MOVIE SCENE CANADA
CRIME 101
​I Amazon MGM Studios Canada I February 13, 2026 I 140 mins. I
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88%
* As of 2/12/26
CAST:
Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte, Halle Berry
DIRECTOR(S):
Bart Layton
Set against the sun-bleached grit of Los Angeles, Crime 101 weaves the tale of an elusive jewel thief (Chris Hemsworth) whose string of heists along the 101 freeway have mystified police. When he eyes the score of a lifetime, his path crosses that of a disillusioned insurance broker (Halle Berry) who is facing her own crossroads. Convinced he has found a pattern, a relentless detective (Mark Ruffalo) is closing in, raising the stakes even higher. As the heist approaches, the line between hunter and hunted begins to blur, and all three are faced with life-defining choices–and the realization that there can be no turning back.
REVIEW BY: Kurt Morrison - 2/13/2026
RATING 4 out of 5
Crime 101 is a guy’s guy type of movie and I can see why so many were lining up to buy the rights to the novella of the same name written by Don Winslow when it came on the shopping block. The object of a full-blown studio bidding war several years ago, Amazon MGM Studios beat out Netflix in the end and honestly, I am glad that is the case because this deserves to be seen on a big screen, as the suspense and action that its two hour and twenty-minute runtime was gripping from start to finish in tonight’s packed premiere screening.
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The story unfolds in sun-drenched Los Angeles, where Chris Hemsworth stars as Mike Davis, a meticulous and elusive jewel thief whose string of high-profile robberies along the iconic 101 Freeway has baffled law enforcement. Mike operates with precision, a strict personal code, and a keen eye for opportunity. He’s determined that his latest score will be the last one he ever needs.
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Meanwhile, Detective Lou Lubesnick (played by Mark Ruffalo) - a dogged LAPD investigator whose life is systematically falling apart at the same time as his obsession with these heists, begins to discern a pattern in the robberies and becomes obsessed with tracking down the thief before he can strike again.
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As Mike assembles his plans for this final, daring heist, his path collides with Sharon Combs (played by Halle Berry), a disillusioned insurance broker wrestling with her own crossroads in life. Unaware of Mike’s criminal identity at first, Sharon becomes an unexpected ally when Mike seeks her inside knowledge to pull off one last ultimate theft.
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Everything about the film’s casting feels stacked. Familiar faces. Oscar winners and nominees. The cast rounds out really nicely, with several Oscar nominees in Nick Nolte, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Corey Hawkins.
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Everyone brings their A-Game to what could have otherwise been a relatively forgettable and passable actioner. Hemsworth, in a very rare instance, does not play with his usual shirt off, blue eyed swagger - instead playing Mike as meticulous and somewhat awkward. The roots to such are explored later on but it was an interesting flex for our Thor because I have never seen him so subdued in a role. It’s hard to turn that man’s charisma off so this was a great stretch for the big man.
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Ruffalo and Berry on the other hand really anchor the film, and bash some serious acting chops here, as two individuals both facing a crossroads in their lives. Again, what could have felt phoned in actually packs a punch and they are given some serious meat and potatoes with their respective roles and performances. Ruffalo is always reliable so I never had doubts, but this made me realize how much I miss seeing Halle Berry on screen. She hasn’t been in much over the last 6 years (6 movies to be exact) but Crime is a phenomenal reminder that Mrs. Berry is still as charming and sexy as ever.
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Most reviews you’re going to read are going to label Crime 101 as a pseudo-rip off of Michael Mann’s 1995 film Heat, or even call this a poor man’s Thomas Crown Affair with Steve McQueen (something that actually gets mentioned in an incredibly fun and tense scene between our main stars Hemsworth and Ruffalo). But I think director Bart Layton, who also wrote the screenplay, knew that he didn’t want Crime to feel like a bastardized version of such classics. I actually see this more as a film lovechild between two other Michael Mann classics, 1981’s Thief starring James Cann and 2004’s Collateral starring none other than Tom Cruise, and one of my favourite car chase films in William Friedkin’s 1985 To Live and Die in L.A..
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Mann’s Thief is paid huge homage here not only in the storytelling but also the structure of the heists. While Collateral and Live don’t thematically match the heist element that Crime offers, those two films feel more like an influence on the script thanks to the undulating, rollercoaster like pace that Layton chose to use - similar to the structure of both of those - where act by act we feel a simmering boil rising and then are catapulted in chaos and action. It may be formulaic but it’s done masterfully by Layton. The setting is also a great tactic here by Layton, using Southern California as a character in the story being told, all the way from Santa Barbara down to Los Angeles. That kind of exploration echoes those LA heavy actioners in Collateral and Live as the cities feel alive during their respective day and nighttime shoots.
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Crime 101 does not reinvent the wheel - it just gets them spinning down the streets of California and I’m here for it. It feels like an old school actioner that Hollywood hasn’t done much of lately. An A-List cast of beautiful people, stunning locations, a smash and grab premise (pun intended) that feels fully developed and fleshed out with character development and stakes across the board and a minimal reliance on shitty CGI. Not to knock the Fast and Furious franchise here but this is the kind of wheelhouse that it could have gone down after the first entry - with realistic stakes and white-knuckle car chases - and been absolutely stellar entry to entry rather than turning into the gong show it is now.
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Nevertheless, I miss these kinds of crime and heist movies and am glad that they are getting a renaissance over the last several years because these are the kinds of films I like watching and talking about.