Ty (Noah Anderson) just got out of prison after serving 18 months for distribution of stolen property. He’s living with his father (Craig muMs Grant, Hightown, She’s Gotta Have It)—a former member of a biker gang—and his kid brother, trying to lead a more honest life. But when no one will hire you because of your criminal record, and with the lucrative lure of less-than-legal ventures, it’s difficult for him to keep on the straight and narrow. Ty has his own side hustle, he’s a HODLer running a cryptocurrency mining rig out of a storage unit, and helping criminals launder their digital wallets. Lew (Jeremy Davies, Lost) is a low-level criminal middle man who enjoys partaking in the drugs that pass through his pawn shop, which he runs with the help of girlfriend Jess (Ella Ma, Bridge and Tunnel). He brokers a deal to sell a large shipment of drugs for crime boss Calvin (Bruce Bohne) for $800K in Bitcoin, and utilizes Ty to clean the wallet. However, before Lew has a chance to trade the wallet for cash, the hard drive containing the cryptocurrency is stolen. Calvin is a ruthless killer, and there are no lengths he won’t go to to get his money back. So, after Lew accuses Ty of the theft, Ty goes on the run, desperate to either find the drive and/or prove his innocence, before Calvin and his goons kill him and his family. The only folks Ty can turn to for help are former cop-turned storage facility owner Kip (Frank Whaley, Pulp Fiction), and crook Beam (Tom Cavanagh, The Flash, Ed), but he isn’t too happy with Ty ever since his arrest caused Beam to lose a lot of equipment.

I had mixed feelings about Bitcon. At its core is an interesting, unique and fresh premise, but I found the execution to be a bit sloppy and confusing at times. The trailer makes the film out to be this tight, exciting heist film, but this is just a very small part of the movie. The film spends a lot of time introducing the characters—and there are so many of them—and I found it difficult to keep track of all of the various criminals and their goons and how they related to or reported to the other groups of criminals. Calvin is your typical bad guy who will suddenly kill anyone that gets in his way or threatens to leave his organization. You know you never want to try to cross Calvin. On the other hand, there’s Lew, who is just so over-the-top, always worried about something, and constantly snorting drugs. Jeremy Davies is constantly chewing the scenery with this character, that it becomes a bit overkill after a while. It’s a wonder why Lew’s girlfriend Jess, who’s half his age, is even with him. Though, over the course of the film, we do get more of an interesting backstory and motivation for Jess, as far-fetched as it may be. The main saving grace of the movie is Noah Anderson as Ty, who’s this really likeable guy who often narrates to the audience. He’s trying to change his life around, but at the same time, he’s open and honest about how he would definitely go back to his criminal ways if he had the chance. I did also enjoy Frank Whaley and Tom Cavanagh, but their characters are so underutilized, and it almost feels like they are just in the movie to get some more recognizable names/faces to add to the front cover.

The film also spends quite a bit of time at the start explaining cryptocurrency concepts and lingo to the viewer. While the concepts come into play story-wise, I don’t think many of the specific terms were necessary or actually mattered, and just added some confusion. It felt more like the writers and/or characters wanted to show off their knowledge of cryptocurrency, just for the sake of showing off, or to try to make the film appeal more to a crypto audience.

While there is some tension early on as we see just how unstable Calvin can be, things really kick in and get intense once the drive is finally stolen and Ty is on the run. I wish that the film had focused a little more on this aspect, rather than speeding through it in the final third of the movie. There’s also a fun heist part in this final act that I would have liked to see take a larger portion of the story. Overall, I found that there was a little too much setup and not enough payoff.

Mill Creek has released Bitcon on Digital in HD, but only on DVD for physical media. The video presentation on the disc is still quite good, with a generally clean and detailed picture, but just missing that extra pop and level of clarity you get with HD. The audio track is very impressive, providing a really immersive experience right from the opening credits. The track also provides clear dialogue throughout, and makes nice use of the stereo and surround channels to put the viewer in the middle of the action.

The DVD disc comes packed in a standard DVD keepcase with a glossy cardboard slipcover. While there is no digital copy included, the disc does contain three short deleted scenes as well as the film’s trailer.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:34:27)

• 480i / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

• Deleted Scenes (3:51)
  Three deleted scenes play back-to-back.
  • Ty enters the pawn shop to meet with Lew and talks to Jess at the counter. Lew tells him he needs help with $800K in Bitcoin, and Ty discusses his terms. (1:54)
  • Ty enters the pawn shop, complaining to Lew that his girlfriend stole his truck. (1:19)
  • Ty heads to Dougie’s house, but is told that he and the boys have gone camping. (:38)
• Trailer (1:45)

Final Thoughts:

While Bitcon revolves around a fresh, modern take on the crime thriller, I found that it didn’t quite live up to the hype of its trailer. The film gets a bit bogged down at the start with too many characters and crypto lingo lessons, but finally picks up the tension and excitement by the end. Lead Noah Anderson is great, and I hope to see him in more things, though some of the other actors like Frank Whaley and Tom Cavanagh were very underutilized. The DVD presentation is solid and includes a few deleted scenes for the fans, but others may wish to rent it or pick it up on sale.