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If there’s one thing you can say about America’s car culture obsession, it has produced some pretty cool movies. Especially those that combine vehicles with crimes. I’m not just talking films about stealing cars, such as Gone in 60 Seconds (1974/2000), but those where the cars are as much a character as their drivers.Sure, there is a plethora of modern era thrillers featuring drivers, but if ever there was a prime decade for cars and crimes it was the 1970s. Vanishing Point. White Lightning. The Getaway. Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry. Heck, throw Smokey and the Bandit in there, for good measure.The granddaddy of them all, though, was Walter Hill’s 1978 masterpiece The Driver, starring Ryan O’Neal, Bruce Dern and Isabelle Adjani. This film is so cool that it doesn’t even need names for its characters. Without The Driver there would probably be no Driveor Baby Driver or the Death Proof segment of Grindhouse. We also might not have gotten this week’s new release, Crime 101.Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth) is a jewel thief working the greater Los Angeles area for Money (Nick Nolte). All of Mike’s heists are planned so they take place within a few miles of the 101 freeway, making getaways fairly easy. Det. Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) has figured out this pattern, and believes all the crimes to be the work of a single individual, but his theories have made him a laughingstock within his department.When Money begins to worry about Mike’s loyalty, he asks another of his “employees,” Ormon (Barry Keoghan), to find out what Mike is planning next. That plan happens to involve Sharon Combs (Halle Berry), an employee at an insurance company that specializes in covering items for the extremely wealthy. Mike is trying to get her to turn on her company and key him in on any big money opportunities.Written and directed by Bart Layton, based on a novella by Don Winslow, Crime 101 is pure ‘70s cool within the trappings of a modern crime thriller. From the moment I saw the first trailer, I was hoping that’s what it would be, and it is. Tenfold.Despite him not having any involvement with Crime 101, Michael Mann’s DNA runs deep through every frame of this film. This is Heat meets Thief in all the best ways. Layton has also chosen to follow Mann’s traditional path of slow burn storytelling punctuated by bursts of action.Layton has a definite flair for visually layering the narrative. During the first half of the film, he has the characters cross paths without interaction in some very creative ways. He and his editors also use the ol’ Match on Action technique to cut between scenes, and even between moments in a montage, and it’s quite beautiful.This is a cast stacked with talent, and every ounce of it is on the screen. Hemsworth is cool as ice when Mike is in his element, but charmingly nervous when having to step outside his self-imposed protective bubble. Berry and Ruffalo are both having to deal with being underappreciated at their jobs, even though they are very good at what they do. Keoghan’s Ormon is just plain unhinged.I know there’s a lot of year left, but it’s hard for me to believe that Crime 101 will go anywhere lower than my Top 5. It will definitely stay number one in coolness, for certain.
If there’s one thing you can say about America’s car culture obsession, it has produced some pretty cool movies. Especially those that combine vehicles with crimes. I’m not just talking films about stealing cars, such as Gone in 60 Seconds (1974/2000), but those where the cars are as much a character as their drivers.
Sure, there is a plethora of modern era thrillers featuring drivers, but if ever there was a prime decade for cars and crimes it was the 1970s. Vanishing Point. White Lightning. The Getaway. Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry. Heck, throw Smokey and the Bandit in there, for good measure.
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The granddaddy of them all, though, was Walter Hill’s 1978 masterpiece The Driver, starring Ryan O’Neal, Bruce Dern and Isabelle Adjani. This film is so cool that it doesn’t even need names for its characters. Without The Driver there would probably be no Driveor Baby Driver or the Death Proof segment of Grindhouse. We also might not have gotten this week’s new release, Crime 101.
Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth) is a jewel thief working the greater Los Angeles area for Money (Nick Nolte). All of Mike’s heists are planned so they take place within a few miles of the 101 freeway, making getaways fairly easy. Det. Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) has figured out this pattern, and believes all the crimes to be the work of a single individual, but his theories have made him a laughingstock within his department.
When Money begins to worry about Mike’s loyalty, he asks another of his “employees,” Ormon (Barry Keoghan), to find out what Mike is planning next. That plan happens to involve Sharon Combs (Halle Berry), an employee at an insurance company that specializes in covering items for the extremely wealthy. Mike is trying to get her to turn on her company and key him in on any big money opportunities.
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Written and directed by Bart Layton, based on a novella by Don Winslow, Crime 101 is pure ‘70s cool within the trappings of a modern crime thriller. From the moment I saw the first trailer, I was hoping that’s what it would be, and it is. Tenfold.
Despite him not having any involvement with Crime 101, Michael Mann’s DNA runs deep through every frame of this film. This is Heat meets Thief in all the best ways. Layton has also chosen to follow Mann’s traditional path of slow burn storytelling punctuated by bursts of action.
Layton has a definite flair for visually layering the narrative. During the first half of the film, he has the characters cross paths without interaction in some very creative ways. He and his editors also use the ol’ Match on Action technique to cut between scenes, and even between moments in a montage, and it’s quite beautiful.
This is a cast stacked with talent, and every ounce of it is on the screen. Hemsworth is cool as ice when Mike is in his element, but charmingly nervous when having to step outside his self-imposed protective bubble. Berry and Ruffalo are both having to deal with being underappreciated at their jobs, even though they are very good at what they do. Keoghan’s Ormon is just plain unhinged.
I know there’s a lot of year left, but it’s hard for me to believe that Crime 101 will go anywhere lower than my Top 5. It will definitely stay number one in coolness, for certain.
