I have to start by addressing the elephant in the room: Bart Layton is clearly a Michael Mann fan. A heist film set in Los Angeles after-The heat is as dangerous as trying your hand at demon possession after-Exorcist – you prepare yourself for a certain level of introspection. Layton doesn’t pretend well by including many sweeping aerial shots LA skyline, electro-tinged score and casting-time Mann star Chris Hemsworth as .“Mike”, a taciturn, socially awkward but highly skilled criminal mastermind trying to make enough money to get out clean. It’s pretty obvious what’s in store for Lou – the breakdown of a messy marriage. The LAPD the detective played by Mark Ruffalo – shout .“You have a nice ass!” at any time.
Still, if you’re going to steal, steal well, along with Layton’s past criminal record He’s a cheater again Animals of the Americas speak with genuine interest in the genre. Crime 101 sadly he lacks the interesting hook that his two headline projects had – a series of high-profile heists along a California highway. 101 they’re not particularly attractive in minutiae, and we’re kept at an awkward distance from the perpetrator as his love interest Maya (Monica Barbaro) whose presence feels warranted rather than necessary. Instead the focus is on the parallel lives of Mike and Lou, the only good cop in Los Angeles, who is determined to take him in. Ruffalo can’t help but have a tough exterior – an older, graying, not-so-intelligent Philip Marlowe – sighing about his failing marriage as he walks his cat and small belongings to the bachelor front beach.
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Halle Berry and Barry Keoghan interview the characters, the former an insurance secretary employed by the elite, the latter a mentally ill criminal brought in by Mike’s (Nick Nolte) hedge to cut him off from work. Many of Berry’s scenes are with Ruffalo; they’re a winning combination, so it’s a shame they’re not together anymore. His thankless gig is doing well with obnoxious billionaires while being repeatedly passed over for promotion to the mainstream but Berry is kind enough to pull it off, even with an extended set. The desire to create a web of complex mapped characters as LA the road network damages the film; it’s like a good heist team, you have to know when to cut dead weight.
The reliable action scenes are clever and well-staged, especially the first one of the film, which establishes Mike’s kind of neurosis. Hemsworth is refreshingly playful against the genre, a spark of a troubled child occasionally peeking out from the concrete exterior. Likewise glimmers of something real and interesting in it Crime 101 that would have made the story richer, as the constant references to the cavernous financial inequality within the city involved the three central characters in different ways. Lack of curiosity about its own property prevents Crime 101 in true separation; moments of intrigue and small thrills seem destined to fade into memory rather than inspire future actors.
