Crime 101

Criminal heist thrillers can be found on among streaming services and physical media, especially if you love the titles that are considered to be classics such as Michael Mann´s almost perfect heist thriller Heat from 1995. I mean this is probably one of the greatest heist thrillers ever made, who can resist such a brilliant cast such as Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Ted Levine, Ashley Judd, William Fichtner, Hank Azaria and Danny Trejo among many others? Heat is without a doubt one of the best in this specific genre, and i have a feeling it will be very difficult for any heist thriller to ever reach to the same level of quality as this film does. However, there are still some really good heist movie choices that are worth checking out. For example the 2001 heist comedy Ocean´s Eleven from director Steven Soderbergh is a perfect example of a really solid film in this genre. Amazing cast such as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia and many more well known actors. The story is pretty simple, a gang of associates plans to rob three Las Vegas casinos and make sure they get away without getting caught. One of the reasons why this is one of the better heist films is the chemistry between the cast. This is a really charming film, that also have solid acting from the whole cast and director Steven Soderbergh captures the magic of Las Vegas with beautiful night scenes and the colorful gambling image. Definetely worth a watch on streaming, digital or physical media. The sequels are alright, especially the third film, but i prefer the first film if im being completely honest. How many of you remember the emotionally strong documentary film The Impostor from 2012? That told the story of a man claiming to be the son who vanished 3 years ago without a trace, who return claiming he is their missing son and turns out to be an impostor. Really good documentary film from director Bart Layton worth a watch if you have not seen it. The director of this documentary film recently made a heist film called Crime 101 that landed on Amazon Prime. I decided to check this film out to see if it would be anything in my taste. Is this the perfect heist film to enjoy after barbecues this summer, or is Crime 101 nothing you will remember at all?

In Los Angeles, Mike ( Chris Hemsworth ) is an elusive and disciplined jewelry thief, carefully planning robberies to avoid violence and DNA evidence while escaping via U.S. Route 101. Interecepting a diamond delivery carrying decoys, he steals diamonds worth 3 million U.S. dollars but is shaken by an unexpected bullet. He calls off a planned robbery in Santa Barbara, but his fence, Money ( Nick Nolte ), enlists volatile young biker Ormond ( Barry Keoghan ) instead. Mike understand someone else is getting paid for jobs as he confronts Money, without any luck. There is a really big job coming up, problem is that Det. Lou Lubesnick ( Mark Ruffalo ) have figured out the U.S. Route 101 pattern of robberies and is on track to find the suspect.

I am fully aware that a lot of people might think Crime 101 is a very basic heist film, and there are elements of that here. But, what makes this film stand out a little bit its that this film is more focused on the consequences of our life chioces. This film have a surprisingly deep meaning regarding how far you are willing to go, what chances are you willing to take in life? So i would say that Crime 101 doesn´t focus on the violence, it´s more focused on the characters and the risks they take. This is actually a good approach if you want to do something different in a heist story, since most films in this genre are usually pretty similar. Speaking of characters there are actually several great characters in this film. One of my personal favourite characters in this film is actor Mark Ruffalo´s character Detective Lou. He is the kind of old school police detective we used to get in the 80´s in different cop films, who seems to have gone through a lot in his life. Mark Ruffalo proves again why he is such a great actor, since he can take on any kind of character and knows how to deliver dialogue. The chemistry between Detective Lou and his partner Det. Tillman ( played really well by actor Corey Hawkins ) is a delightful combination. Legendary actor Nick Nolte is here as well as the criminal character Money, and even if he is an old man now he still deliver strong dialogue and powerful acting in his own unique way. Of course we have actor Chris Hemsworth as the criminal character Mike, what´s interesting about him is that he doesn´t have anything in his life other than doing crimes. No wife, no children, so he basically think about work constantly which makes his character very lonely. Crime 101 is a well made crime thriller with a realistic portrait of criminals, how they function in difficult scenarios and have to take chances. The moments when we do get some action scenes looks good as well, from a technical camera perspective. Nowhere near as good as the 1995 classic Heat, but definetely still worth a watch on Amazon Prime if you enjoy heist thrillers.

Rating: DDD