{"id":14065,"date":"2026-02-17T17:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=14065"},"modified":"2026-04-09T11:31:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:31:04","slug":"crime-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2026\/02\/17\/crime-101\/","title":{"rendered":"Crime 101"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Crime 101<\/strong> (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amazon MGM\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 140 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language throughout, some violence, sexual material\/nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Bart Layton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Bart Layton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Blanck Mass\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Erik Wilson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 13, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Halle Berry, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte, Tate Donovan, Devon Bostick, Crosby Fitzgerald, Andra Nechita, Payman Maadi, Babak Tafti, Payam Banifaz, Deborah Hedwall, Paul Adelstein, Drew Powell, Matthew Del Negro, John Douglas.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Something most unexpected happened this week. I made the conscious decision not to attend this week\u2019s AMC Screen Unseen feature. I found out what it was going to be and decided to pass on it as I had zero interest. I won\u2019t say what it was, but it\u2019s based on a webseries from two decades ago, one I never heard of until a few days ago. It sounded like something I\u2019d regret investing two hours of my life in, so I swapped out those reservations for a special advance showing of the crime thriller Crime 101<\/strong> instead. I\u2019m so glad I did. It\u2019s quite good.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Written and directed by Bart Layton (American Animals), Crime 101<\/strong> is the kind of movie they don\u2019t make anymore, a stylish and sleek adult-oriented crime thriller driven by plot and characters rather than noise and flashy FX. It owes a huge debt to Michael Mann\u2019s 1995 crime drama Heat in how it draws parallels between the lives of the criminal and the cop trying to catch him. Layton delves into their personal lives, depicting them as actual people as opposed to one-dimensional character types. It\u2019s not even about heroes and villains; it\u2019s about people on different sides of law. They\u2019re morally complex. There is no black and white in their world, only different shades of gray.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Crime 101<\/strong> opens with professional jewel thief Mike Davis (Hemsworth, Thor) pulling off a diamond heist. It involves following the carriers and striking at the exact right moment. He executes it flawlessly. It\u2019s just one of several jobs he\u2019s pulled along the 101 freeway. He\u2019s been getting away with it for some time. He plans every detail meticulously. He drives nondescript vehicles. He covers his face. He never hurts anybody during the commission of the robberies. He never leaves any DNA evidence. The police don\u2019t even realize the thefts are connected. This guy is flying under the radar. He\u2019d like to keep it that way while he does just one last job. He wants out of this life.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The only one who sees the pattern is Detective Lou Lubesnick (Ruffalo, The Avengers), a smart cop and quite possibly the last honest one in L.A. His colleagues dismiss his theory. It\u2019s not convenient. All the PD cares about is closing cases; it doesn\u2019t matter if they arrest the right person. He\u2019s expected to fall in line with his fellow cops. He won\u2019t; he has too much integrity for that. Consequently, he\u2019s viewed as a troublemaker and a loser. None of this deters Lou from his investigation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0You could say that the two men are linked by a mutual acquaintance, high-end insurance broker Sharon Colvin (Berry, Monster\u2019s Ball). She\u2019s been working for the same company for 11 years for a boss who consistently reneges on his promise to make her a partner. She\u2019s hit a glass ceiling and is plenty pissed off about it. A non-chance encounter with Mike leads to him asking her to work with him. She initially balks, but reconsiders after it\u2019s made clear where she stands at work. Sharon first meets Lou when he picks her brain about insurance-related claims. They meet again in a yoga class and strike up a friendship of sorts.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The other major character in Crime 101<\/strong> is Ormon (Keoghan, Saltburn), a violent and unhinged thief hired by aged crime boss Money (Nolte, Run All Night) to replace Mike after the latter refuses a job for being too risky. Ormon takes the job (a jewelry store) and it goes exactly as you expect, badly. He leaves behind a mess of smashed cases and injured persons. He then tails Mike in order to learn the details of the job he\u2019s planning. This guy is a loose cannon of the highest order.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s a lot going on in Crime 101<\/strong>. In addition to the heist stuff, Mike attempts to make an emotional connection with Maya (Barbaro, A Complete Unknown), a pretty public relations rep he meets after she rear-ends his car. It\u2019s new terrain for a man used to emotional detachment. Now that he plans to retire, he might have room for a real relationship. This plot line is well developed. I can\u2019t say that for all of them. A questionable police shooting is introduced only to be dropped a few scenes later. Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight) shows up for a single scene as Lou\u2019s soon-to-be ex. A few more scenes would have been nice.<\/p>\n

\u00a0People will invariably complain about the film\u2019s run time (140 minutes) and leisurely pace. I am not one of those people. Quite the opposite, I wanted more. Apparently, Layton had to cut it down prior to release. I\u2019d love to see an extended cut of Crime 101<\/strong>. There\u2019s more story to tell. During the Q&A, Berry spoke about a scene she worked hard on only for it to be cut. I want to see that!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Stylistically, Crime 101<\/strong> is amazing thanks to the cool, crisp cinematography by Erik Wilson and a moody, electronic score by Blanck Mass. It evokes the Michael Mann movies of the 80s (mostly Thief). The shots of nighttime L.A. lend it atmosphere. It has a few fancy visual flourishes, but they never come off as showy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The performances are uniformly great from Hemsworth\u2019s emotionally distant thief to Ruffalo\u2019s rumpled detective. They have this great scene together where they discuss cars and the inherent coolness of Steve McQueen. Berry does incredible work as Sharon, a woman finding it harder to contain the workplace anger she\u2019s been repressing for years. Barbaro does nice work as Maya, a girl who just wants to understand a man not inclined to divulge personal details. Keoghan practically steals the show as the unstable criminal. The man is a real live wire.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Despite a few storytelling weaknesses, Crime 101<\/strong> is a solid crime thriller aimed at adults. It\u2019s the kind of movie you see at night. It takes a while to get where it\u2019s going. But during that time, you get a couple of decent car chases and a violent (but believable) finale in a suite at a fancy hotel. It\u2019s definitely a trip worth taking.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crime 101 (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amazon MGM\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 140 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language throughout, some violence, sexual material\/nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Bart Layton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Bart Layton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Blanck Mass\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Erik Wilson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 13, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Halle Berry, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte, Tate Donovan, Devon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Crime-101-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14065"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14068,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14065\/revisions\/14068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}