Crime 101

Writer/director Bart Layton has clearly seen Michael Mann’s Heat and Thief once or twice, and while those influences are felt throughout Crime 101, they don’t bog it down with slavishly faithful homage. 

Adapting Don Winslow’s novella, the filmmaker behind the fact-based American Animals (filmed in Davidson and Charlotte) and the fact-is-stranger-than-fiction documentary The Imposter — which Julia Ducournau ripped off in Titane — fares well in his debut fictional effort, pouring his palpable love for LA cops-and-robbers tales into his own take on the subgenre.

Packed with suspensefully filmed action sequences and tense exchanges, Crime 101 also features more humor than the bulk of its peers. The witty lines come courtesy of bit players as well as gentleman thief Mike (Chris Hemsworth), who experiences a brush with death that makes him re-think his next move. However, that hesitancy doesn't sit well with his fence Money (Nick Nolte, hopefully paid well for a day of sitting on his ass), setting in motion an elaborate series of events that attracts a handful of other beautiful people.

Along with Ormon, a motorbike-riding loose cannon played by (who else?) Barry Keoghan, we’re gradually introduced to cliché bullshit-sniffing Det. Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) and Sharon (Halle Berry), an insurance broker for the extremely wealthy who’s tired of being undervalued at work and is in a prime position to seek revenge on her employers.

The ensuing intertwined plot strands sustain attention through well-enough-written characters and situations. And though the subplot with Mike’s love interest Maya (Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown) initially feels extraneous, especially as she disappears for long stretches, it ultimately proves an important motivational detail and part of the larger theme of criminals’ inability to lead honest personal lives — which Derek Cianfrance’s excellent Roofman explored to emotionally rich ends.

The details in the thrilling climax may or may not add up, but all involved sell it so convincingly that it's easy enough to go with the flow. Hopefully studios will be similarly persuaded that throwback films like it are a worthwhile investment and bring a bit more '80s and '90s flavor into the present.

Grade: B-plus. Rated R. Now playing at AMC River Hills 10, Carolina Cinemark, and Regal Biltmore Grande.

(Photo: Amazon MGM Studios)