CRIME 101 : Wednesday 18th February 2026.

I saw the M Rated 'CRIME 101' this week, and this UK and US Co-Produced crime thriller film is Written for the screen and Directed by Bart Layton whose previous film credits take in the 2012 documentary 'The Imposter' and 2018's 'American Animals'. This film is based on the 2020 novella of the same name written by Don Winslow. The film premiered in London at the back end of last month, was released here in Australia and the US last week, has so far grossed US$30M from a production budget of US$90M and has generated largely positive critical reviews.

Set in Los Angeles, Mike Davis (Chris Hensworth) is an elusive and meticulously disciplined jewel thief who carefully plans his robberies to avoid violence, and leaving any signs of his DNA evidence while escaping via US Route 101 (a major north–south highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington on the West Coast of the USA). Intercepting a diamond delivery carrying decoy gems, he steals US$3M in genuine diamonds, but is shaken after being grazed by an unexpected bullet fired by one of the men he is stealing from. As a result of being somewhat rattled, he calls off a planned robbery on a high end jewellery store in Santa Barbara, but his fence, Money (Nick Nolte), enlists volatile young biker Ormon (Barry Keoghan) in his place.

Meanwhile, LAPD Detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) links the diamond theft to Mike's string of unsolved robberies and suggests a lone suspect is responsible, but his theory is dismissed by his partner Tillman (Corey Hawkins) and his superiors. Preparing another heist, Mike pays Devon (Devon Bostick), a hacker, for information on Sharon Colvin (Halle Berry), a high-end insurance broker to the super wealthy. Long undervalued by her firm with whom she has worked for eleven years and has been promised a promotion to Partner, which never seems to eventuate, Sharon is further frustrated when a new colleague closes a lucrative deal with the wealthy Steven Monroe (Tate Donovan). After Ormon violently carries out the Santa Barbara job on his own, Mike cuts ties with Money, who instructs Ormon to intercept Mike's next heist.

The lonely Mike strikes up a relationship with an attractive stranger, Maya (Monica Barbaro), after she rear-ends his car, while he had stopped at a red light. He realises he is being tracked by Ormon, who threatens Devon into revealing that Sharon is connected to Mike's plan. Sharon rejects Mike's attempt to recruit her as an accomplice, and Mike spots Ormon, confronting him in a 24/7 convenience store after a high-speed chase; realising he had been sent by Money, Mike warns Ormon to stay away. Separating from his unfaithful wife Angie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Lou finds himself joining Sharon's yoga class in an attempt to get fit, and just to try something new, and rents a new apartment by the beach. He discovers the car Mike used in the diamond robbery, and a microscopic trace of blood inside which is a match to Mike's juvenile record with his birth name, James.

Denied a promotion once more, Sharon reluctantly agrees to help Mike. Demanding a US$3M share, she provides inside information on an illicit diamond purchase Monroe has arranged to make with US$11M in cash, for his upcoming wedding at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Lou is suspended for refusing to help cover up the Police shooting of another jewel thief, but continues with his investigation and tracks down Mike's foster mother. Ormon breaks into Sharon's apartment and viciously interrogates her, who turns to Lou for help and admits everything, and quits her job after openly criticising her boss in front of the new female broker. Wary of Mike's secretive nature, Maya ends their relationship after he reveals he will be leaving town for an undisclosed period of time on business, as a 'software developer'.

The briefcase of diamonds arrives with a courier and Mike takes the place of Monroe's private security guard, completely unaware that Lou is posing as the courier himself. Driving to the hotel, the pair strike up a conversation about cars. Mike admits that he prefers the older American cars of the '60's and '70's, cars with character stating that his favourite films is Steve McQueen's 'Bullitt' and his Ford Mustang. Lou confides that his favourite McQueen movie is 'The Thomas Crown Affair', to which Mike replies that he missed that one. Arriving at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel the two of them deliver the briefcase to Monroe and his fiancee in the wedding suite. Mike seizes the cash at gunpoint, but Lou retrieves a concealed gun in the briefcase and reveals himself as a Police Officer. Their standoff is interrupted by Ormon, disguised as a hotel Butler delivering room service. Demanding the case, he shoots and wounds Monroe, but Mike kills Ormon before he can shoot Lou. Lou allows Mike to escape albeit empty-handed, and tells him to get out of town and to not come back, and then forces Monroe and his fiancee to support his story as he frames Ormon for Mike's string of robberies. 

