There are many things to make this movie worth watching. I saw it in the theatre and when it was released on Amazon streaming. Crime 101 is a heist movie, cop versus criminal, but within this story there’s nuisance between good and bad, right and wrong, and alive and dead. Entering and leaving a scene is flawless. There’s no over explanation to the stories. You are given enough information to be informed but not more than is needed. The setting is Los Angeles where the city can open its mouth wide, swallow you whole, spit out the body parts it finds useless. Or it can open its invisible arms, help you walk down a golden path, and keeping you strong and resilient. The major themes include personal gain or loss, human individuality and connection, and actions and consequences.
Crime 101 is adapted from Don Winslow’s book and screenplay written by Bart Layton. It is rated R and runs 140 minutes. The movie is about a LAPD detective (Lou Lubesnick played by Mark Ruffalo) in the middle of solving a string of heists taking place near the 101 freeway. Lou works with his partner (Tillman played by Corey Hawkins) to find an experienced criminal (Mike Davis played by Chris Hemsworth) having reservations about his career choices. Davis meets two women, each serving different purposes. One is an insurance broker (Sharon Colvin played by Halle Berry) that forms a one-time transactional arrangement with him. The other is his love interest (Maya played by Monica Barbaro). Intertwined in all of this is Lou’s failing marriage to his wife (Angie played by Jennifer Jason Leigh), Sharon’s unsupportive boss (Mark played by Paul Adelstein), overly ambitious criminal to prove himself (Ormon played by Barry Keoghan), seeing the world only through a black and white lens police captain (Stewart played by Matthew Del Negro), and cut-throat crime boss (Money played by Nick Nolte).
As we see the streets of Los Angeles upside down, they slowly turn right side up. Mike works for Money. He takes all the risk where Money gets all the profit. The jewels Mike stole from the robbers are insured by the firm Sharon works. She has dreams of becoming a partner except new younger blood comes in to outshine her. While Sharon listens to relaxation tapes, she realizes this positive thinking results in pretty much nothing. She takes more drastic measures and one that could land her in prison for a long time. There are equally satisfying car chases to intelligible dialogue between opposition parties. The scene between Sharon and her boss is worthy. The car scene between Mike and Lou is great. The rare vulnerability of Mike crops up at the right time, not too much and not too little. This is a cat and mouse chase. Lou clearly let his marriage fall apart. His law enforcement career came first. He isn’t the disgruntled cop that needed to retire five years ago. He’s the cop that still has some hope driving his cases but understands the vultures working beside him in his precinct and lives near in Los Angeles. By the end you still can see who the cat is and who are the mice and nothing has really changed. Seeing your life from a different angle does occur for some of the characters and for the few get to experience a little bit of freedom if only for a day.
I rate Crime 101 FOUR FINGERS and ONE THUMB at 100%.
Leave a Reply