Crime 101 (dir. Bart Layton)
By: Adam Freed
Los Angeles is a magnificent backdrop for a sultry crime saga. From its seemingly endless sprawl, to the diversity of its beach-to-hillside-to-downtown locales, there is a clear reason why so many heist flicks have chosen to call the City of Angels home. From Chinatown (1974) to LA Confidential (1997) to Training Day (2001) there is no mistaking the cinematic power of La La Land. Perhaps nobody has done more with LA as a backdrop than director Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral), who even at its grittiest, finds a way to allow Los Angeles to radiate a gorgeous midnight blue glow as an offset to even the gnarliest of street crimes. With Mann’s filmography undoubtedly working as an inspiration, British writer and director Bart Layton (The Imposter, American Animals) takes a big swing at the calculated world of organized crime in his star studded contemporary heist film Crime 101.
On its surface, Crime 101 has an awful lot to offer. Its lead, Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Rush) is a proven box office commodity with the face and physique of a star. Hemsworth embodies Mike Davis, an intentionally reclusive high-end criminal who acts on the behest of a nefarious organization who utilizes his skills as a driver and operator to their mutual financial advantage. The predictable, yet multi-tiered nature of Bart Layton’s film also follows Detective Lou Lubesnick, a down on his luck everyman played by Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight, The Avengers). The tropish nature of Ruffalo’s portrayal of this character archetype seems to be where the gifted actor currently finds himself operating within his comfort zone. Lubesnick and Davis square off in a been-there-done-that style of cops and robbers that is passively interesting but breaks no new ground.
Perhaps the greatest disappointment in the otherwise tolerable Crime 101 is the way that actors Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball, X-Men) and Barry Keogan (The Killing of the Sacred Deer, The Banshees of Inisherin) play characters who are painfully static in nature, offering little rhyme, reason or depth in the path of their collective existences. Keogan is the face of Orman, a brazen stickup man with very little to lose. Thankfully Berry’s Sharon Colvin has slightly more depth to offer, as she plays a fifty-something high end insurance broker, so often passed over for promotion that participation in the world of criminality becomes enticing. However ridiculous this character outline sounds, it operates even more confoundingly on screen. None of this is to say that Crime 101 is a bad film. Layton’s work boasts a palatable concept set in an undeniable location, but its execution just leaves too much room for concern and its final presentation is both shaggy and bloated. Genre enthusiasts are likely to find a few reasons to cheer on a film that has far more promise than it does pay off.
Target Score 5/10 - All of the pieces are in place for Bart Layton’s Crime 101 to have become a memorable entry into the pantheon of memorable LA-based crime sagas. What audiences get instead is an almost-there story that produces more of a “what could’ve been” feel, rather than a celebration of what is.