Title: Crime 101
Director: Bart Layton
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte, Halle Berry
Where: In theatres near you
Rating: 3.5 Stars
This film arrives wearing the tailored suit of a heist thriller but insists on checking the audience’s pulse rather than their adrenaline levels. It pretends to be about a robbery, yet spends most of its time circling the more interesting question of why people convince themselves that one decisive act can tidy up a lifetime of compromises. Director Bart Layton treats the genre like a well-thumbed rulebook that can be respected, bent, and occasionally mocked. The film unfolds with deliberate patience, resisting the urge to rush towards gunfire or grand twists. Instead, it allows unease to accumulate, the way it does in real life, quietly and with intent.
Set largely against a nocturnal Los Angeles that gleams even as it corrodes, the film uses the city less as backdrop and more as subtext. This is a world governed by transactions, where worth is measured, negotiated, and steadily eroded. The narrative’s strength lies in its refusal to glorify criminal bravado. It understands the romance of the last job fantasy, then calmly dismantles it piece by piece. At times, the pacing flirts with indulgence, and a few stretches feel more contemplative than compelling. Yet even in its weaker moments, Crime 101 remains alert, intelligent, and faintly amused by its own seriousness.
Actors’ Performance
Chris Hemsworth delivers a performance built on subtraction rather than spectacle. He sheds charisma the way his character sheds certainty, playing a man whose confidence is eroded by the very precision that once defined him. Halle Berry is quietly formidable, inhabiting her role with a weariness that feels earned rather than performed. Her character’s moral hesitation becomes the emotional hinge of the film.
Mark Ruffalo brings a lived-in credibility to the pursuing lawman, avoiding theatrics in favour of observation and instinct. He plays the chase like a slow burn rather than a sprint, making the pursuit feel inevitable instead of urgent. All three characters, in different ways, are confronting their own redundancy, a shared anxiety that binds hunter, hunted, and bystander more closely than the plot admits.
The supporting cast sharpens this tension further. A volatile younger presence briefly disrupts the film’s careful order, while ageing intermediaries and fleeting personal reckonings add texture, suggesting a world where crime and authority alike are quietly being inherited rather than conquered.
Music and Aesthetics
Visually, the film favours restraint over dazzle. The camera lingers on empty spaces, muted interiors, and faces caught in moments of calculation. The aesthetic is clean but not cold, stylish without being self-conscious. The score follows the same philosophy. It murmurs instead of announcing itself, allowing silence to do much of the heavy lifting. The result is a mood that feels sustained rather than imposed.
GPlus Verdict
Overall, Bart Layton’s film finds its power not in closure but in corrosion, watching competence, desire, and certainty quietly fray. The heist fades; the damage doesn’t.
