Crime 101

Bart Layton’s 2017 breakthrough film, American Animals, was a unique and ambitious attempt at telling a true-crime story through the fusion of fictional and non-fiction storytelling. The filmmaker began his career in documentary filmmaking, which made him an intriguing voice to tackle the crime genre. Layton’s follow-up feature adapts the 2021 Don Winslow novella, making it a no-brainer for the director whose first foray into fiction was a heist film. With an all-star cast and a sizable studio budget, Layton’s latest is clearing harkening to the works of Michael Mann, specifically Heat. However, Layton’s film is one of the more egregious cases of sluggish pacing derailing an otherwise slick and fairly compelling heist film.

Courtesy Amazon MGM

Set in the gritty underbelly of Los Angeles, Mike (Chris Hemsworth) is an elusive thief who carries out each job with total precision. He follows a strict moral code that includes no killing or serious harm to anyone involved in one of his jobs. Working for the aptly-named, Money (Nick Nolte), Mike is ready to leave his life of crime behind. As Mike tries to bow out of another gig, Money hires the younger, more carefree, Ormon (Barry Keoghan) to pick up the slack in Mike’s wake. As Ormon’s path of chaos becomes sloppy, this causes grizzled Detective Lou (Mark Ruffalo, sporting a pot belly and a lit cigarette in practically every scene) and his partner Tillman (Corey Hawkins) to start chasing his tail. As Mike begins to lay low, he crosses paths with insurance broker, Sharon (Halle Berry), who has reached her limit at her firm, tired of petty work politics and bosses that hold her age against her. As Sharon is iced out of a major deal involving a billionaire’s wedding, she decides to team up with Mike to pull off a heist involving said billionaire that will potentially allow them to each ride off into the sunset. With each main character at a crossroads in their lives, including Ruffalo’s Lou, who is fed up with the rampant corruption in his department, this heist will change the outcome of their lives for better or for worse.

Written and directed by Bart Layton, Crime 101 has no shortage of directorial craft and skillfully crafted set pieces to make for an exciting crime epic, but with a runtime of 140 minutes, Layton struggles to maintain an immediacy in his pacing. What should be a propulsive, gripping story is instead more sluggish than it is thrilling. Layton is clearly indebted to Michael Mann and his classic film, Heat, aiming for the same slick style and deliberate pacing. Yet, whereas Mann’s film always felt engrossing, Layton’s film often feels meandering and excessive in its narrative bloat. The writer/director gathers a strong ensemble cast of a-listers and up-and-comers who all put in solid work, but many characters ultimately leave little impression on the overall film. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nick Nolte appear in mere cameos, while Monica Barbaro’s well-intentioned love interest, Maya, is a rather thinly-sketched character whose main purpose is to emphasis the life that Hemsworth’s character is capable of having should he leave his thieving days behind him. Hemsworth, who was exceptional as the villainous Lord Dementus in George Miller’s Furiosa, continues to build a steady resumé of intriguing work as the socially awkward thief looking to find a new life for himself. Hemsworth’s performance is more low-key and subtle than the roles he is largely known for, but is just as captivating. Layton does a fine job of building out the character’s backstory through clever mise-en-scène and subtleties in Hemsworth’s physicality.

Courtesy Amazon MGM

Halle Berry’s disillusioned Sharon is the film’s strongest asset, giving Berry her finest roles in many years. Any viewer with at least one eye and a working brain is aware of how beautiful Berry is, but this role isn’t hedged on how beautiful she is. The audience is able to see Sharon’s gradual decision to turn to criminal activities in order to upend her routine lifestyle and unfulfilling job. Berry’s emotionally genuine turn is quite riveting, especially in quieter moments alongside Hemsworth. Ruffalo’s Lou is yet another compelling performance from the actor, who can play these types of dedicated cops in his sleep. A particular exchange between Ruffalo and Hemsworth inside of a car is a real highlight as the two characters are having a conversation, comparing their favorite Steve McQueen films, but it becomes clear there is another conversation happening under the surface.

Barry Keoghan’s live-wire Ormon bursts onto the film with a spectacular character introduction that feels like a lightning rod of energy. We see Keoghan’s blond-haired hired-gun driving down the streets of LA on his motorbike with city lights reflected in his helmet, serenaded by the booming energy of Run the Jewels’ “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry”. Keoghan’s character is something of the flip side to Hemsworth’s morally-guided thief. Ormon has no principle and operates with chaos. Keoghan’s rather restraint performance prevents the character from truly living up to his stellar introduction, but the Oscar-nominated actor continues to be one of the more magnetic screen prescences to emerge in recent years.

Courtesy Amazon MGM

There is an enjoyable and slick 100-minute heist thriller lurking within Crime 101, but at 140 minutes, writer/director Bart Layton’s film becomes far too long-winded and meandering to justify its overlong narrative. For a film that aims for a more noir-tinged experience rather than an explosive action picture, the lack of distinct mood and an excess of ultimately thankless supporting characters proves detrimental. Layton crafts a handful of strong set pieces and utilizes a commanding ensemble cast, but shaving off roughly 30-40 minutes would do his film wonders.

Crime 101 is now playing in theaters.