I guess they do still make thrillers like they used to

Let me tell you about a movie. Its a Neo-noire crime thriller. A heist film. A professional criminal with a personal code is chased around Los Angeles taking heist after heist. A determined and unpopular cop chases this criminal. Each men have scarified their personal lives for their professional interests. There is a complication with a violent third party, another criminal who is out for their own good. Everyone is sexy. The movie looks great, high contrast and does not shy away from making LA look like the best version of LA without hiding the less glamorous sides of the city. The movie is tightly paced, tells you what you need to know and moves smartly to the climax.

You (DUMB GUY VOICE): "Oh is this movie just watered down Heat?"

Me (Smart Guy Voice): "No. Its not. But the similarities are intentional and the differences are amplified."

Heat is the modern platinum standard of heist films. Film makers have been inspired an have done their damnedest to imitate the focused chaos and energy of the shootout in downtown Los Angeles. Christopher Nolan in the Dark Night tried stylistically. Michael Mann couldn't recapture the same magic in Public Enemies. Crime 101 doesn't make the same attempt but does have the same DNA and I am not sure that can be avoided. The same way every action movie was called "Diehard on a..." or "Diehard with..." after Diehard was released and changed the action movie game, Heat did for the crime heist.

What Crime 101 does well is what Heat is not interested in. Heat focuses on the plot, the characters are important and well acted, but the plot is what everything else revolves around. The heist. The movement. Crime 101 has its focus on characters. That shift makes the world seem a little warmer as the stakes feel more human. Barry Layton has directed other heist and crime related films and now I am more curious than ever to see his work.

The main character is Davis, the professional criminal played by Chris Hemsworth. His best role, outside of the MCU, since Cabin in the Woods. Mark Ruffalo, a detective named Lou, unpopular because of his theories about this professional criminal is as engaging as he always is. These men aren't foils as much as they are competing and aside from professionalism they don't really share anything.

The rest of the cast is full of talented actors, Halle Berry, plays a long in the tooth professional in a world that values youth, Barry Keoghan, a dangerous and erratic criminal, Cory B. Hawkins, Lou's partner.

I think if you go in comparing Crime 101 to Heat you will be let down. This film works best as a genre throwback to something we hardly ever see anymore: a grounded adult thriller.

This movie is based on a Novella by Don Winslow. If you read my book reviews you know I am a huge fan of his. The biggest criticism about Winslow's work is what can be understood as contrivances. These don't bother me because they aren't in the realm of impossibility and the movie is engaging enough that you don't really notice unless you want to find a reason not to like the movie.

I think this is well worth your time. The sort of movie that may be only remembered by fans of Winslow. A good movie that stands shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Ronin, Sicario or the first Mission Impossible.

But I must say that as someone who has lived in Los Angeles since 2020 the 101 has never looked that...empty.