[yasr_overall_rating]
Hackers have become the bank robbers in the new world of crypto-currency. In order to catch the most wanted hacker, “The Ghost,” an Interpol special agent assembles a team of thieves to plan the ultimate heist. But as any good criminal knows, there is no honor among thieves.
“Bitcoin Heist” is an amalgamation of “Ocean’s Eleven” and “Now You See Me 2,” movies that I thoroughly enjoyed but where this film falls down, is not knowing what genre it wants to be. It starts off as an action movie, then turns into a buddy-cop flick, and then a heist movie, followed by betrayal and ultimately, revenge. Director Ham Tran desperately wants his movie to be an assortment of various shooting styles, from American to Tsui Hark and early John Woo but it fails BECAUSE of this aspect. By all means, mix your story up, baffle the viewer, but by the end of your story, you need to explain everything that has transpired. Here, Ham Tran delivers moments of brilliance but the film is let down by the constantly expanding story exposition which steadily increases with each new scene, filling the script to capacity and eventually, causing it to buckle under its own weight. Sometimes, less is more.
For those not familiar with Bitcoin, it is a new currency that was created back in 2009 by an anonymous source using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. There are no middlemen (banks) and no transaction fees and because of this, it is considered illegal in many countries. In “Bitcoin Heist,” a hacker known as “The Ghost,” is stealing bitcoin currency from banks and wealthy people. After a transaction meeting between a prospective client and Ky (Veronica Ngo), an assassin who works for the Ghost, goes horribly wrong, Ky manages to escape along with the Ghost’s accountant, Phúc (Thanh Pham). With her bitcoin wallet intact but her phone damaged in the process, she and Phúc split up. Because her bitcoin wallet is online and in order to move bitcoin currency, you must have access to a working phone, she finds her way to a small electronics shop that fixes computers and phones. In the shop, she meets Bi (Ngo Thanh Van) and her brother Vi (Suboi), the shop owners and hackers themselves. While downloading the information from her damaged cell phone so that he can put it into a new one, he sees a large amount of bitcoin currency and sneakily takes some of it for himself, hoping nobody will notice but Ky quickly comprehends what he is doing and there is a big shootout. During the action, Vi is shot in the head but before Ky has a chance to shoot Bi, the police enter and kill her and apprehend Phúc.
Dada (Kate Nhung), the detective who was assigned the Ghost case and who must remove herself from it after the death of Ky, and the shooting of an innocent civilian, manages to sneak into the jail after hours and breaks out Phúc. Because the Ghost’s bitcoins are now gone, Phúc knows that he will be tracked down and killed so he agrees to help Dada in exchange for her deleting his record. Dada enlists the help of an ex, known as Magic Jack (Petey Majik Nguyen), a magician, as well as Luhan (Jayvee Mai The Hiep) and his young daughter Linh (Lam Thanh My), con artists who can break into any facility. In speaking with Bi about her brother’s shooting, Bi agrees to come on board and claims to be even better than the Ghost himself. Dada receives intel that the Ghost is actually a wealthy businessman who is using a legitimate business front to conceal his illegal activities. Together, they formulate a plan to break into his mansion where the nerve center for his Bitcoin empire resides. They plan on breaking in while he is hosting a large party, with the intent of copying all of his files so Dada can use it as proof against him but just when it looks like they have gotten away with their heist, they are railroaded. With the Ghost’s possessions returned, they are released and Dada is suspended from the police force but it soon becomes apparent that one of the group was working with the enemy all along. With one last chance to expose the Ghost, Dada and her crew set out to bring him down, once and for all.
Thrillers can have convoluted plotlines that keep you guessing throughout but the big payoff comes at the end when everything is finally explained. With “Bitcoin Heist,” the mistake the filmmakers make is that the story continues to become more and more intricate, and with every plot twist revealed, another one is added. By the end of the film, it has become so elaborate and complicated, when the finale hits, and everything is finally explained, you have completely lost interest. The film tries too hard to be too clever but inexplicably, falls in on itself. Naturally, the ending is left wide open for a possible sequel but hopefully, they will not go down that road. If they do, maybe they’ll learn from their past mistakes and take the labyrinthine plot twists out and concentrate instead, on telling a good story.
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