‘Crime 101’ Emerges as a Mood-Heavy, Michael Mann–Tinted Heist
Bart Layton’s new Los Angeles–set thriller positions itself firmly in the slick, nocturnal world of urban heists. Anchored by a tightly controlled performance from Chris Hemsworth as a charismatic jewel thief, and buoyed by Mark Ruffalo and Halle Berry in supporting leads, the film traffics in coastal imagery, forensic detail and meticulous staging. It opened in the U. S. on Feb. 13 (ET) and has drawn attention for its visual polish and obvious stylistic debts.
Performances and character dynamics
Hemsworth plays Mike, a methodical, almost ascetic thief who favors precision over violence. His central tension — a man who maintains human decency while living outside the law — is rendered with a cool restraint that keeps the film anchored even when plot mechanics stretch plausibility. Ruffalo’s detective, Lou Lubesnick, is an old‑school cop with a theory about a single mastermind behind robberies clustered along the 101. That quiet admiration Lou harbors for his quarry becomes one of the story’s quieter intrigues, and Ruffalo delivers the part with the kind of lived‑in weariness that sells the relationship between hunter and hunted.
Halle Berry’s Sharon, an insurance adjuster drawn into the case, supplies the pragmatic center: she measures loss and human behavior with equal attention, and her scenes with both men help reveal what each cannot say aloud. Supporting turns—an elder mentor figure, an impulsive rival and a cautious romantic interest—fill out a cast that sometimes feels used more for archetype than full development, but the principal trio provides enough chemistry and emotional ballast to carry the narrative through its procedural beats.
Style, pacing and the Mann echo
The film wears its influences on its sleeve. Nighttime L. A. photography, ocean‑framed apartments, and an insistence on the choreography of crime give the movie the silhouette of a Michael Mann picture, though scaled down in scope. Layton favors long, composed sequences that follow the logistics of theft and investigation; the attention to detail—how diamonds move, how insurance valuations are considered, how a getaway route shapes a criminal’s pattern—gives the film a forensic thrill.
Yet the very fidelity to that aesthetic is the film’s chief critique. The movie occasionally feels like a distilled, lighter take on a genre landmark, recycling motifs and set pieces without always expanding their emotional or thematic stakes. Some subplots and characters receive only partial follow‑through, which undercuts the sweep the film seems to reach for. Still, when it leans into velocity—an extended pursuit or a tightly rehearsed heist—it delivers genuine suspense and visual pleasure.
Verdict: stylish, watchable, uneven
At its best, the picture is an enjoyably moody exercise in craft: tightly edited heists, a strong central performance from Hemsworth, and thoughtful interplay among the leads. At its worst, it’s a polite echo of grander work, occasionally shortchanging secondary material and scope. For viewers in the mood for an elegant, character‑driven crime picture rather than a sprawling epic, this one offers a satisfying ride: stylish, sometimes derivative, but frequently engrossing.
