Bitcoin Heist Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Bitcoin Heist Blu-ray Movie Review

Who's minding the dark web?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 4, 2017

Who's Minding the Mint? is a kind of sweet if old fashioned comedy from 1967 positing a hapless bunch of would be masterminds who (initially at least) attempt to help a Bureau of Engraving and Printing employee replace several tens of thousands of dollars of newly printed currency which he had inadvertently destroyed. Who’s Minding the Mint? played against some caper tropes by having this gang break into the “mint” to supposedly replace money rather than to steal it, though some ulterior motives on part of some gang members predictably got into less noble territory. Some fifty years later, actual physical money has been replaced by something decidedly more virtual in the Vietnam film Bitcoin Heist (which the IMDb has kind of strangely listed as Bitcoins Heist, perhaps suggesting that the plural of this “new” term hasn’t quite been determined yet). For those not yet up to speed on bitcoin (and/or bitcoins), it’s a so-called “cryptocurrency” which exists totally in the digital domain, meaning you don’t need a mattress to store your riches in. The whole bitcoin phenomenon is quite fascinating (my then younger teenaged sons hipped me to it several years ago when it first appeared), and it certainly is a provocative subject for a film to address. Perhaps ironically, then, Bitcoin Heist turns out to take a rather traditional approach toward this unlikely subject. As such, it’s an occasionally odd mash up of older heist and/or caper tropes in a “new and improved” context which actually makes some of those tropes seem needlessly quaint and outmoded, kind of like paper money or real life metal laden coins.

A couple of early narrative lurches make the early going in Bitcoin Heist potentially at least a little difficult to follow, including a kind of prelude which seems to suggest one character is in prison for his crimes. The main story is divorced from the jail scene, however, taking place in 2020, when virtual coin has evidently given “real” currency a run for its—well, you get the idea. Some kind of underworld activity is shown where real cash is being traded for Bitcoin, though the entire operation is being monitored by an elite police team headed by Dada (Kate Nhung).

Already Bitcoin Heist is on some precarious footing with regard to its supposed virtual plot element, since it’s obvious that actual, honest to goodness physical interactions are going to have to be part of the film’s premise in order for things to make sense, and/or to offer opportunities for characters to interact with each other. This in a way defeats the very underlying purpose of Bitcoin, namely to keep things anonymous and untraceable (something that the jailed character in the opening actually references when giving a “Cliffs Notes” version of what Bitcoin means to another prisoner, in an obvious expository gambit meant to clue potentially clueless audience members in, as well). The bottom line is that two criminals, Ky (Veronica Ngo) and Phúc (Thanh Pham) are handling the trade, though there’s a police informant in their midst. Suffice it to say the police sting doesn’t go exactly as planned (what else is new?), leading to at least one pretty spectacular death and another fairly gruesome injury.

The upshot of all of this is that Dada is forced to turn in her badge and gun, in a distressingly obvious plot trope, which only gives her leave to continue working on the case undercover. She ends up enlisting Phúc, whom she helped collar, to aid in bringing down the supposed mastermind behind the entire operation, a shadowy international operator known only as The Ghost. Only here yet again Bitcoin Heist seems to be spilling its veritable beans at an incredibly early stage, clearly identifying The Ghost as a guy named Thomas (Teo Yoo). It’s probably not much of a spoiler to reveal that this particular conceit is an all too obvious attempt at misdirection.

In what might be seen by some as pretty standard combo platter of elements lifted from such entries as Mission: Impossible The 5-Movie Collection, Leverage and Now You See Me (the latter courtesy not just of the caper aspect, but because a magician is involved), Dada assembles a ragtag team of disparte types to bring The Ghost to justice. By this point, with a clearly “physical” strategy outlined and ultimately taking place, the connection to a virtual entity like Bitcoin has become stretched to the breaking point, dealing yet another potentially fatal blow to the film, at least for those who think about these things too much (ahem).

The team assembled by Dada includes Vi (Suboi), a purple haired hacker who is already implicated in the wake of the earlier police fiasco (it’s her brother who’s seriously wounded); Luhan (Jayvee Mai The Hiep), a conman who’s given to things like disguising priceless diamonds as a facial mole; and Jack, played by Petey Majik Nguyen, whose “middle name” alludes to the “now you see it” quality of the enterprise. There’s nothing wrong with any of this, and in fact the actual caper scenes often bristle with energy, excitement, and even a fair amount of suspense, but, again, when it’s all supposedly tied to something dwelling in the “ether” of the internet, it all seems a bit forced and even ridiculous.

While other Asian nations like China and Korea have developed their own action adventure film industries, I frankly can’t think of another Vietnamese entry in this subgenre, and despite some clunky narrative issues, Bitcoin Heist proves that directors like Ham Tran have learned well not just from their nearby cinematic siblings, but obviously from the action adventure experts in Hollywood, as well. Bitcoin Heist is briskly paced and has some excellent set pieces, but it may have learned its La La Land lessons too well, suffering from one thing Hollywood exhibits perhaps more than any other film capital: predictability.

Bitcoin Heist Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bitcoin Heist is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. I haven't been able to authoritatively source what digital cameras were used to capture the imagery here, but the result is a generally very crisp and well detailed accounting (no pun intended, given that one of the major characters calls himself "the Accountant"). The film does employ some regular grading, often to the expected "thriller blue" hues, though the caper itself has rather long stretches bathed in red. None of these stylistic flourishes seriously diminshes detail levels, though, and Tran's emphasis on close-ups of faces (as demonstrated in several of the screenshots accompanying this review) keeps fine detail levels generally very high throughout the presentation. Some selected sequences look like they were greenscreened, at least in part, and therefore some of the surrounding backgrounds have a bit softer ambience than the bulk of the imagery. Occasional interstitial elements are in black and white (some mimicking photos one character is supposedly taking), and those offer good contrast and the same generally commendable detail levels the color sequences do. The palette never really pops in a mind blowing way, but there are a prevalence of richly saturated blues throughout the film, separate and apart from any grading tendencies.

Bitcoin Heist Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bitcoin Heist features a nicely immersive and often quite forceful sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track in Vietnamese (with a few lines in Korean and English, just for good measure). From the opening moments of the film, with some LFE nicely mixed with underscore elements, the film's sound design is handled with quite a bit of energy, something that continues through the several action sequences that ensue. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly, and the entire track offers excellent fidelity and wide dynamic range.

Note: Our database is being upgraded to include a Vietnamese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 spec, and correct specs will display once that option is available.

Bitcoin Heist Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 1:00)

Bitcoin Heist Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bitcoin Heist is undeniably fast paced and often quite exciting, but it's built on such a tenuous connection to its supposed subject that the whole thing kind of collapses under the weight of applied logic. Still, those wanting some basically brainless entertainment built around a caper theme will probably find more than enough to enjoy here, and for those folks, technical merits are very strong.