Hemsworth, Ruffalo lead stellar cast in complicated crime caper

The title makes it sound like Crime 101 is either an educational film or a back-to-basics crime movie. The latter is closer to the truth. A lot of the characters and situations here are familiar - a couple of cinematic inspirations are even name-checked - and apt comparisons have been made to Michael Mann movies (Heat, Collateral). But there's a little social commentary here as well as the well-worn albeit slickly deployed tropes.

It's a complicated story with a lot to keep track of, so attention must be paid. There are three main characters. Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth) is a Los Angeles jewel thief who makes sure nobody gets hurt in his heists and who steals only from the very wealthy and insured. He's an anti-hero, but all of this helps us to like him, and besides, he's played by Chris Hemsworth, whom everybody likes (don't they?).

After a job less slickly executed than usual, Mike - who's had a hard past and lives a lonely, almost ascetic life (money doesn't buy happiness, though it does pay for sex workers) decides to break away from his boss, the improbably named Money (Nick Nolte, looking and sounding aged, even decrepit). Mike is a gentleman of a thief, especially compared to his unstable, violent rival Orman (Barry Keoghan). And signs are he's starting to look for a real relationship. Could PR assistant Maya (Monica Barbaro) be The One?

While Mike is good at covering his tracks, police detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) thinks he's detected a pattern in the heists, all of which take place on the 101 freeway (ah, that's what the title refers to). Despite little support - the department and even his partner are sceptical about him - and a messy personal life, Lou remains a lone wolf in pursuit. It's not like he has much else going on: he's estranged from his wife Angie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and alienated from his colleagues, and even his recent discovery of yoga can't cure everything.

And then there's Sharon (Halle Berry), a high-level insurance broker whose bosses (all male, naturally) keep dangling a long-promised partnership just out of reach and make insulting remarks about her age and prospects, handing over one of her clients to a younger new woman. Might Sharon be tempted to use her knowledge and smarts to change sides if the right opportunity presented itself?

That's not everything, of course, but you've probably been nodding in recognition at a lot of this. It probably comes as no surprise that the superwealthy characters - like one of Sharon's clients (Tate Donovan) whose fiancée she mistakes for his daughter - and robbery victims tend to be ciphers and/or jerks or that the male characters dominate the action.

Erik Wilson's cinematography and Blanck Mass's score are on the dark side and the film has a slightly heavy feeling despite the slick editing and elaborate aerial shots of LA. Hemsworth's stubbled charisma keeps his guarded character from seeming like a dull cliché and Ruffalo's scruffy likeability is appealing (though his hideously bushy moustache doesn't - maybe the director realised this, as it eventually gets a trim). Berry has less to work with but you can only sympathise with her (all three, of course, are superhero alumni: the level is much more human here).

I didn't entirely buy the climactic encounter in a hotel room but it does help the story lead to a pretty satisfying conclusion.