There is a distinct kind of nostalgia that comes from a perfectly timed, sun-bleached shot of a wide Los Angeles freeway. It is the visual language of the adult crime thriller, a genre that flourished in the nineties and early aughts before largely retreating to the fringes of independent cinema or morphing into bombastic superhero spectacles. With Crime 101, director Bart Layton attempts to stage a grand revival of this classic form. Adapting Don Winslow’s 2020 novella, Layton pulls together a massive, high-caliber ensemble including Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and Halle Berry to construct a sprawling heist picture that consciously evokes the ghost of Michael Mann. The results are undeniably stylish, frequently gripping, and deeply committed to an old-school aesthetic. Yet, as the title implies, the film occasionally finds itself trapped by its own foundational curriculum. For all its moody lighting, social awareness, and exceptional performances, Crime 101 struggles to break out f...