Crime 101 review: Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo reunite in thriller with echoes of crime classic Heat

Criminal deception is a common denominator in English director Bart Layton’s only other feature films. Whether it’s a French conman pretending to be a missing American teenager in the excellent Bafta-nominated documentary The Imposter (2012), or students pulling off an audacious rare-book heist dressed as elderly businessmen in unbelievable-but-true 2018 docudrama American Animals, Layton is clearly interested in what it takes to become a criminal.

For his third film, Layton takes on another heist story, only here it’s a fictional one based on a novella by private-investigator-turned-crime writer Don Winslow. Chris Hemsworth heads a quality cast as professional jewel thief Mike Davis, whose ability to carry out a series of robberies without using violence or leaving any DNA evidence or clues to his identity is foxing the Los Angeles police.

However, dogged detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo, going for the crumpled Columbo look) sees a pattern: these meticulously executed heists all take place in the vicinity of California’s elongated 101 freeway. Not that his sceptical superiors or even his partner (Corey Hawkins) buy into this, with his team preferring him to simply "play the game" and close cases.

Meanwhile, Davis wants out of crime after a previous robbery nearly cost him his life. Yet, he doesn't realising that his handler (the ever-gravelly Nick Nolte) has secretly enlisted young thug Orman (Barry Keoghan, star of American Animals) to take the spoils from his last job, worth a cool $11 million.

The difference between the pair is immediately clear, with Orman being a dirt-bike-riding loose cannon in comparison to the calm, composure of Davis, a precise professional who drives only the sportiest of cars. No moment better illustrates this than Orman's shambolic attempt to rob a jewellery store, which nearly goes catastrophically wrong.

And where does Halle Berry’s disillusioned 50-something insurance broker, Sharon Colvin, fit into this increasingly tangled web? As she sees her career stalling thanks to an ageist boss and ambitious younger women eager to take her wealthy clients, will she be persuaded to help Davis fulfil his final felonious mission? Or can the hot-on-his-trail Lubesnick convince her to stay on the right side of the law?

The urban thriller milieu, night-time neon landscape and heist narrative will inevitably conjure up echoes of Michael Mann's 1995 classic Heat. However, Hemsworth’s enigmatic mystery man is no ruthless killer (like De Niro’s Neil McCauley) while Ruffalo’s dishevelled but dedicated cop is no match for Pacino’s slick Vincent Hanna, although they do both share crumbling marriages.

Hemsworth oozes cool but there’s vulnerability, too, especially in his halting attempts to forge a relationship with Monica Barbaro’s Maya. Of course, Hemsworth and Ruffalo are no strangers to each other on screen, having built up chemistry as original members of the Avengers, Thor and the Hulk, in a raft of hit Marvel movies, and the pair deliver some snappy patter here, not least when discussing their favourite Steve McQueen movie during their first face-to-face encounter. Indeed, Winslow’s original story was actually dedicated to cinema’s King of Cool.

Halle Berry (a big-screen Marvel superhero herself when she played Storm in the X-Men franchise) matches her co-stars every step of the way as a woman struggling to navigate a workplace where her age, experience and talent count for little. Well, until Hemsworth’s smooth operator comes into her life.

Meanwhile, Layton sustains the slow-burning tension, punctuated occasionally by some riveting chases, as the quartet circle each other on the way to a nerve-jangling, edge-of-your-seat climax where the outcome is anything but predictable.

Crime 101 is released in UK cinemas on Friday 13th February 2026.

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