Biggest Heist Ever Movie Review (2024)
An outlandish and entertaining documentary about a 4.5 billion dollar theft, Biggest Heist Ever is a good show, but maintains credibility.
It’s fun to find a documentary that plays out like a high-budget film. The visuals are grainer and the story is usually less flashy, but because it is a real story, it doesn’t really matter. Tell me the tale, I’m here for the insanity.
Biggest Heist Ever is a documentary about the real-life theft of 4.5 billion dollars in cryptocurrency through the Bitfinex company. Everyone could see that it was stolen, as crypto is public, but no one knew who took it because crypto is also anonymous. With some investigation by the government, a social media rapper and her husband began to look like the culprits, but would theives of that nature really make themselves so public?
Here’s the thing about this documentary (and many documentaries) – the job of the filmmakers is to create something interesting and worth talking about. Any footage that they can get their hands on that is a little “out there” is going to be considered for inclusion so that they can have some ostentatious moments. And while this film has many of those, there are enough solid interviewees, facts, and pieces of calculable information that there is real credibility here.
Heather Morgan, a primary suspect in this case, knows various languages, worked in the finance world, and had connections everywhere in the industry. Seemingly needing more attention, she then developed a social media rap presence named Razzlekhan. She started producing songs and videos that many described as not very good, but amusing enough for shock value.
Her boyfriend turned husband, Ilya Lichtenstein, also worked in the industry and had been someone Ms. Morgan looked up to before meeting him.
When 4.5 billion dollars was suddenly stolen from Bitfinex, it was realized that this money wasn’t the company’s money. Whoever hacked this system had spent months monitoring people logging into their accounts. When they were ready, the criminals logged into these individual accounts with the information they’d obtained, stole the money, and pocketed it in a separate account that nobody could access. This crime was against individuals, not the company.
While there are some extremely provocative and gratuitous videos of Razzlekhan shown in this doc, it is the other people that really shine. I became a huge fan of Chris Janczewski, the lead investigator. When asked about Ms. Morgan’s rap career, he hitched for a second and then brought the conversation back to the fact that there was a crime committed. All credibility, no time for nonsense.
There were a few people interviewed (one former classmate and a former teacher) that felt like they barely knew Ms. Morgan, but other than them, all of the interviews seem to contribute something. At least a dozen people with real knowledge of the people and the case, the odd two or three who don’t know as much don’t really change anything.
This documentary about Bitcoin Bonnie and Clyde is a strange ride, but there is enough real substance to make it something worth watching. It’s a good movie to put on when you don’t have a ton of brain power and want something fairly easy to digest.
Runtime: 87 minutes
Motion Picture Rating: TV-MA
Languages Spoken In The Film: English
Should You Watch It? Yes, it’s interesting
Did I Cry? Nope
My Rating: 3/5 Stars
Available: On Netflix or may be available for free on other streaming platforms
