'Crime 101' Review
- Erica Richards
- 20 hours ago
- 2 min read
Release Date: 02/13/26 [Cinemas]
Genre: Crime. Drama. Thriller.
MPAA: Rated R.
Distributor: Amazon MGM Studios.
The Verdict: A Maybe
There are a lot of enjoyable elements in Crime 101: the slow build of suspense and interweaving storylines tying together pretty seamlessly. However, an obvious ending and an unnecessary extra story thread that extends the runtime 30 minutes too long, brings down the film overall.
Chris Hemsworth plays Davis, a mysterious and quiet thief who plans and executes big money jewelry heists, leaving no destruction or violence in his path. Halle Berry plays Sharon, an insurance broker at the end of her rope with her company looking for vengeance. Mark Ruffalo plays the ignored detective who is determined to unveil this criminal as a serial criminal with a pattern and method. Barry Keoghan plays the loose cannon criminal who is reckless in all of his actions. Monica Barbaro plays the cool girl, carefree love interest who finds herself falling too hard for Hemsworth.
Here’s what works and what doesn’t... Hemsworth is mysterious but almost too distant to really fully understand his character’s motivation. The unnecessary storyline comes into play when he tries to pursue love and a relationship with Barbaro. Truthfully—it’s just too hard to believe that someone who looks like Hemsworth has any issue with women. It’s just unrealistic and removed me from the story. I understand the introduction of Barbaro’s character attempting to show a change in Hemsworth and his hopeful future, to unravel his layers and make him relatable and vulnerable to the audience but it’s still a little hard to believe, especially when we see how easy it is for him to turn on the charm and seduce Berry when it’s beneficial for him.
Berry’s character, Sharon, is not developed enough to believe she would give in and jeopardize her career and the life she has built at the first opportunity that is presented. It felt a bit too convenient. Keoghan’s character goes completely off the rails—but that is Keoghan at his best so it makes for a fun watch. Ruffalo is very believable as the run down detective who is blindly determined to prove his theory because he trusts his gut.
The ending has a good twist, but it is also what makes it cheesy and too unrealistic for it to have the punch it should to be classified as a crime thriller.
