Alex Reviews "Crime 101"

Chaos and order. Two things every character in Crime 101 face along their story. The thief who demands structure. The insurance broker craving a little chaos. The detective who wants to bring order but exists in chaos. Every one of them intertwined around millions of dollars, jewels, watches, and anything else that can be stolen along a particular Los Angeles corridor.

I’ll be completely candid here. There is a brilliant film hiding within Crime 101, but the current iteration has some damning flaws. Actually, there is just one big flaw affecting much of the film. The acting, visuals, story, and naturality are all on point, but somebody made some choices that took a tight (guessing) hundred-minute heist flick and dragged it up to two hours and twenty minutes.

Some viewers may not realize how tough it is to have a single person be both writer and director of a picture. For every Christopher Nolan, there are plenty who get caught up in conflicting decisions. The writer doesn’t want any work cut from the movie and the director wants to make the best picture. Unfortunately, I believe writer Bart Layton (American Animals) won too many arguments with director Bart Layton. I mentioned the story being incredible prior, so I would understand wanting to stay true to the material, but it is incredibly bloated in long unnecessary shots that seem to serve little to no purpose. Other than that, I appreciate the street-level aesthetic and humanity caught on film. I wonder if the elongated wide shots were done out of concern that so much of the film is shot very tight and intimately.

While the pacing is glacial, I can see where that lingering helped elevate performances from good to great. Chris Hemsworth is incredible in playing what may be his first truly broken character. Amazing work by arguably one of the most attractive humans to ever live to cover the range from deeply flawed to ultra precise as the narrative demands. There are subtleties in his mannerisms and expression that elevate every scene. While I loved him in Furiosa, that character was fairly one dimensional and Crime 101 is the best work of his career. Vulnerable yet intense. Chaos and Order.

Not to be outdone, the Hulk joins Thor… sorry, Mark Ruffalo continues to take any part and make it feel award worthy. Where Hemsworth exudes the compartmentalizing of his characters divides. Ruffalo uses the same range as an arc for his detective. Order from the Chaos.

Halle Berry rounds out our leads and despite my worry, handles herself spectacularly opposite the heavyweight actors of Crime 101. It has been a long while since she has been this brilliant or in a picture this good. She (along with Monica Barbaro) give us the “normal person” swept up in the madness and the heart she projects on the screen insists on an emotional response. Relatably stuck in a rut and needing something to change. Order needing Chaos.

Crime 101 is not only a really clever title, but an incredibly smart movie with masterful performances. If you can handle or enjoy quality films that feel long, this is must viewing in a theater for the texture and immersion. For those of us that get a little antsy, it is still an incredible picture, but it will feel like it drags. My hope is we eventually get to a point where we can have this version and a tighter cut because one big flaw does not ruin a movie. It just brings a little chaos to the order and sometimes that is a good thing.