Crime 101

What I liked most from the beginning was that the film did not need to start shouting to attract attention. It gradually places its pieces, introduces characters whose connections are not immediately obvious and allows the sense of danger to build slowly. Crime 101 runs for more than two hours, but Bart Layton understands that a crime thriller can generate tension by waiting, observing and preparing a job before it starts running.
Chris Hemsworth works particularly well in this restrained mode. Mike Davis is a methodical thief obsessed with controlling every variable, and the film presents him more as a professional determined to do things correctly than as an action hero. His calm contrasts nicely with Mark Ruffalo's detective and especially with Ormon, played by Barry Keoghan. Keoghan once again exploits his remarkable ability to seem unpleasant and unpredictable almost immediately; personally, he makes it extraordinarily easy for me to dislike him, although that is precisely why the character works.
Halle Berry also brings something important because she prevents the film from becoming simply a confrontation between thief and cop. Her character introduces another life trapped at a crossroads, and the film spends considerable time making us understand what each person wants before finally bringing their paths together. That slows the story down, but it also means the characters matter slightly more than the next robbery.
The Michael Mann influence is impossible to ignore. Los Angeles, nocturnal highways, solitary professionals, cops and criminals studying each other across a blurred moral boundary... everything inevitably recalls that tradition. Crime 101 does not have the personality of its greatest models, but I did not find it a simple imitation either. Layton knows how to build sequences, use the city and manage tension in a classical and effective way.
When corrupt cops enter the picture, the film adds another layer of ugliness that makes everything considerably more claustrophobic. It is no longer simply about criminals escaping those pursuing them: authority itself offers no guarantee of safety. It is a familiar device, but it works here because it arrives after the rules of the game have been carefully established and forces us to distrust almost everyone.
The final stretch significantly increases the pace without completely abandoning what the film has been doing before. There are pursuits, violence and intersecting decisions, but the ending retains a cynical edge that I enjoyed. Everything is not distributed according to a perfectly moral logic, and every character does not necessarily receive exactly what we think they deserve. Some final gestures also introduce a little humanity into people who have spent much of the film living according to calculations and professional rules.
It is not especially original and could probably have been shorter. Some subplots carry considerably less weight than others, and its admiration for the crime films it is trying to evoke is sometimes too obvious. But it is well made, has a very solid cast and, most importantly, kept me engaged because its tension rises steadily instead of exhausting itself in the first twenty minutes. It does not reinvent the heist thriller, but it proves that patience, good actors and a strong sense of rhythm can still be enough for a very enjoyable ride.