Diamond Heist Film Review: Hollywood Action Analysis

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Mike is a special kind of robber. He always has quality information on how to get precious stones worth millions. He always manages to get them. And he never has to resort to violence.

The movie Road to Crime, which has been showing in cinemas since last Thursday, is another intricate crime thriller from sun-baked Los Angeles. Obviously, he would like to achieve the qualities of his famous predecessors, among which Michael Mann’s Cruel Duel remains perhaps the most famous.

Director Bart Layton adapted the novella of contemporary American writer Don Winslow. His prose stands out for its fast pace, a lot of characters, relatively brutal violent outbursts, but also a tendency towards melodrama. In his larger sagas, he could easily be the successor to Mario Puzo and his Godfather series. The short, atmospheric book originally called Crime 101, based on which Road of Crime was created, is, however, the story of a kind of gentleman robber who looks up to actor Steve McQueen. And when Chris Hemsworth as Mike drives his dark green car down Los Angeles’ 101 freeway, the homage to McQueen’s famous images leading up to the Bullitt case is quite obvious.

But we can find many more links here. The taciturn, enigmatic protagonist might as well be reminiscent of the hero of Nicolas Winding Refn’s drama Drive, in which Ryan Gosling played the quiet, capable driver.

Hemsworth’s hero is connected to the underworld, but he’s not a badass. Rather, a man who needs a few more successful “jobs” before he can call it quits. However, one day a much less capable driver crashes into the rather cold-blooded plan when she taps the rear of Mike’s car.

While the first sparks of a potential relationship fly, in which it does not quite fit that the mysterious handsome man does not want to reveal anything about himself, another “spoiler” appears. Mark Ruffalo plays investigator Lou. Although he drives a well-worn car, he has a significantly higher moral credit than most of his colleagues. They intend to quickly put all the crimes in the appropriate boxes, check them off as solved at any cost, and do not believe Lou’s hypothesis that a single perpetrator is behind the thefts of diamonds and jewelry in the vicinity of Highway 101.

Halle Berry also enters the messy event as Sharon, an insurance broker, who is told by colleagues and superiors that she is both a woman and, on the other hand, too old to count on her in the management of the company, despite her experience and abilities.

In addition, it is not only Mike who is interested in precious stones, he and his informants have behind them a robber who operates much more brutally. Barry Keoghan was given the chance to portray another memorable villain, riding through the streets of Los Angeles on a motorcycle as a violent demon who does not take napkins during robberies.

Crime Road aspires to be a stylish, ambitious spectacle. And it contains remarkable atmospheric scenes, whether it is a few chases or the robberies themselves, in which the different approach of the two central actors contrasts. The film wants to be a layered drama and a bit of a meditation on the nature of crime, on what drives people to it.

The news was shot by fifty-one-year-old American Bart Layton as his second feature-length effort. In it, he is constantly fighting with prefigures, but he does not reach them.

The classic theme of men on opposite sides of the law, who are more alike than you might think, is somewhat diluted by the fact that too many characters and subplots intervene in the story. At the same time, the film is somewhat lengthy with a footage of 135 minutes, and at the same time does not have time to pay enough attention to all the lines.

For example, Mike’s entire connection to his boss, played by Nick Nolte, remains sketched out too fleetingly. And understatement is not necessarily a quality this time, however much the creators play to leave some secrets to the characters. Likewise, the director does not have time to develop the love line between Mike and his new acquaintance, already portrayed by Monica Barbaro.

The star-studded thriller maneuvers between several locations that fail to connect. It is neither a convoluted crime thriller that rushes forward in the style of director Guy Ritchie, nor a gradual dive into the sultry atmosphere of Los Angeles and into the interior of the heroes, which made Cruel Duel stand out.

Bart Layton borrows everywhere and is doing pretty well. But it’s as if he doesn’t know how to stand the picture on its own feet and offer a distinctive author’s vision.

Crime Path is perhaps most remarkable in how it subordinates the mood of individual scenes to the characters’ personalities. Barry Keoghan moves through the city as the epitome of aggression, an unguided missile. He hates rules and authority, because he obviously came from a background where he never received anything good from authority.

Hemsworth’s Mike, on the other hand, has overcome a complicated past and is trying to let it go calmly and thoughtfully – figuratively and literally. Mark Ruffalo plays a policeman whose personal and professional life is falling apart, and sweatily, pragmatically, but with the right principles in mind, he looks for a way out. And Halle Berry finds herself at another imaginary crossroads as she considers whether to give up her values in a situation where the path so far has led nowhere.

The path of crime relativizes good and evil, shows various institutions and their representatives in an unflattering light. In turn, Mike is depicted as a slightly romanticized robber who is reluctant to use a gun. But we have already seen all these motifs rendered more concentrated and better elsewhere.

Bart Layton’s second picture has stylish moments, but lacks style of its own. He is far too studious for that.