Take 56: Crime 101
“People who grow up in chaos crave order…”
In Crime 101, Chris Hemsworth plays Mike, a highly intelligent, highly disciplined, but slightly socially awkward jewel thief who finds himself in the crosshairs of Detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) has become obsessed with finding the “101 Robber”, an individual he suspects is responsible for a series of heists where the perpetrator has never caused any physical harm to any of his victims. These high-end heist bring an insurance broker named Sharon (Halle Berry) into the fold as Mike, who has found a reason to get out of the life just as Lubesnick is zeroing in on him. In the midst of this, there is also a new thief, Ormon (Barry Keoghan), who doesn’t quite share Mike’s stance on non-violence who begins to position himself to fill the void that Mike’s retirement will lead.
This week’s review was supposed to be for Gale: The Yellow Brick Road, but I will be honest, after a long day at work and being in a dark theater, my eyes closed. A lot. It was an interesting movie and I think it deserves a fair review so I hope to revisit once I have had the chance to rewatch. Now, back to Crime 101…
There is a lot going on and the film does not waste time in getting the ball rolling. There are a lot of characters introduced early on and there is a bit of jumping around from the major player to major player. The characters are well-fleshed out, even the minor characters and at first, it’s almost a little daunting because it’s not clear at first who is going to be important and who is just there to advance the plot. In the moments, everybody and everything feels important which is a testament to the excellent character work. After a scene or two, each of these complex character feels complete and interesting.
This movie is subtle and a bit unpredictable. Things you expect to happen, don’t necessarily play out and it’s refreshing.The three main characters(Mike, Lubesnick, and Sharon) and feel fairly independent of each other—- until they’re not. It all feels so disconnected that you kind of wonder who and even if it will connect, and when it does, the pieces really fit nicely, for the most part. Each of their stories is compelling and you really do want them all to win. But when you are dealing with both sides of the law, is that ever really possible?
As much as a did enjoy this one, there was a one major plot point that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever for me and it did in fact take me out for a bit. Mike makes a pretty important discovery after “successfully” completing a heist. This discovery could possibly have major repercussions (and ultimately does), but knowing this and given the fact that he has AMPLE time and opportunity to do something about it yet doesn’t—- I ain’t buyin’ it and you can’t make me. I figured maybe he was in on it and setting something up, but no. He just didn’t and it went against how intelligent and meticulous this he’d been made out to be. And yes, it kind of had to happen for the climax to take place, but it was sloppy. Surely there was another way to do this. I really wish more thought would have been put into that component.
Overall, I really enjoyed this film. It was on the longer side. It was not exactly action-filled, and that was fine with me. The cast was pretty great, the story was great, but darnit, the one thing has to hinder my rating a bit. The buzz for this seems to be pretty good and will deserved, but alas it’s just missed out on perfection. My score: 89
Do you agree, or do think I should go back to Review 101? Saying nothing would be downright criminal so let me know in the comments. And until next time…
