Cold Wallet tells the story of a down-on-his luck father Billy (Raúl Castillo) who invests everything he doesn’t have (margin trading, unbeknownst to him) into a cryptocurrency. He has a cold awakening as he realizes he and others who he has convinced to invest, lose everything and find themselves in massive debt. The reason for the sudden crash is unclear, but seemingly linked to the CryptoCoin’s founder Charles Hegel (Josh Brenner) who has mysteriously disappeared. Billy joins forces with other victims of the Crypto Crash to track Hegel down to get their money back. 

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The movie suffices as a watered down Ocean’s 11, with a smaller cast and lacking the style and suave ‘cool’ factor of the Ocean’s franchise, albeit being produced by Ocean’s director Steven Soderbergh. It also fails to build the tension it strives for and flat lines quickly after the break in. While the stakes are technically high, without a strong investment in the characters or their motives, it is difficult to root for the protagonist and his cohorts. The character development  is lacking and actor portrayals come off more artificial as the cryptocurrency they’re after. Josh Brenner was the highlight of the cast for me. It was refreshing to see him evolve from the lovable, pseudo genius goofball ‘Big Head’ from Silicon Valley to a ruthless crypto mogul villain. Brenner also serves as a producer on the film. 

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While the film suffers from its shallow depth of characters and simple plot, it has a visually appealing aesthetic and impressive outdoor cinematography exceeding its low budget expectations. The cinematography presents a breathtaking winter landscape in a secluded woods setting. The movie also does a fine job of using isolation, loyalty and  selfishness as recurring storytelling devices. A few surprising moments of creative violence caught me off guard (in a good way) and held my attention until the film’s conclusion. If you enjoy confined space capers similar to the style of Panic Room or Don’t Breathe, Cold Wallet may be worth a watch to satisfy your skin crawling desire.