As the title suggests, sure, this is an introduction to the crime genre.

A professional thief in L.A. starts to question his vocation after a near-fatal encounter. But his replacement, and a detective on his tail, will make any sort of escape into a better life even more dangerous.

Crime 101, is an Amazon production, and directed by Bart Layton. It stars Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry, Monica Barbaro, and Barry Keoghan. It is an adaptation of Don Winslow’s novella of the same name. This is about as classic as you can get with a crime thriller, to the point in which it isn’t a bad movie at all. However, there isn’t much to write home about.

The story follows Mike, and opens with a diamond theft that very nearly costs him his life. Despite all of his professionalism, planning, and cool-headedness. His benefactor, seeing Mike rattled, hires a hotheaded younger man (Keoghan) to carry out jobs instead. Meanwhile, police detective (Ruffalo) has been trying to catch the elusive thief for years, much to the increasing scepticism of his department.

Mike starts to regret his past, and plans one last heist with the help of an embattled insurance company employee. But is this a heist he can walk away from?

Describing the story takes a bit of time; there are a lot of elements at play. Crime 101 is a stark, smooth, and competent police thriller. The sort of movie that was being made throughout the 1990s. Hemsworth is playing a meticulous jewel thief, often seen driving around in incredibly sleek American cars with tinted windows. He has made his career his life. He has no emotional attachment to anything. Indeed, this character is similar to Michael Fassbender in The Killer, and it is great to see Hemsworth play something else besides loveable goof or hunk.

He mostly carries it off. Especially alongside his Marvel Avengers co-star Mark Ruffalo. Their relationship is more similar to Tommy Lee Jones and Harrison Ford in The Fugitive. One of them several steps behind, but both of them slowly circling together. This spiralling escalation is the meat of the story: how exactly do all of these disparate parts and unique characters crash together.
Halle Berry plays an insurance salesperson who is increasingly pressurised by her male coworkers. Like Hemsworth’s character, she is starting to question her career choices. She probably has the most interesting role to play here. While Monica Barbaro (Top Gun: Maverick) plays the one human being who gets through to Mike’s human side. Barely.

It is a familiar movie. Various action scenes with car chases and vehicular action are very good. The camera is held steady, we get to see some good vehicle driving on display. There’s a great scene of Keoghan robbing a jewellery store. The cinematography is quite cold, stark, and grim. The pacing is slow, perhaps too slow. Crime 101 definitely wants to be taken seriously. It looks expensive. Muscle cars, expensive restaurants, mansions, hotels, and art galleries. It is nice to see these larger-than-life actors play more subtle, covert characters for once.

But for all that it isn’t very stand-out. The musical score is forgettable. There isn’t really any big revelations or surprises along the way. But that is what a critic would say having seen a lot of movies. The counterargument is that Crime 101 is a well-made movie. If you like these slow-burn cops-and-robbers movies, from cinema of times past, you’ll certainly get something from it.

Or, if you’ve never seen Heat, or The French Connection, or dozens of others, but want to see Ruffalo and Hemsworth not being space heroes for once. You could do worse.

Additional Marshmallows: Incredibly, Hemsworth doesn’t take his shirt off.