Later after the dust has seemingly settled, Lou meets up with Sharon at their yoga class. Having stolen the decoy gems taken into evidence from Mike's earlier heist, Lou swapped them with real diamonds from the briefcase, which he gives to Sharon to start a new life. Mike had sent a text message to Sharon with a photo and an address for 'The Cop'. Showing Lou the photo he comments that he doesn't know where that is. Lou arrives at the apartment block and takes the elevator down to the parking garage, and discovers that Mike has left him his vintage Chevy Camaro. Easily finding the keys behind the sun visor, he turns on the engine and gingerly drives it out of the garage and onto the street where he opens it up, with a big grin on his face. Mike sends Maya a childhood photo which she receives at her desk at her place of work, asking her for a second chance. Realising that Mike must be in the building she rushes for the door.

'Crime 101' doesn't reinvent the west coast USA crime thriller noir playbook, but it does pay homage to the some of the classics from yesteryear including 'Heat', 'Thief' and 'To Live and Die in LA'. The characterisation and their respective back stories are well realised; the performances by Hemsworth, Ruffalo, Keoghan, Berry and Barbaro are all on point; the action set pieces are well choreographed; the story is well conceived and entertaining enough, and the Direction and Cinematography are stylish and assured. At 140 minutes, however, I felt that this elongated runtime could have been shortened by fifteen minutes or so, particularly as the film seemed to drag it heels somewhat in the mid-section, but that's my only gripe. 'Crime 101' is certainly worth the price of your cinema entry, and if a modern take on classic crime noir is your thing, then you won't be disappointed.

'Crime 101' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

TOP GUN : MAVERICK - Tuesday 31st May 2022.

I saw the M Rated 'TOP GUN : MAVERICK' earlier this week and it is finally here, after its originally scheduled release date of mid-July 2019 was pushed back to allow for the production team to work on the elaborate action flight sequences, and was reset for late June 2020. It was then moved to Christmas 2020 because of the COVID-19 outbreak and then delayed again to early July 2021 due to scheduling conflicts and the ongoing escalation of the global pandemic. It was further pushed back to a mid-November 2021 release before its final delay to last week for a global release, following its World Premier at CinemaCon in late April and a screening at the Cannes Film Festival earlier in May in an Official Selection Screening, where it received a five-minute standing ovation. This film is the sequel to the 1986 film 'Top Gun' and is Directed by Joseph Kosinski whose previous film making credits are 'Tron : Legacy','Oblivion' and 'Only the Brave' with the upcoming 'Spiderhead' due for a release on Netflix from mid-June. This film cost US$170M to produce, has so far grossed US$391M and has garnered widespread critical acclaim, with many saying that it is better than Tony Scott's original. 

Following on from the events of 'Top Gun' albeit thirty years down the track, Captain Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell (Tom Cruise), has remained a US Navy test pilot in order to deliberately avoid promotion which would see him grounded rather than doing what he loves - flying. Rear Admiral Chester 'Hammer' Cain (Ed Harris) has plans to visit the airbase where Maverick is located to shut down the hypersonic 'Darkstar' scramjet programme and redirect the funds to drone programmes which he sees as the future. Maverick has taken the jet to MACH 9.0 before but needs to prove that it can fly at MACH 10.0 and so takes the prototype to its speed objective before Cain arrives, and ultimately takes it to MACH 10.3 pushing it yet further into the boundaries of its capability, and ends up destroying the prototype and parachuting to safety before the jet crashes down to Earth and erupting in a ball of flame. Cain is poised to ground Maverick for his recklessness, but his friend and former rival Admiral Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky (Val Kilmer), now commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, intervenes and orders Maverick to NAS North Island as a TOPGUN instructor. 

Upon arrival as North Island, Maverick is ordered to train an elite group of pilots assembled by Vice Admiral Beau 'Cyclone' Simpson (Jon Hamm) and Rear Admiral Solomon 'Warlock' Bates (Charles Parnell) to bomb an undisclosed uranium enrichment plant that is seen by the Pentagon as a threat to the USA. The plant sits in a deep gully with steep mountain terrain on all sides and at the end of a winding canyon and is defended by surface-to-air missile batteries and both old and new enemy aircraft. Maverick plans an attack with two pairs of F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter jets, which will fly through the canyon and destroy the plant, while also exceeding the Hornet's general flight and operating instruction limits. Maverick is initially rebuffed by the pilots, particularly by Lieutenant Jake 'Hangman' Seresin (Glen Powell) and more so by Lieutenant Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of Maverick's former best friend and Radar Intercept Officer Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw, who died so tragically in the first film.

