Michael Mann didn't invent the grunge heist thriller, but it's fair to say the Chicago-born auteur introduced a turn-of-the-century romanticism to the ingenious crime plot about solitary men with strict codes that nearly everyone in adjacent milieu has attempted to emulate, intentionally or not, ever since De Niro and Pacino first sat down opposite each other to ponder their desolate male longing. Bart Layton's "Crime 101" appears to be no different, hot on the heels of one of Mann's most successful descendants: Christian Gudegast's "Cave of Thieves" duology.
But as any competent criminal knows, appearances can be deceiving. …Not so much in this case, since Layton's take on Mann is as straightforward as you'd expect, including some of the iconic filmmaker's longtime collaborators in key roles. However, what "Crime 101" loses in the novelty of a genius determined to outwit the law, it gains in the absorbed execution of a consistent formula that charts the course for a career professional with complete control over his environment. As generic as its title may seem, "Crime 101" is as straightforward in its promise of precise criminal planning as we're likely to see before the cameras finally start rolling on the long-promised "Heat 2."
And it all begins with Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth, having lost what remains of the American accent he lent to Mann during their collaboration on "Blackhat") and his own code-based criminal activities. Mike is precise, deceptively intelligent, devilishly handsome, and utterly inept at using his good looks to talk to women. Rarely has a critic seen themselves so vividly reflected on the big screen. Instead, he leads a solitary life, pulling off various petty robberies targeting individuals moving their insured merchandise along the edges of Highway 101 on the California coast.
This routine is more than enough for a man who refuses to fire a weapon when held at gunpoint, something obvious to LA Detective Chief Inspector Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo, in a more brusque and disillusioned evolution of the detective character he played for Mann in "Collateral"), who becomes convinced of a hidden pattern in all these meticulous, non-fatal heists. Mike, of course, is very careful with his robberies, and when the surrounding groups become too greedy to cut things down, enough variables intervene to prevent this diligent plan from reaching the controlled conclusion Mike desires. When Layton doesn't borrow cast members from the same man from whom he borrows stylistic cues, "Crime 101" surrounds them with an eclectic ensemble to complete the almost divergent narratives that make up his portrait of a marginalized and desperate Los Angeles. Halle Berry, as the insurance agent, increasingly resentful of her precarious position at a company that sees her age as a nail in the coffin of her sales talent, provides the necessary gravitas to center a film that would otherwise have Barry Keoghan running wild like a rabid coyote, blasting Run the Jewels on a motorcycle (that's how you know he's a legend!).
Although actors like Nick Nolte, Corey Hawkins, and Saeed Roustayi regular Payman Maadi appear and disappear from the narrative, "Crime 101" relies heavily on this core quartet, though much of Layton's energy, like Mike's own shifting plans, becomes increasingly dispersed as the search, planning, and evasion of the main marker from all angles are combined with his attempts to provide tangible motivation for those ever-increasing risks.
Mike's own social awkwardness is portrayed with acceptable gravitas by someone as physically gifted as Hemsworth. His inability to make eye contact with anyone for more than a few seconds demonstrates the overwhelming difficulty he has in gathering information from Sharon (Berry), who makes a living reading people, and also hinders his ability to forge a romantic dynamic with an underutilized Monica Barbaro, a woman as adept at identifying red flags as she is at completely ignoring them.
But for a film of such length—two hours and twenty minutes seems to be the requirement for this type of project—Layton's difficulties in balancing the overall social dynamics with the modest but elusive enterprise that binds them together make the lack of a more nuanced sense of doomed idealism all the more apparent, despite the numerous, skillfully discreet, parallel montages he manages to find to alternate between a distraught home invasion victim and a police officer.
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