Bitcoin Heist

Bitcoin Heist (Sieu Trom) (2016)

Runtime: 116 minutes

Directed by: Ham Tran

Starring: Kate Nhung, Thanh Pham, Petey Majik Nguyen, Suboi, Jayvee Mai The Hiep

From: Old Photo Films

Yes, this is a real movie-from Vietnam, no less-and it was somewhat surprisingly not bad:

I'll be honest here, finding a movie on Netflix Instant called BITCOIN HEIST made me laugh and laugh. I actually made this discovery last year but this seemed like the best month to see a movie from Vietnam for the first time. What a loony film this turned out to be; I am not fully sure they understood everything about bitcoins and QR codes. Then again, most people don't... me included. I suppose that's why this is set in the far-flung future of 2020 (!); it is an excuse for how they explain cryptocurrency and some of the wacky technology that is used.

In the end it isn't too important-the plot is that there is a hacker known as The Ghost who is in Vietnam but his true identity is a mystery. A loose cannon cop (believe it or not, an attractive young woman) goes undercover and recruits quite the motley crue to try and get the cryptocurrency wallet of the guy fingered as The Ghost; this includes a captured henchman, a magician, a thief who has a 10 year old daughter who also is a thief, and a hacker who loves playing League of Legends. What a convoluted plan they come up with to try and defeat all the security measures; this does include the 10 year old, and lol to that. And there's more...

I did not love every plot development and it is pretty silly overall. Yet the movie is still slick and never boring; it's also filmed decently well and is competently made. Bitcoin Heist is usually light in tone (although a few times it's decidedly not; to steal a comment, one scene is straight out of Saw) and to give an example, the magician is named Jack Magique and yet everyone calls him Magic Jack. The humor is hit or miss yet it rarely is awful. I was reminded of a scene in Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation while watching this, and if I had seen any of the Soderbergh Oceans films or the two Now You Can See Me flicks, I am sure I'd be reminded of those too.


While the movie is uneven, I still did appreciate looking at various sights & sounds in Vietnam-along with another country later-and overall I was more entertained than I thought I would be and the movie is not the worst way to spent 2 hours.