Rating: R | Runtime: 140 minutes
Release Date: February 13th, 2026 (USA)
Studio: Amazon MGM Studios
Director(s): Bart Layton
Writer(s): Bart Layton / Don Winslow (novella)

He’s got rules.

Who’s worse? The criminal with a code or the businessman devoid of ethics? Replace businessman with corrupt cop or any other vocation and the point stands. That’s not to say the criminal is good, though. Chris Hemsworth’s character here isn’t Robin Hood. He’s simply not willing to cross certain moral lines that those who care about nothing but money are.

The same goes with Mark Ruffalo’s detective and Halle Berry’s insurance agent. They voluntarily live in gray areas but will feel that pang of guilt when the air around them darkens to black. They wish the world worked because they know they’d excel if it did. Unfortunately, only those with the stomach to ruin lives as the cost for self-aggrandizement truly find the comfort to worry less.

Bart Layton’s Crime 101 (adapted from Don Winslow’s novella) is therefore a great middle finger to the one percent class and bosses who make it their job to screw over everyone but their shareholders and bottom-line regardless of the damage done by doing so. It’s a tense thriller full of kismet and comeuppance wherein mankind is split into three camps: antiheroes, victims, and villains.

The acting, score, and pacing are all great to complement a taut script that admits to its strings knowing that nothing on-screen is truly a coincidence. No, not even the misfired shot considering everyone knew that gun was a bad idea. The film might widen its grin a tad too far for its conclusion, but I’m okay letting the moral yet flawed slaves to the system reap some spoils. It’s all insured anyway.

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Chris Hemsworth stars as ’Davis’ in CRIME 101. © 2026 Amazon MGM Studios Content Services LLC.