“It’s absurd”: how Chris Hemsworth re-evaluated his priorities to save himself
If you haven’t seen the classy throwback heist movie Crime 101 that released this year yet, then immediately run to do so (once you’ve read this obviously), because it’s on Prime Video now and it’s a proper retro slice of Michael Mann-influenced, Steve McQueen-aping, fast cars, guns and money fun, and Chris Hemsworth is top-notch in the main role.
It came out of nowhere a little because the trailers last year didn’t quite convey just what an engrossingly stylish thriller it would turn out to be. Halle Berry is also fantastic in it as a ‘I’ve had enough of this shit’ high-end real estate agent who is sick to death of her boss and tempted by the millions in ill-gotten gains Hemsworth’s professional thief can offer, and of course, being two of the hottest humans on the planet, there’s plenty of ‘will they won’t they’ screen sizzling going on too.
If you like the 1968 film Bullitt with McQueen in it, and you should because it’s ace and it has the finest car chase ever filmed in it, complete with a snarling V8 engine soundtrack and the undulating streets of San Francisco before it became a violent tech-bro haven as a backdrop, then you will definitely enjoy Crime 101; it’s even directly referenced in it, and it also packs the same green Ford Mustang for Hemsworth to swan about in looking cool in sunglasses.
The movie is going to function as one half of a top and tailing for Hemsworth, because the last month of the year will see him not in a trim black suit and tie, but back in a cape with long flowing locks and wielding a particularly large hammer, which sounds like a euphemism, but isn’t.
That’s because once again, for the ninth time in fact, he will be landing on big screens around the world as Thor, the ladies’ superhero of choice, in Avengers: Doomsday, the ‘let’s just invite everyone we can think of’ Marvel extravaganza featuring literally all the characters and with a budget larger than most countries’ annual gross domestic product.
Hemsworth will be a major component in the basically guaranteed success of that billion dollar movie that lands in cinemas just before Christmas, and it will showcase just how far he has come in about a 15-year span since he first moved from Australian soap operas to Los Angeles, going straight into blockbuster movies like JJ Abrams’ Star Trek reboot in 2009 and a double dose of muscular weapon-waving in the first Thor and 2012’s Snow White and the Huntsman with Kristen Stewart.
The Aussie has been a genuine box office hit ever since: very few of his projects have done anything other than big business, and even when he switches to the small screen, like with Netflix’s Extraction series, it’s with inevitable success. But behind the scenes, Hemsworth struggled badly with anxiety and imposter syndrome, especially in the early days of arriving in Hollywood, and he credits the far-fetched nature of playing a God in Thor as providing him with a much-needed safety net as he got to grips with global fame.
Although he has yet to be nominated for an Academy Award or a Golden Globe, he is still one of the most bankable names in the industry, and he has gained some perspective on that over his two-decade career, telling The Guardian, “I used to think maybe if I was nominated for something I’d feel good about myself. Or maybe if I had the biggest film of all time, or launched another franchise, then I’d feel fulfilled. It’s absurd. My self-worth doesn’t rest upon all of those exterior things any more, though I still have to remind myself.”
Crime 101 is a great example of Hemsworth being able to effectively do genres outside of fantasy or large-scale action, and his anti-hero character is nicely teed up for a follow-up movie, should he fancy it. For now, though, he will return to what he knows best, a cape and a hammer, for what could well end up becoming the highest-grossing film in cinema history.
