‘Crime 101’ review: Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo face off in slow-burn LA crime caper

Dir: Bart Layton. UK/US. 2026. 139mins

The confident L.A. crime-thriller Crime 101 doesn’t so much break new ground as it reaffirms the enduring pleasures of the genre. Adapting Don Winslow’s 2020 novella, writer-director Bart Layton introduces us to an expert crook and a dogged detective on a collision course, making the most of its Los Angeles locations to give this smart, slow-burn caper a strong sense of place. The film stands in the shadow of Michael Mann’s influential Southern California pictures, but a cast led by Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo add extra crackle to a story that salutes characters who are very good at their job – no matter what side of the law they are on.

Atmosphere of coiled tension

Opening globally February 13, Crime 101 should appeal to viewers who know well thrillers like Heat. Layton, whose last film was the 2018 heist picture American Animals, practically invites such comparisons, although the story’s familiarity may diminish Crime 101’s theatrical prospects. The picture will test Hemsworth’s commercial viability outside of playing Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, although it is amusing that he is reunited with Marvel costar Ruffalo for this tale of cops and robbers.

The solitary Mike (Hemsworth) is secretly a jewel thief, always careful to ensure that no one gets hurt and that he leaves no clues behind. Ageing, out-of-shape detective Lou (Ruffalo) is determined to track him down, and notices that the crimes all occur along the 101 freeway. Meanwhile, Mike plans his next big score, befriending high-end insurance broker Sharon (Halle Berry), who he hopes to recruit to help steal her client’s rare stones.

Layton has a documentary background, winning the Bafta for Outstanding Debut for 2012’s The Imposter. His follow-up, American Animals, was a documentary/fiction hybrid based on actual events, but with Crime 101 he focuses on a narrative that draws from Winslow’s original story and, more broadly, crime drama conventions. Certain shots evoke the steely proficiency of Mann films such as Heat and Collateral, the latter of which co-starred Ruffalo as a seasoned cop. But the similarities are also thematic, with Layton bringing together a criminal and a detective who each operate by a specific code, their duelling perspectives destined to result in a climactic face-off.

But if Crime 101’s contours are unsurprising, the writer-director and his capable cast mostly transcend the cliches by bringing a level of professionalism and skill that would impress lone-wolf Mike. A man without a past who, predictably, risks his anonymity when he falls in love with PR assistant Maya (Monica Barbaro), Mike is the sort of ingenuous career criminal who frequently populates pictures like this. But Hemsworth, who starred in Mann’s Blackhat, makes this thief’s cold exterior compelling, slowly revealing Mike’s inevitable softening as Maya becomes part of his life.

Similarly, Lou is the quintessential frumpled cop who follows his gut, often evoking his superiors’ ire. (As expected, he also has an unhappy estranged wife, played with maximum disenchantment by Jennifer Jason Leigh.) Ruffalo provides the right amount of rugged grace to Lou, who believes in himself despite what everyone else on the force thinks.

Editors Jacob Secher Schulsinger and Julian Hart do a nifty job of not just keeping the plot hurtling forward, but also juggling the characters’ separate storylines. As Crime 101 separately follows Mike and Lou, we also spend time with Sharon, who gradually realises that she will never make partner at her upscale insurance company which offers privacy and protection for L.A.’s most moneyed individuals.

Dismissed for being too old by her male bosses, Sharon endures sexism and ageism – which explains why she is susceptible to Mike’s pitch that she give him key information about a client. Berry’s muted but sympathetic performance captures all the anger of a model employee who played by the rules but got screwed by her firm. And then there’s Ormon (Barry Keoghan), a dangerously amoral hoodlum who becomes a crucial figure in Crime 101’s second half once Mike’s fence Money (Nick Nolte) starts to suspect that Mike has gone soft.

Crime 101 emphasises muscular, believable car chases instead of overblown shootouts, which adds to the film’s atmosphere of coiled tension. Layton allows the audience to get to know each of his principal characters, illustrating how money (or a lack of it) informs their decisions. The script features a few nice twists, which compensates for some disappointingly generic patches. (Outside of Sharon, the women are merely plot complications.) But there’s a gritty, despondent quality to the film that honours both the crooks and cops’ bitter reality: they may live in the City Of Angels, but they all feel far removed from its wealth and privilege.