R | 2h 19m | Crime, Thriller, Action | 2026
Davis (Chris Hemsworth; Thor from “The Avengers” series) is a successful, high-end jewel thief. Detective Lou (Mark Ruffalo; The Hulk from “The Avengers”) is the dogged detective on Davis’s trail.
What trail would that be? Davis’s digitally-revealed crimewave pattern runs along Los Angeles’s 101 Freeway, and so the title you thought referred to a fun college course, is really a fun wordplay.
Cop and Robber
Davis, neatly groomed and coiffed, with an expensive watch and a predilection for vintage muscle cars, is a driven, disciplined, lone wolf.
His thievery runs on precision planning. He moves fast, clean, and causes zero bodily harm. However, with so many jobs (and diamonds) in the bag, the line from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and “Thelma & Louise” hangs over his head: “Luck always runs out.”
Comparatively speaking Detective Lou’s a mess. His marriage is a shambles, and he’s up against a career quandary: Lou’s stubborn, and he’s got principles and ethics. Lou is a thorn in the side of his integrity-deficient boss, who likes the easy, fudged answers to complicated crimes, that grease the rails of office politics. Lou is struggling to catch a big break so as to maintain his position.
The Ladies
Just as Davis begin to wonder if there might be more to life, he runs into nice girl Maya (Monica Barbaro; “A Complete Unknown”). Literally. Their cars crash.
Maya doesn’t add much to the story other than eye candy. It’s also rather unbelievable that she’d jump headfirst into a relationship with a man with no available past, family, friends, photographs, obvious evasiveness, and blatant relationship cluelessness. Barbaro sells it well though, gawking at hunky Thor at the site of their crash.
Sharon (Halle Berry; “Die Another Day”) is a ladder-climbing insurance executive working for a prestigious firm. They underwrite and insure valuable and luxurious assets for the wealthy, such as diamonds.
Sharon has been waiting patiently for 11 years to make partner, only to finally enlighten to the reason the firm keeps her at arm’s length. They use women like herself mainly as bait to close deals with potential pampered clients, by using their looks and charm.
When Sharon crosses paths with Davis, he makes her an offer she can’t refuse. Oh, she does at first, shrilly, from her moral high horse—but sometimes a scorned insurance saleswoman wants a bit of payback.
Yoga Class
Sharon and out-of-shape Lou bump into each other in a yoga class. Lou suddenly gets the clue that he’s been waiting for—he can now narrow down those high-end heists to the Freeway 101 corridor. Lou and Sharon keep running into each other over and over again. Must be fate.
Now, Omon (Barry Keoghan), a volatile, dirt-bike-riding little robber, is put on Davis’s trail by Money (Nick Nolte) who employs them both, and wants to reestablish his authority, after Davis calls him out for not honoring their initial contract.
There’s a decent car-versus-bike chase sequence that syncs up precisely, albeit serendipitously, with Lou’s sting operation. All of the above reaches an unpredictable but immensely satisfying climax in a hotel room.
Wrap Up
“Crime 101” is a character-driven, solid throwback crime thriller. Throughout, the underlying intrigue is gripping due to the three central characters all having been betrayed by those they trusted.
We empathize with the circumstances that cause them to warp their carefully-constructed sets of personal ethics, and choose easy wrongs over hard rights, which makes it more entertaining than the run-of-the-mill heist thriller. Each character receives a closure, both satisfying and slippery in morality. Makes you think.
‘Crime 101’
Director: Bart Layton
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry, Monica Barbaro, Nick Nolte
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 2 hours, 19 minutes
Release Date: Feb. 13, 2026
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
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