February 24, 2026
Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth) was a methodical jewel thief who worked alone, always making sure no blood was shed when he did his robberies along the 101 freeway. He was almost shot in the face in his latest $3M diamond heist, causing a small wound which really shook him up. Mike informed his fence Money (Nick Nolte) that he will pass on the next robbery planned, which led to the job being passed on to an impulsive new guy Ormon (Barry Keoghan).
The policeman working on this diamond case was LAPD Detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo). He was very frustrated because his lone wolf theory for this series of jewel heists was not being given much consideration by his bosses. The insurance agent assigned to this big payoff of a case was Sharon Coombs (Halle Berry). She was also very frustrated because she was being bypassed for partnership in her firm even after 11 years of service.
The release of this film was so low-key, and with such a generic-sounding title, it could have just slipped by unnoticed. However, those A-list names in the cast -- Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Halle Berry -- were simply too big to ignore. In addition, Barry Keoghan, Nick Nolte, Monica Barbaro and Jennifer Jason-Leigh played supporting roles. It is impressive that, except for Hemsworth, all of them had been Academy Award nominees before.
This is the third film of BAFTA-winning British filmmaker Bart Layton, who debuted with a true-crime documentary "The Imposter" (2012), and followed it up with hybrid crime docu-drama "American Animals" (2018) which also starred Barry Keoghan. Staying with the crime theme, Layton wrote and directed this new film "Crime 101," which he adapted from a 2020 novella of the same title written by Don Winslow, who specialized in crime narratives.
There were exciting car and motorcycle chase scenes and a particularly intense store robbery scene here, but Layton also took his time in telling and intertwining the stories of the three protagonists, building them up together, then giving each one a satisfying, albeit rather ethically- questionable, closure. There were moments of self-deprecating humor, budding romance, caustic society jabs and midlife crisis drama, with yoga music and voiceovers in between the action. Overall, a very engaging watch. 8/10.
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