbaked Los Angeles featured in so much pulp fiction. Adapted from a Don Winslow novella, “Crime 101” covers old ground with knockoff affection for its betters.
Near the end of this cops-and-robbers throwaway, Halle Berry flashes a smile of sweet satisfaction. My guess is that you’ll feel the same way.
Davis, Hemsworth’s character, has been robbing spots off the 101 with surprising success and minimal violence, much to the consternation of Detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo), who has a Javert-like passion to bring him in. But Davis is slippery, pissing off his old boss, Money (Nick Nolte in full grizzled mode), by going independent. This breach of the criminal code of honor provokes Money to send in nutjob assassin Orman (a fab, feral Barry Keoghan in a blond dye job)—I told you this cast is stacked—to off him for even thinking of branching out.
Davis is undeterred, engineering his biggest heist with the help of hellfire-spitting Sharon Coombs (a knockout Halle Berry), an insurance broker for one-percenters who so hates one sexist, ageist, Epstein-ish client, Steven Monroe (Tate Donovan), that she buys into Davis’s plan to wipe out the old perv’s diamond cache for escape money.
For personal relationships, Lubesnick gets an estranged wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Davis a new love in “A Complete Unknown” Oscar nominee Monica Barbaro. The fact that the script is barely an outline gives the actors a chance to fill out their characters with sly nuance (Hemsworth, Ruffalo) or by going hog-wild (Nolte, Keoghan) or by just leaving Berry to walk off with top honors, which she does. Those choices suited me and material just fine.
I wish I could say that Layton directed the living hell out of the action. He doesn’t. After an early white-knuckle chase sequence, tightly shot by Erik Wilson and edited by Julian Hart and Jacob Schulsinger, things grow slower and choppier until the climax at a high-priced suite at the Beverly Wilshire where most of the characters congregate and pretend to be someone else. For a hot minute, “Crime 101” plays like a heist flick hijacked by Pirandello at his most madhouse existential. Don’t get your hopes up. Absurdity is quickly trampled by business as usual.
At least the business is deftly handled. You leave this cops-and-robbers throwaway with an appreciation for the detours it takes into crazy town. And for the acting professionalism of the smooth operators pulling the strings of the plot. Near the end, Berry’s character flashes a smile of sweet satisfaction. My guess is that you’ll feel the same way.