There are movie characters, and then there are real people. The latter are in the forefront of Crime 101, writer/director Bart Layton's ingenious crime drama. The trio of central characters are Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth), a clever thief who rips of dangerous people without succumbing to violence; Sharon (Halle Berry), an aging insurance broker who slowly realizes that the promotion she's been waiting for will be passed on to young talent; and Detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo), an honest policeman who insists on carrying out justice, even despite his superiors' insisting he "take it down a notch or two."
Crime 101 is reminiscent of Michael Mann's Heat (1995), another Los Angeles based crime drama whose characters are elevated to intelligent levels of Shakespearean complexity. There are really no bad people here: only men and women struggling to succeed in a world of unfair hierarchies. This is top notch filmmaking, a deeply engaging narrative that's been mostly missing in Hollywood's 21st century output. One of the best films of 2026.
☆☆☆☆
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