When a gun misfires in his face during yet another high stakes, supposedly low risk heist, our professional thief - let's call him Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth) - starts to re-think the risk versus reward balance in his current line of work. For his fence (Nick Nolte) this signals a lack of nerve; time to bring up the next generation of violent criminal (Barry Keoghan) to keep the money flowing.
The only cop who suspects Davis even exists (his MO is basically leaving no evidence behind, which makes proving his existence a little tricky) is Lou (Mark Ruffalo, really going for it), an extremely shabby detective who is making no friends on the force with his wild theories, and no friends at home with his habit of conducting business on the toilet.
What exactly Sharon (Halle Berry), a high-end sales executive at a very high-end insurance firm, has to do with any of this is a mystery, though she seems to be struggling a little at work and work does involve a lot of very expensive things so it's not hard to figure out where this particular subplot is heading.
What distinguishes director Bart Layton's film from all the other attempts to remake Heat is that a bit of thought has been put into proceedings (it's based on a novella by crime author Don Winslow). Some of the plot dots are left for the audience to connect; not every single thing we see on screen is explained. The heists aren't overly complex, but they're planned enough to feel plausible.
There's also a bit more going on with the characters than usual. Some of them are getting on and are a bit worn down by life; Davis swings between being smooth and professional on the job (basically being Chris Hemsworth) and awkward and unsettled in his down time. His reason for crime is personal in a way that inspires pity more than respect; he's not really someone you'd aspire to, even if he does drive a lot of fancy cars.
What connects the central characters aside from the plot is that they're all in roughly the same position in life. They've been working at their job long enough to expect respect, only to discover their hard work doesn't mean shit; not only are they replaceable the second they stop delivering but oh look, here's their replacement right now. This message is what the experts call "timely".
All this is good stuff; unfortunately, when your movie goes close to two and a half hours, you also have to deliver a few thrills to keep your audience awake. People might talk about the performances or the late night mood of Heat, but the reason why it's still being ripped off thirty years later is because of the amazing shoot-out sequence in the streets of LA. Crime 101 does have the occasional car chase or armed robbery, but you won't feel the need to move towards the edge of your seat.
What this aspires to - and largely achieves - is a kind of mature crime vibe, a noir-ish tale of people pushed into situations they didn't choose because of circumstances and a general sense that the rich folks up on the hill don't want to share. What it lacks is any real sense of desperation to kick things into high gear and give what's going on some serious stakes.
Nobody here is living on the edge; everyone could walk away and still live an okay life. America turns out to be a place where you might as well do crime because you're going to be shat on either way.
- Anthony Morris
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