If writer-director Bart Layton’s crime drama Crime 101 had a more fitting title, it would be The Good Thief.

Adapted from Don Winslow’s novella — his novel Savages was made into an Oliver Stone film — Crime 101’s “good thief” is Mike (Chris Hemsworth), a diamond robber with a slick modus operandi and a zero casualty record.

Working for an old man called Money (Nick Nolte, who coincidentally starred in a film called The Good Thief), Mike decides to call off a robbery after his last job doesn’t go exactly as planned. Money, undeterred, enlists a volatile young biker, Ormon (Barry Keoghan), to do the job instead. Ormon, though not as slick, is successful. However, the mess he leaves behind gives LAPD Detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) enough details to discern Mike’s methods.

In a parallel track, Mike, a reserved, perpetually shaken, good-hearted man, finally overcomes his inhibitions and asks Maya (Monica Barbaro) out, after meeting her the night before, when she bumped her boss’ car into the rear fender of his getaway car.

Chris Hemsworth employs a quiet restraint and charm in Crime 101

Lingering on the sidelines of the plot is Sharon (Halle Berry), an ageing insurance broker increasingly marginalised at her firm and passed over for partnership by her chauvinistic boss. She eventually agrees to help Mike pull off an $11 million robbery.

Layton writes a neat, attention-grabbing thriller that places characters first, story second and the thrills third. For most of the film, this hierarchy of priorities works to its advantage. However, the formula begins to strain in the final act — and that strain has a name: Ormon.

Young, unpredictable and volatile, he is a loose cannon who triggers a less-than-effective climax, reminiscent of the Pakistani film Laal Kabootar (LK). In that film, a character identified by a red pigeon hat functions as a late-stage threat, but the escalation never fully materialises. Similarly, Ormon’s presence does not significantly amplify the stakes in the big finish. The climax simply happens.

Ruffalo is perfectly cast as Lubesnick, a rumpled, old-school cop — an honest man stuck in a precinct governed by bureaucracy, one that prefers paperwork to pursuit. Overall, the performances are top-notch, with Hemsworth standing on a pedestal above the rest. While the others ‘act’ their parts — and I don’t use the word pejoratively — Hemsworth, surprisingly, employs a quiet restraint and charm. His Mike is troubled yet masterful at his craft, and longs for emotional stability.

Had his past and inner life been better explored, this could have been an excellent film. As it stands, the film is as good — and perhaps as superficially profound — as its main character.

An Amazon-MGM release, Crime 101 is rated ‘A’ (Adults Only) and features less blood and nudity than one might expect

The writer is one of Icon’s film reviewers

Published in Dawn, ICON, March 8th, 2026