Film Review: Crime 101 (2026): A Layered, Character-Driven Action Film That Never Truly Gels
Crime 101 Review
Crime 101 (2026) Film Review, a movie directed by Bart Layton, written by Don Winslow and Bart Layton and starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Halle Berry, Nick Nolte, Tate Donovan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Corey Hawkins, Paul Adelstein, Monica Barbaro, Devon Bostick, Crosby Fitzgerald, Peter Banifaz, Babak Tafti and Hossein Mardani.
Filmmaker Bart Layton’s ambitious crime drama, Crime 101, suffers from having way too many beginnings and more than a few endings to its layered tale which is ultimately too complicated for its own good. One may feel the need to pull out a scorecard at some point to keep track of all the movie’s characters. Despite some excellent, well-staged chase sequences, the film is undermined by its lack of a truly compelling central plot. Characters come and go and some stick around, but others are wasted in a movie that runs well over 2 hours and only hits the mark occasionally. Crime 101 could have used a good polish in the editing room, but for what it is, it certainly tries really hard to maintain audience interest.
This film focuses on a thief named Davis (Chris Hemsworth at his most mysterious) who is very precise when it comes to how he commits his crimes. Even more precise is the police officer on the trail of the thief, Lou (Mark Ruffalo has never been better). Lou is that type of cop who always makes sure he doesn’t miss a trick and usually challenges his superiors. In Lou, Davis has certainly met his match. Davis is a different type of criminal, and the movie almost makes us want to root for him because he’s so out of touch with society in his every-day life and we occasionally yearn to see him catch a break in his social life.
Halle Berry co-stars in the movie in her best performance in years, playing Sharon, an insurance broker with an edge who is much smarter than one may think she is at the film’s outset. Sharon plays a major role in the story line, but the movie also zeroes in on heavies such as Nick Nolte’s crime lord character, Money, and Barry Keoghan’s bleached blonde character, Ormon, who serves as a replacement for Davis when the going gets tough for our thief extraordinaire.
Monica Barbaro has the most thankless role in the movie, playing Maya, whose part is an example of the type of woman that Davis could have had if he decided to go straight. When the movie tacks on a scene of Maya at the end, it feels like a last-minute attempt to suggest something could potentially come from a bond that has no real substance or no real relevance in the real world the movie creates.
Some jewels play a big role in the action in Crime 101, but the film outwears its welcome at times and feels like it needed to trim some fat to make the character development more accessible and more directly tied to the picture’s story line. As it is, there are too many characters and not enough plot developments to hold them all together equally.
Occasionally, the movie integrates scenes of Berry’s character facing troubles in her everyday endeavors, professional or otherwise. These scenes are hit and miss and only advance the plot effectively every now and then. Despite Berry’s great work, some of the moments in the picture showcasing her feel like they could have been cut from the proceedings to make more room for the development of Hemsworth’s one-note thief.
Ruffalo is more than welcome to steal scenes here and he does the best work of his career in the role he more than adequately portrays here. Lou’s bond with Berry’s character is intriguing, if not wholly satisfying, while the use of yoga in the happenings between them is a cute touch as is the scene where some car keys to a vehicle just happen to fall into Lou’s lap, literally. One never forgets this is a movie with all the elaborate happenings the director employs to tell this tale.
Chris Hemsworth is not to be faulted. His scenes are mostly action-driven and make for a sharp parallel to the more character-driven moments Berry and Ruffalo find themselves immersed in. Nolte is also intriguing and it’s great to see the legendary actor working again so soon after his work in Die My Love from last fall.
Barry Keoghan might be the film’s true wild card in a role the actor sinks his teeth into and the Oscar-nominated actor (for The Banshees of Inisherin) appears to be having a good time portraying one of the movie’s more fascinating and darker characters. Jennifer Jason Leigh even appears in a small generic role as a side character named Angie though she is another performer who it’s great to see back at work where she so rightfully belongs.
This movie’s title, Crime 101, is not a reference to a lesson in crime, but rather a nod to a particular highway where most of the film’s action occurs. This film is overlong, meandering and sluggish at times, but the action sequences come alive in a way that will prove to the viewer that the movie’s director, Layton, has a lot of talent. I could see him winning an Oscar one day, just not for this Crash (2005) and Heat combo which ultimately falls short in achieving the greatness that it so desperately seeks to achieve with its deceptive complexity. At the end of the day, Hemsworth’s character is still a criminal and Ruffalo’s is still a cop, no matter how hard the movie wants to make them so much more than that. It’s a close call, but it’s an ultimate miss for this film with the expectation of great things to come from Layton in the future.
Rating: 6.5/10
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