There is nothing quite like heist-based dramas, be it the suave and stylish Ocean series, the loud and in-your-face The Town, or the light-hearted and fun Now You See Me series. Now there is a new player in town, and it has all the right names it needs to become a success. Helmed by Bart Layton, who directed Banged Up Abroad, The Imposter and American Animals, Crime 101 is a proper cops and robbers drama which, by the looks of the trailer, seems to be filled with all the action you’d need.
Chris Hemsworth is playing a more serious and bulked-up Danny Ocean, and he isn’t afraid or against pulling a trigger every now and then. His style of stealing is with less subtlety and with more pomp and show, in the sense that there is more shoving people in the trunks of cars, pulling out guns in broad daylight and the occasional automobile chase. He plans to befriend the character played by Halle Berry, who is the VP of a top insurance company.
Now Hemsworth wants to steal from her clients, which would make her company liable to pay. She presumably wants to help because she holds contempt for her seniors who haven’t promoted her to the position she deserves. There is another unique feature about who Hemsworth’s character targets. All his marks lie on the US national highway Route 101, hence the name of the film. This pattern is caught by the man who is after Hemsworth, and that is his good friend from the Marvel movies, Mark Ruffalo.
Ruffalo has played a detective or a lawman in movies before, such as Now You See Me or Shutter Island. Now he has his eyes set on this burglar (Hemsworth), who is also in cahoots with the character of Monica Barbaro and not so much with the character of Barry Keoghan. The preferred items for stealing include money, jewellery and high-value goods such as paintings and artefacts, which are hinted to be the category he is going to target when it comes to Berry’s clients.
Directed by Bart Layton, Crime 101’s cast includes Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