As the pilots train for their mission watched on closely by Cyclone and Warlock, animosity develops between Hangman and Rooster, who resents Hangman's cavalier attitude towards his wingmen, while Hangman criticises Rooster's caution. As the pilots observe and succumb to Maverick's skill as a pilot they reassess and amalgamate around him. Maverick also reunites with former girlfriend Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connolly), who now owns and runs a popular bar on North Island, and who he hasn't seen for the last three years. He admits that partly the reason for Rooster's reluctance to bond with him is because after Rooster's late mother Carolyn made him promise to keep her son from flying, he blocked Rooster's application to the Naval Academy, setting his career back by four years. Maverick later meets with Iceman, who now has throat cancer and communicates by typing. Iceman reassures Maverick about teaching the pilots before passing away days later. Maverick and the pilots attend his funeral with full military honours. 

With Iceman gone, Cyclone removes Maverick as mission trainer and takes over setting new parameters that are less risky on going in but more risky on coming out. However, Maverick makes an unsanctioned flight of the simulated course with the original parameters, proving that it could be done within a two-and-a-half minute timeframe. Cyclone is reluctantly convinced, and appoints Maverick as the strike leader in a F/A-18E Super Hornet.

The day of reckoning arrives, brought forward by one week because the uranium enriching plant was taking receipt of its uranium deposits a week ahead of schedule. Maverick chooses and pairs himself with pilot 'Phoenix' (Monica Barbaro) and her Weapon Systems Officer 'Bob' (Lewis Pullman) in a two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet, while Rooster is paired with 'Payback' (Jay Ellis) and his Weapon Systems Officer 'Fanboy' (Danny Ramirez). Hangman and the remaining pilots are put on standby. The team launches from an aircraft carrier while a cruiser fires Tomahawk cruise missiles to destroy the landing strip at the air base near the plant. The strike team reaches the plant and destroy it. They are attacked by surface-to-air missiles and a pair of patrolling Su-57 fighters. When Rooster runs out of countermeasures, Maverick sacrifices his jet to protect him and ejects. The remaining aircraft return to the carrier, believing Maverick was killed in action. Against specific orders issued by Cyclone, Rooster turns back and saves Maverick from an Mi-24 helicopter gunship, but is shot down immediately afterwards by another surface-to-air missile and ejects nearby. The two reunite and head towards the destroyed airbase, where they steal an old albeit still working F-14 Tomcat and head back to the carrier. Maverick and Rooster get into a dog-fight with two intercepting Su-57's ultimately shooting them down, but as third arrives and begins to attack they run out of their own missiles, bullets and incoming missile countermeasures. Hangman arrives from standby to shoot down the Su-57, and the planes return to cheers on the carrier, where Maverick thanks Rooster for saving his life, and Rooster says that's what his dad would have done. The pair reconcile their differences.

Following the mission, Maverick and Rooster are seen working together to restore a P-51 Mustang at a hangar close to the test facility where Maverick was previously stationed. Penny arrives with her daughter Amelia (Lyliana Wray), and Maverick takes her for a ride in the P-51.

'Top Gun : Maverick' is a fist thumping, heart pounding, edge of your seat, adrenalin packed thrill ride film that will leave audiences remembering why they go to a movie theatre in the first place - to see big screen blockbuster action spectacle writ large. And this film doesn't disappoint in any of those departments. The aerial flight sequences of which there are plenty, deliver in spades, thanks to Tom Cruise penchant for keeping his practical stunt work real and putting all his other 'pilots' through the same rigorous training regime to deliver the viewer the bona fide in-cockpit experience. The film has fast paced thrilling flying sequences at its core, but it also has emotion, heart, humour and drama that elevates it above the 1986 original, whilst maintaining some of the touchstones from 'Top Gun', including that this is a Don Simpson / Jerry Bruckheimer production, even though the former died twenty-five years ago; the Kenny Loggins 'Danger Zone' plays in the opening sequence aboard the aircraft carrier; Rooster sits down at the piano in Penny's bar and belts out 'Great Balls of Fire' just as his Dad Goose did; and the closing credits make tribute to the memory of Tony Scott, who Directed the original and who died in 2012. All of that said, it is glorious eye candy that still proves that Tom Cruise still has what it takes in the action stakes and continues to raise the bar in all of his own stunt work while bringing an ensemble cast who together are greater than the sum of their parts, and Joseph Kosinski has proven his deft touch at big action spectacle whilst keeping the human element grounded. See this film on the biggest screen you can. 

'Top Gun : Maverick' merits five claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-