“Take a deep breath in … and exhale. Inhale. And exhale. Notice the beat of your heart. The rhythm of life. You hold the power to create all that you desire out of nothing. What do you see? What do you feel? Remember that there is great power within you. And that power will guide you in your journey. Today is a beautiful day of opportunity. I am exactly where I need to be. I open myself to the universe and trust in the unfolding of my life. This day will bring you peace and an opportunity for success. Feel this moment. Have a beautiful rest of your day.”
Isn’t that pretty? Isn’t that just inspiring? Now do me a favor. Forget all of that, and let’s talk about the Amazon/MGM home video release of Crime 101. It’s really about three characters trying to navigate the craziness that is each of their lives, but none of that Tony Robbins crap is going to make it any better. Now, that’s very fortunate for us, because this would have been a very short and very boring film if any of this had worked on any of our characters. You see, we’re just a few months from the next Avengers film, and I’m sure many of you just can’t wait until November. Wait no longer, because I happen to know the perfect film to feed your addiction for at least a couple of hours, give or take 20 minutes. How about if I give you Thor going up against The Hulk, and I give you a little throwback to the X-Men and include Storm in there for good measure? Sound like a hoot?
Now you have to understand that there are rights issues and other things, so let’s just call Thor Davis (Hemsworth), and let’s just say he’s deep undercover, so there won’t be any hammer-downs and lightning from this guy. We’ll say he’s a thief working for an old man who still has the brains but can’t really work the heists himself, so Davis is his front man. He’s an Avenger, right? Shhh. So he has a very strict code. He’s as nice as he can be to the couriers he robs, and he never hurts anyone. But he’s managing to get away with millions of dollars worth of merchandise. Someone should probably stop him. Now when that much loot gets taken, who has a good motive to catch the crook and return the valuable goods? You guessed it. The insurance company sends an investigator … Storm. But she’s also undercover, so there aren’t going to be any freak winds and rain getting in the way here. Her undercover assignment is Sharon (Berry). She works for a high-end insurance company that happens to handle the cases Davis is robbing. She’s struggling as well. It’s a world catered to men and women only as long as they can keep their youthful looks. While she might like to send a hurricane up their bottoms, she’s under cover, so all she can do is try to prove herself even as she learns the promises of partnership and more control are really pretty illusions. She’s pretty much in the middle, because there’s always a third party to make up this circle-of-life world of crime. That’s where The Hulk comes in. He’s undercover as Detective Lou. Lou’s home life is falling apart, and he’s not too popular with his fellow cops or the bosses. He believes these crimes are related, and his obsession goes against the don’t-make-waves or more importantly, more work for the department. He’d love to just Hulk-out on these guys, but there’s the whole undercover situation. So he smokes too many cigarettes and drinks a little too much booze. But he’s right.
Now as the movie progresses we see each of these characters and realize they are all three the same person. Each is not getting respect from their bosses. Davis’s boss (Nolte) brings in a more violent guy because he thinks Davis has lost his nerve. All three are unhappy, and all three are about to converge, but how?
That’s where the film overstays its 140 minutes. It’s great that we get some absolutely awesome character development here. We care for all three of these leads, and we want somehow for all three to win, but in reality that can’t happen, or can it? Solid performances and compelling characters keep us invested about as long as they can, but that was maybe just under two hours, and now we’re paying for all of those wonderful character studies by dragging out the ending to a point when we stop caring who wins; we just want it to stop.
Video
Crime 101 is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The ultra-high-definition 2160p image is arrived at by an HEVC codec with an average bitrate of 65-70 mbps. The ultra high definition comes from a native 8K shoot and a 4K intermediary. It looks like filmmakers are getting wise. If you’re going to insist on shooting video, at least match the resolution of a 35mm film print. It takes away some of that obvious upconvert nonsense. You get a real nice … almost cinematic image here that utilizes a lot of style from the film noir era. It might have made an interesting film in black & white. As it is, colors are highly denaturized, and many scenes are almost monochromatic. So colors aren’t going to jump here. Each of these characters all thrive in the dark, and because of some nice Dolby Vision push on the contrast, black levels can deliver the contrast needed to get nice shadow definition but give us nice atmosphere with the mostly source lighting. There are some bright moments found mostly in Sharon’s office. It’s not a realistic color, but a somewhat exaggerated vividness.
Audio
The Dolby Atmos audio presentation defaults to 7.1. The film is all about atmosphere, and the limited surround space plays rather nicely with that tone. There are moments when the surrounds come alive. Many of Hemsworth’s car chases bring that brighter energy, and it plays in stark contrast to the quiet way he prefers to do business. The score does a good job of blending into the background, and subs help to advance the dialog and those car-chase moments. The audio presentation isn’t going to intrude on what we get on the screen, and the dialog usually pops and is well-placed.
Special Features
N0 extras
Final Thoughts:
Director/writer Bart Layton has all of the elements he needs. He has three very good leads, and he has given each of them a compelling story. And for the most part he stays out of their way as good directors are wont to do. You hired a talented cast; now let them tell their story. The supporting cast is made up of either victims or characters that keep getting in each lead’s way. And for a while these characters are truly mesmerizing. But the ending comes too late, and what’s worse, the story plays into our wishes. Hey, Layton, we really don’t want to get what we want. There have to be winners and losers, and no matter what we say or even feel, we want winners. There’s too much kissing your sister here. Sports fans will get what I mean. The rest of you will figure it out after 240 minutes. Still, it’s worth the investment just to see three great actors doing their thing. Now, I always try to play it straight with you guys. This is not really an Avengers film, and no one here is under cover. But you knew that, right? Also pick up the UHD Blu-ray in 4K; this thing looks good, and it’s a sin to watch it on anything smaller than your home theater TV. “So let’s start by you giving me your phone.”
