Michael Mann’s 1995 classic Heat has endured in the culture for a variety of reasons, but the big one is rewatchability.
Heat is a movie, like The Shawshank Redemption, where someone can flick by it on TV and recognise the part that’s about to come up.
It has so many famous scenes, such as the iconic bank robbery with its earth-shattering sound design, the diner showdown between Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, the shootout in the abandoned drive-in theatre, and Henry Rollins randomly showing up.
We mention Heat at the top of a review for Crime 101 because this movie doesn’t so much homage it as skirt very close to intellectual property theft.
If the 20th rewatch of Heat isn’t hitting for you, Crime 101 is here to satisfy your cravings; this is an instant hotel-room classic and a masterclass in populist cinema.
A film like Sentimental Value is like dinner at a fancy restaurant where you can’t pronounce half of the items on the menu but know it’s probably good for you; Crime 101 is a warm bowl of mac and cheese after a long day.
Instead of De Niro as the zen-like criminal mastermind, we have Chris Hemsworth; instead of Pacino as the put-upon cop whose life is a disaster zone, we have Mark Ruffalo; and instead of a hot-headed Val Kilmer, we have Dublin’s own Barry Keoghan.
The homage becomes explicit when, 15 minutes in, Nick Nolte shows up to debrief with Hemsworth’s character in much the same way Jon Voight does with De Niro.
Crime 101 follows Hemsworth as a master criminal who commits crimes along Los Angeles’ 101 route, while Ruffalo’s cop tries to close the net.
Meanwhile, Keoghan’s sketchy motorcycle-riding operator is honing in on Hemsworth’s turf, and Halle Berry’s insurance agent finds her work intersecting with his line of business.
At 2 hours and 20 minutes, Crime 101 doesn’t quite have time to flesh out its world and characters the way the book does; if it was going to borrow so much from Heat, why not commit to the full three-hour runtime?
The plotline between Hemsworth and his love interest, played by Monica Barbaro, could either have been cut or given another 15 minutes; as it stands, it clings to the movie like a stray nose hair.
Barbaro, one of the high points in A Complete Unknown, gives a sketchily written character real gravitas — the sign of a true movie star.
Berry fares slightly better. Her role as an insurance agent dealing in multi-million-dollar policies that collide with the criminal world gives her more to do and makes her integral to the plot.
Keoghan is the villain, and he plays it with relish; his bleached hair and hair-trigger temper contrast nicely with Hemsworth’s suited-and-booted polish.
The Dubliner does a lot of great eye acting and reunites with American Animals director Bart Layton, who smartly deploys Keoghan’s tetchy, nervous energy.
Hemsworth, like many Marvel peers, hasn’t quite figured out his lane as a movie star.
This film makes a strong argument for it: he should just play emotionally stunted, good-looking criminals in nice suits.
The Aussie is striking to look at — like an aftershave ad come to life — and Layton knows the sullen, tired expression says more than any overwritten monologue.
Ruffalo had a stellar career before playing the Hulk, and his performance as a cop sacrificing his personal life to catch a criminal is one of his best. Ruffalo burning himself out while chasing a mystery is always a recipe for cinematic greatness — Zodiac, Spotlight, and Dark Waters spring to mind — and this is no different.
Fans who think he’d make an ideal Columbo will find plenty of evidence for their case here.
Like Heat, the film builds toward an eventual meeting between criminal and cop, and after nearly two hours of near-misses, the match finally meets the spark.
The cast helps separate Crime 101 from the pack; this easily could have been a generic streaming dump that sank in the algorithm within 48 hours, but Sony had the sense to give it a theatrical push.
It recalls 1990s blockbusters like The Fugitive or Con Air: a slightly schlocky premise executed with money, talent, and confidence. The movie never winks to suggest you shouldn’t take it seriously, and it carries itself with a real sense of composure.
It’s easy to imagine a 1990s version starring Harrison Ford in the Ruffalo role or Val Kilmer in the Keoghan slot.
If you approach Crime 101 as the kind of film that used to rule the shelves at Xtravision or the 9pm Sunday slot on TV3, you’ll have a great time.
The movie knows exactly what it wants to be and executes it well.
Last year, we knocked Caught Stealing for being a poor imitation of After Hours and the wave of post-Pulp Fiction knock-offs, saying it relied on genre tropes without adding anything new.
In a paradoxical sense, Crime 101 also lacks originality and borrows shamelessly from Heat, but it pulls off the heist through sheer confidence.
Crime 101 is an unapologetic throwback, and while it should do solid business in cinemas, it will truly find its home on streaming or in that coveted late-night Film4 slot.
The film is worth seeing in cinemas, because heaven knows we need more 3-star populist masterpieces on our screens, but we suspect this movie will take on a life of it’s own once people can watch it from the comfort of their living room with a pizza and fizzy drinks to hand.
Sometimes, crime does pay.