Frightfest 2024: ‘Cold Wallet’ Review
Stars: Raul Castillo, Josh Brener, Melonie Diaz, Tony Cavalero | Written by Cutter Hodierne, John Hibey | Directed by Cutter Hodierne
There’s no question that Steven Soderbergh knows a thing or two about heist movies, given that he directed all three of the Ocean’s Eleven movies. That’s presumably why “Steven Soderbergh Presents” appears on an enormous title card before Cold Wallet, a modern-day heist thriller directed by Cutter Hodierne, like a big flashy endorsement. Thankfully, the Soderbergh stamp of approval is bang on the money, as this is an entertaining crime caper that plays like the Palookaville of crypto.
Raul Castillo stars as divorced dad Billy, a crypto enthusiast who tells everyone he meets about the great opportunities offered by crypto company Tulip. That is until the company suddenly goes bust, owing to the rumoured death of its young CEO, Charles Hegel (Josh Brener, from Silicon Valley), leaving both Billy and his martial arts instructor buddy Dom (Tony Cavalero) in masses of debt.
However, Billy’s hacker friend Eva (Melonie Diaz), who he met on Reddit, figures out that Hegel isn’t really dead, and is holed up in a mansion in the isolated, snowbound Massachusetts woodlands. Accordingly, she talks Billy and Dom into breaking into Hegel’s house, holding him hostage and forcing him to hand over the cold wallets of the title (crypto keys storing frozen funds), with the intention of returning the money to all the people who got defrauded – “Let’s Robin Hood this shit”, as she puts it.
Of course, nothing goes according to plan, and John Hibey’s screenplay is alive to the pleasures of the genre in that respect. In particular, the script gets a lot of mileage from the interplay between the various different characters (Billy is bull-headed and emotional, Dom is very Zen and reluctant to use violence despite his fighting skills, Eva is passionate, practical and focused), particularly when Hegel starts playing mind-games with them and trying to get them to turn on each other.
Hodierne’s direction is assured throughout, maintaining a blackly comic atmosphere even when things start to get serious. He’s also a dab hand at building tension, and the climax, when it comes, is both satisfying and genuinely thrilling.
The performances are superb across the board. Castillo makes a likeable lead in a loveable loser sort of way, and he gives Billy a dangerous streak of unpredictability that makes him compelling throughout. Similarly, Cavalero is very funny as not-too-bright Dom (there’s a good running gag about how he doesn’t understand how he owes more than he invested) and the always-excellent Diaz is on great form as Eva, who’s practically buzzing with righteous energy throughout.
However, the stand-out is Brener, who’s used to playing whiny nerds like his character on Silicon Valley. Handed the opportunity to play an extreme, evil version of that persona, he seizes it with both hands and delivers a thoroughly despicable turn, clearly relishing the moments when his character gets to do some action movie stuff into the bargain.
Cold Wallet is further heightened by some strong production design work (Hegel’s mansion is filled with whale-related stuff) and an excellent score, while cinematographer Oliver Millar does a great job with the contrast between the labyrinthine interiors of the house (another good running joke) and the snowy woodland exteriors. (Incidentally, the film technically qualifies for both the Christmas noir subgenre and the snow-based thriller subgenre, if you like that sort of thing).
In short, Cold Wallet is a thoroughly enjoyable up-to-the-minute heist thriller, enlivened by a genre-savvy script and a quartet of terrific performances. It also confirms director Hodierne as a genre talent to watch.
**** 4/5
Cold Wallet screened as part of this year’s Frightfest London
