What makes people do bad things?
Based on the novella by Don Winslow, Bart Layton’s Crime 101 explores this question in 140 minutes of jewel thieving, car chasing, starring-down-the-barrel-of-a-gun fun. When one of jewel thief, Davis’ (Chris Hemsworth) ‘jobs’ doesn’t go as planned, he is set down a path that places him in the orbit of overlooked insurance broker, Sharon Coombs (Halle Berry), and down on his luck Detective, Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo), who has been on the hunt for him.
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Nick Nolte, Crime 101 has a heavy-hitting cast, and it deserves every single one of them (complimentary, if that wasn’t clear). Their performances are fantastic, as to be expected, and are only elevated by Layton’s storytelling.
Layton does a good job of letting us know who these characters are in a way that does not take away from the crime thriller–ness of the film. Instead of breaking the action to get some sort of flashback or an isolated moment of emotional intensity, plants and payoffs are woven in throughout the chase so we get a good sense of the characters’ motivations as we are speeding down highways. The film feels visually dynamic. Chaotic moments for characters feel chaotic to watch, tense moments have you stilling yourself so you don’t miss anything, and tender moments are actually heartbreaking.
Which brings us back to the film’s central question. What makes people do bad things?
In Crime 101, our main characters find themselves working to the bone to finally feel worthy, or be seen as worthy by those around them, only to be met with shifting goalposts. They know they deserve better, but somehow, better evades them. Add in the fact that they are surrounded by ‘gazillionaires’ and people who have kept wealth by denying others, and what’s a little jewel heist? After a thrilling game of cat and mouse, the pent-up frustrations of the characters culminate in a satisfying, albeit expected, ending.
Still, Crime 101 is a more than solid watch. And catch it on the big screen if you can. You won’t be sorry.
