Crime 101
This review contains spoilers
- It's more of a crime drama than a crime thriller, but it's hard to care enough about the characters to get behind what happens to them more than a base level.
- There are some great scenes scattered throughout. But what I mean by the ending feeling unearned is simply that occasionally it sprinkles in how corrupt cops are and whatnot, and then Ruffalo's character does something that shows he's not really completely above the rest of the force. Mind you, what he does is not nearly as bad as what we see earlier, but my point is, so? Like, in something like this, we should feel the fall from grace, even if it's minor, and I just sat there like, "Yeah, okay."
- With that said, the final robbery had moments of tension that I appreciated.
- I dunno, if this is supposed to be a thriller, it just doesn't thrill. The pace is glacial, and we've seen crime movies do this when they have something to say. I just don't feel like this does.
- Also, regarding the length: This would have been a lot better if it were an hour and a half to 45 minutes tops. I'm tired of directors needing their movies to be over 2 hours. Layton's a good director (I liked how this looked and felt with the visuals and audio), but ever since The Imposter there's been a decline.
Which is funny because The Imposter was a docu-thriller and it was SO much more thrilling. Maybe it's partially because it's a more interesting subject, but he still had to make the damn movie and get the point across. American Animals was also better, though a noticeable step down. But what do you know, The Imposter was an hour 40 and American Animals was not quite 2 hours... which is still 15 minutes shorter than this.
I love a good 2 hour plus movie if it deserves it. Crime 101 did not.
I look forward to what he does next, but I have to be honest, I enjoyed this a lot less than I expected/hoped. I found myself reaching for my phone way too often.
Side note: a guy in the movie says that the rich people only want younger girls, so Halle Berry's age of 53 in the movie is a problem. Bitch, Berry is 59 in real life as of the release of this movie and you think some dude isn't gonna want Berry when she's looking that fine? Pfft.
- There are some great scenes scattered throughout. But what I mean by the ending feeling unearned is simply that occasionally it sprinkles in how corrupt cops are and whatnot, and then Ruffalo's character does something that shows he's not really completely above the rest of the force. Mind you, what he does is not nearly as bad as what we see earlier, but my point is, so? Like, in something like this, we should feel the fall from grace, even if it's minor, and I just sat there like, "Yeah, okay."
- With that said, the final robbery had moments of tension that I appreciated.
- I dunno, if this is supposed to be a thriller, it just doesn't thrill. The pace is glacial, and we've seen crime movies do this when they have something to say. I just don't feel like this does.
- Also, regarding the length: This would have been a lot better if it were an hour and a half to 45 minutes tops. I'm tired of directors needing their movies to be over 2 hours. Layton's a good director (I liked how this looked and felt with the visuals and audio), but ever since The Imposter there's been a decline.
Which is funny because The Imposter was a docu-thriller and it was SO much more thrilling. Maybe it's partially because it's a more interesting subject, but he still had to make the damn movie and get the point across. American Animals was also better, though a noticeable step down. But what do you know, The Imposter was an hour 40 and American Animals was not quite 2 hours... which is still 15 minutes shorter than this.
I love a good 2 hour plus movie if it deserves it. Crime 101 did not.
I look forward to what he does next, but I have to be honest, I enjoyed this a lot less than I expected/hoped. I found myself reaching for my phone way too often.
Side note: a guy in the movie says that the rich people only want younger girls, so Halle Berry's age of 53 in the movie is a problem. Bitch, Berry is 59 in real life as of the release of this movie and you think some dude isn't gonna want Berry when she's looking that fine? Pfft.
Mini Review: Another example of a movie that didn't need to be as long as it is. This gets by largely on how good the cast is, because they are trying, but man, was this ever disappointing. It started off great, with a tense robbery, and then it kind of just... plods along. I don't know where the tension is for most of it. The ending is nice, but it also feels a little unearned. I don't hate it because it's acted and directed well, but it's clearly striving for a heaviness it can't reach.
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