In a world without structure, it’s a moral code that gets you through…

In theatres now, Crime 101 doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel and it has some familiar beats to it but it brings enough of the positive elements of the genre about the thin line between the criminals and the cops who chase them in the concrete jungles around the world is elevated by a meaningful and impassioned leading man performance.

Set against the sun-bleached grit of Los Angeles, Crime 101 weaves the tale of an elusive jewel thief (Chris Hemsworth) whose string of heists along the 101 freeway have mystified police. When he eyes the score of a lifetime, his path crosses that of a disillusioned insurance broker (Halle Berry) who is facing her own crossroads. Convinced he has found a pattern, a relentless detective (Mark Ruffalo) is closing in, raising the stakes even higher. As the heist approaches, the line between hunter and hunted begins to blur, and all three are faced with life-defining choices–and the realization that there can be no turning back.

Yes there are elements of Crime 101 that are playing like Michael Mann-lite, but they are doing it really well.  Writer/director Bart Layton dives head first into the moral code that’s required to survive and keep a sense of one’s self in a modern Gomorrah like Los Angeles where the ideas of a social and moral code are occasionally more suggestion then they are something to be practiced.

While it’s certainly got some strong action set pieces and a big, slick cinematic style to it, at its core Crime 101 is a character study that drips with juicy personality issues at play in the back drop of Los Angeles.

Adapted from the novella Don Winslow, what Bart Layton does here is find us a near perfect balance between the car chases and action set pieces that the genre loves in concert with the backdrop of characters truly navigating their way through a complex concrete jungle of morality and everything else in between that can get in the way.

To his credit, Layton really does let the actor’s shine on this and it starts with Chris Hemsworth who finally found a vehicle that can break him away from the Marvel pack.  He’s obviously handsome, stoic and looks great as the sun washes over him in a classic American muscle car, but he’s also broken, lonely and running out of reasons to exist in this world of high octane and meticulously prepared heists that he’s found himself.  Less a sexy anti-hero and more of a man at a genuine cross road, this just might be some of the best work of Hemsworth’s career.

Halle Berry steps up to the plate giving us some of the most raw and genuine work we’ve seen from in years as a high value insurance evaluator who is getting aged out of her business by the faceless corporation that she’s given well over a decade of her life to.  She’s sacrificed family, kids and a life for success that may never come and is looking long and hard at crossing a line to get what she’s deserved.

While Mark Ruffallo as the grizzled detective who gets swept into the corporate mindset of the modern police that is more concerned with clearing cases and improving their optics then with catching crooks is delivering his usual high quality work.

All three of these characters are at a cross road with their own moral codes and even their own individual happiness as the thankless and cold backdrop of Los Angeles threatens to swallow them whole.

Meanwhile there’s Barry Keoghan’s character that operates in chaos and without restriction threatening to tear down all of their worlds and it’s such an interesting dynamic to watch unfold.  Especially with the likes of Jennifer Jason Leigh, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Tate Donovan and Nick Nolte hovering in the background to add the cherry on top when it comes to character work that is dripping with magnetism that is hard to look away from.

Ultimately, Crime 101 is one of the first great movies of the year and legitimately a fantastic entry into a canon of crime films from the likes of Michael Mann, Walter Hill, Jules Dassin, Steven Soderbergh and everyone else in between.  It’s been years since we’ve had something this big and this cinematic that was still dripping in character like this film is.  Go see it in IMAX and let yourself get lost in it.