Last year, I attended a retrospective of Michael Mann’s Heat.  It was the first time I’d seen it on the big screen in 30 years, and it held up beautifully as an action-heist flick.  The timing was appropriate as comparisons have been made to the latest from writer-director Bart Layton (American Animals) entitled Crime 101.  Both are set in Los Angeles, both are about one last big “score”, both have a thief semi-distracted by love, and both have a cop with a troubled life trying to apprehend the perpetrators.  The source material here is a 50-odd page short story authored by New York author Don Winslow and first published in 2020.

42-year-old Australian Chris Hemsworth (Thor) has gravitated towards heroic roles throughout his career and while there have been a few exceptions, such as Furiosa and Bad Times at the El Royale, his modus operandi has been to create likeable characters.  That’s again the case here.  Mike Davis is a thief who steals millions of dollars in cash and jewels… but the screenplay does everything possible to make him sound like the nicest criminal in the world.  He had a tough childhood, he’s super intelligent, he’s well groomed, he works alone, he’s polite in the company of women, he doesn’t fire his gun, and he never uses violence.

The detective trying to take him down is Lou Lubesnick, played by Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight, Poor Things).  Again, the screenplay adds a few flourishes to make sure we like him too.  He’s meticulous with attention to detail and, unlike other cops who will use any flimsy evidence to close a case, he won’t stop investigating until he’s proven his strong hunches.  His shabby look, rough voice, and fractured relationship with his wife (a weird cameo from Jennifer Jason Leigh) reinforce the view that he’s been having a tough run.  He needs to crack a big case to reinvigorate his career.

I’d argue the most interesting player in this ensemble is played by Academy Award winner Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball).  She’s Sharon Colvin, an insurance broker in her mid-50s who has brought in big dollars for her firm but has been denied a lucrative promotion by her sexist bosses.  In a fleeting moment of vulnerability, she meets with Mike and exchanges confidential information which could make them both very rich.  Having lived an honest, hard-working life for so long, does she have the resolve to risk it all in pursuit of life-changing money?

It won’t blow you away, but Crime 101 is a solid-enough action-thriller that keeps you guessing as to how it will all end up.  Hemsworth, Ruffalo and Berry are good, but the rest of the cast are underwhelming.  I’m a huge fan of Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin) but his villainous turn as a goofily reckless criminal with minimal backstory… yeah, it doesn’t work.  Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown) is underutilised as Mike’s love interest, and scenes involving a rasping Nick Nolte (Affliction) add little.

Most of the film takes place at night and I enjoyed the direction of Bart Layton has he captures the gritty radiance of Los Angeles – from high shots looking down on packed, floodlit freeways, through to close ups of a motorcycle helmet which acts as a quasi-mirror.  It can’t match the unforgettable Heat (few films could) but as a stand-alone heist movie, you could do a lot worse than Crime 101.