Crime 101 – ripper car movies

When Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth), a usually mega-organised high-end jewellery thief, makes a couple of unforced errors, he starts to question his life choices and core happiness.

A chance meeting with a new lady, Maya (Monica Barbaro), triggers his desire to reset and start afresh, so he plans one last, extremely lucrative heist as a means to exit on a high. However, he faces a couple of roadblocks in the form of his mentor and handler, Money (Nick Nolte), who is wanting Mike to take on greater risks for greater reward, and unhinged fellow robber, Ormon (Barry Keoghan), who is champing at the bit to replace Mike as Money’s number one thief.

Meanwhile, washed-up detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) is starting to piece together Mike’s modus operandi and links his crimes to the close proximity of LA’s major 101 freeway. Lou is dealing with his own life crossroads due to his increasing disgruntlement with his work colleagues (and the LAPD in general) and a separation from his wife Angie (Jennifer Jason Leigh).

Mirroring this disheartening life and career shift is lonely insurance broker Sharon (Halle Berry), whose trajectory to becoming partner at her firm is being blocked by her arrogant boss, Mark (Paul Adelstein).

While their chosen professions may differ, they are connected enough emotionally for the worlds of Mike, Lou and Sharon to intersect like circles of a Venn diagram, and it isn’t long before Mike is leaning on Sharon for some insider info. Anger towards the chauvinistic Mark, combined with the promise of a healthy payday, is enough to tempt Sharon to spill the beans on a multi-million dollar cash and jewels transport slated for dodgy businessman, Monroe (Tate Donovan). A last-minute pang of guilt sees Sharon expose Mike’s robbery plans to Lou, and the shared disillusionment between the trio nurtures a level of cooperation and respect that gives all three a chance of coming out on top.

VEDICT: 4/5

While it’s fairly slow-moving for a crime thriller, that oddly didn’t detract from my enjoyment of Crime 101. And there’s plenty of cool car action to make up for the slower bits, with some modern and classic muscle cars being thrown around and a refreshing lack of the usual modern-day polish to the car chases that makes them feel realistic. That said, Chris Hemsworth’s character twisting a rotary electronic gear shifter definitely doesn’t have the same punch as slamming through the cogs the traditional way.

VEHICLES:

2015 Dodge Challenger
1968 Chevrolet Camaro RS
2015 Chrysler 300
2015 Dodge Charger
2006 Ford Crown Victoria
2020 Cadillac CT5
2023 BMW X1
2022 Mercedes-Benz GLC