Crime 101

Yesterday my nephew and I were able to catch a matinee of Crime 101 and we both really liked it.  Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth) is a jewel thief who uses inside information to plan heists along Highway 101 that involve stealing from couriers without the use of violence.  Det. Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) suspects that all of these robberies are the work of one man but no one, including his exasperated partner Det. Tillman (Corey Hawkins), agrees with him.  When Mike refuses to do a job, his fence Money (Nick Nolte) gives it to an incredibly unstable and violent biker named Ormon (Barry Keoghan) and, when the job goes wrong, Mike is angry about the casualties.  He decides to do one final job on his own after beginning a romantic relationship with Maya (Monica Barbaro) and enlists the help of Sharon Combs (Halle Berry), a disgruntled insurance broker, to get information about one of her wealthy clients (Tate Donovan).  Money doesn't want to miss out on Mike's job so he has Ormon follow him to steal back what he steals.  Complications ensue when all of these characters become involved with the execution of the heist.  This is an incredibly stylish neo-noir crime thriller but it is also much more character-driven than I was expecting.  I especially enjoyed the arcs for Mike, Lou, and Sharon because all three of them are easy to root for despite their questionable behavior (the resolution is perfect).  I loved the requisite car chases with the equally requisite synth score as well as the dynamic camera angles and use of reflections (I've seen a lot of comparisons to Michael Mann's Heat but, in my opinion, this is not a negative).  Finally, the entire cast is great (Hemsworth is very well suited to his role and Keoghan adds another little freak to his collection) but Berry steals the show with her tough, yet vulnerable, performance as a woman who is fed up with broken promises.  This is highly entertaining and I definitely recommend it.