Directed By Bart Layton

Starring – Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry

The Plot – An elusive thief (Hemsworth), eyeing his final score, encounters a disillusioned insurance broker (Berry) at her own crossroads. As their paths intertwine, a relentless detective (Ruffalo) trails them hoping to thwart the multi-million dollar heist they are planning.

Rated R for adult language throughout, some violence and sexual material/nudity

Crime 101 | Official Trailer

POSITIVES

As hard as it is to believe, it’s been nearly eight whole years since Layton’s last film, “American Animals”, in which he reinvigorated the heist thriller, and while his much-anticipated follow up has arrived much later than initially expected, the wait and the execution of “Crime 101” proves that the writer and director is a man who values his afforded time, especially in the confines of the characters that makes this such a compelling experience. Layton subscribes to the ideal that when an audience cares more about the characters, they care more about the story, as not only is his ample 135-minute runtime utilized thoroughly to flesh out the backstories and conflicts of these respective characters, but also to feed towards the mechanics of the movie’s storytelling, with each of them and their pocketed dynamics serving a core integral value to the movie’s developments, which are easily interpretable and nowhere close to ever feeling convoluted. What I truly appreciate in Layton that mirrored so much of what he was able to pull off with that aforementioned predecessor is that he obviously takes time to showcase these characters in action, particularly Hemsworth’s Davis, who physically enacts much of the movie’s intense sequences, but he also affords ample time to capture them in their most defenseless of moments, in order to iron out the humanity that practically oozes from their pores, and while this definitely helps to constantly increase the stakes that the movie firmly establishes from its opening chase sequence, it also proves worthwhile of establishing layers to characters who are anything other than one-dimensional types, and I’m very glad that Layton’s scope towards a story that would typically only focus from Hemsworth’s perspective, is given a wider range in scale that eventually converges each of them, all without tediousness to the pacing that could make the experience feel every square inch of its ambitious runtime. While Layton is a top tier screenwriter, I actually think it’s his directing that takes center stage here, continuously gripping audiences on the edge of their seats with some of the most intense and imaginatively documented action sequences that I have seen so far, this year. The sequences themselves aren’t exactly enamored with pulse-rattling devastation or artificially obvious computer-generated effects, but rather the meticulous placements of the camera, in order to feed a palpable vulnerability to these characters, with detectable velocity and unbridled tension throughout constantly endearing sequences that, like the storytelling, never overstays their welcome. In addition to Layton’s irreplaceable merits on the film’s integrity, it’s also balanced by a highly charismatic and faithfully determined ensemble that each bring their best to their respective portrayals, but none as mesmerizing as Hemsworth and Barry Keoghan. While it’s easy to irresponsibly assess that Hemsworth could play roles like these in his sleep, there’s a real quiet intensity to Davis’ cool composure that reminds me of Ryan Gosling’s game-changing turn in 2011’s “Drive”, with Chris certainly bringing the resiliency and stoicism of the called upon physicality, but also the charming suaveness and sensitivity during intimate moments with on-screen love interest, Monica Barbero, conveying a compelling mystique to a character rooted in secrecy, with Hemsworth’s poker face remaining prominent during some tense interrogations with a platitude of characters. As for Keoghan, he has already made a career of being the creep factor to so many of the movies that he valuably adorns, but there’s an unleashed element to his portrayal as Ormon that makes him dangerously unstable and erratically unpredictable, splashed with an essence of immaturity that outlines his inexperience as a thief, affording Keoghan scenery-chewing sentiments that feels like the ammunition factor to the movie’s mayhem, without him feeling distractingly meandering or unnatural to a scene’s integrity. If great writing, direction, and performances aren’t enough, I found Blanck Mass’s compositional scores to naturally emulate a Michael Mann distinct brand of foreboding dread atmosphere in the movie’s favor, especially in coinciding visually with so many of the unique on-site filming locations within Los Angeles that cinematographer Erik Wilson fully takes advantage of, without anything in Layton’s aforementioned direction even coming close to compromising such a thick dependency for ominousness. While the imagery of some breathtaking scenic landscapes featuring the Pacific Palisades before a wildfire ravaged its scenery certainly permeates a natural beauty to the city’s framing, Mass’ tones proves it to be a false sense of security to the interpretation, with much of his instrumentals invoking the kind of ratcheted gloominess that seemingly weighs heavily on a character’s planning of the perfect heist, and the kind that I hope Layton will make a continued partnership out of for the foreseeable future.

NEGATIVES

Despite “Crime 101” being one of those rare examples of February cinematic enjoyment, it doesn’t come without noticeable flaws in the extent of its creative outline, particularly the responsibility of maintaining so many corresponding arcs, which grow tediously frivolous, the longer the film delves into its second hour. While it’s undeniably admirable how Layton values each of his characters and their respective arcs equally in fleshing out a greater connective significance with how so much of the drama and stakes of this world-building transpires in the film’s focus, it eventually grows to be overwhelming in maintaining such Herculean efforts, with the unfortunately sacrificed excess sadly coming in the form of an alluring love angle between Hemsworth and Barbero, as well as a personal subplot involving Nick Nolte serving as Hemsworth’s crime lord overseer, and while these arcs certainly influenced the appeal of my long-term engagement, in order to expand upon the aforementioned mystique of Davis’ character, it does leave some unanswered questions in the movie’s resolution that doesn’t attain the kind of necessary air-tight closure that the movie sought out, in turn either leaving it open for a possible future sequel, the likes of which I’m not exactly hoping for, or an abrupt ending that falls a bit flat on the magnitude of its resounding impact, leaving plenty more to interpretation than you would expect from an action thriller. Speaking of the ending, the only other problem that I had with the film came from its closing moments, where an abundance of meticulously built stakes doesn’t surmise anything close to the level of impact that I was expecting from so many clashing characters and subplots, leaning a bit too clean and tidy of an ending that clearly wanted to have its cake and eat it too. When you look at a movie like “Heat”, a predecessor that this movie so understandably models itself after, you consider that its all-out and bullet-riddled ending is among the very best moments of that movie’s duration, leaving a lasting impression that inspires future rewatches. However, “Crime 101”, even as good as it is, meanders a bit too closely towards predictability and convenience, as a result of phoning it in a bit safely, leaving a once dangerously devastating and inevitable outcome feeling a bit circumcised by its timid approach to rock the boat with its audience.

OVERALL
“Crime 101” is a tensely riveting and atmospherically ominous crime thriller in the vein of Michael Mann classics of the late 80’s and early 90’s, bringing Bart Layton back to the forefront of heist cinema with his thoroughness for expansive characterization and compelling world-building. Though the film’s closing moments detract a bit of the maintained momentum throughout two hours of connective storytelling, with a reeling resolution feeling a bit too clean and tidy to feel naturally reflective from this dangerous world, the meaningful merit of a stacked ensemble of charismatic personalities keeps all cylinders collectively firing, evoking a high-speed game of cat and mouse that bends and winds without ever crashing.

My Grade: 7.8 or B