Ashens and the Polybius Heist (2020) BluRay 720p Dual Audio [Hindi (Voice Over) Dubbed + English] [Full Movie]

I don’t know if this is intentionally a nod to The Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy or merely heavily influenced by it, but it is spot on. The humour is perfectly pitched for the genre, and the cast members not only perfectly picked for the roles they play, but also to perfectly parody their TFC and associates counterparts.

Ashens is of course the perfect Simon Pegg, a fact unashamedly alluded to in one scene (and a common theme throughout history). Jarred and Nick Frost could almost be twins. Alyssa Kyria is most definitely a manically depressed bipolar Miranda Hart. Even Jessica Hynes finds her analoue in the excellent Joanna O’Connor.

The acting was at times hit and miss – there were a couple of somewhat wooden performances, but that’s to be expected from an inexperienced cast. Those times were few and far between though and didn’t detract from the enjoyment of the film. On the whole it was very well done and the characters portrayed with just the right amount of hilarity.

The story line was well fleshed out. To take what is essentially just an urban myth and make an entire film out of it of this calibre takes skill. The script writing and production is definitely aimed squarely at the nerdsphere with many many subtle nods to not only Ashen’s youtube channel and following (keep your eyes peeled for the van’s number plate for example) but geekdom in particular.

One area where I felt the film was let down a little was in the VFX. Maybe it is because it’s released in 4K it shows every slight imperfection in all its high resolution clarity, but there were a few times when compositing was used when really it would have been better not used. Maybe it was attempted to do things live and they didn’t work out so they had to resort to VFX instead. The most glaring point is the screen of the Polybius cabinet itself. It was glaringly obvious that this was composited after the fact. Not only was the image on the screen far too high resolution and too crystal clear, but the shape was just off. I may be being picky, but it just spoiled the whole effect of the cabinet.

But any film that leaves you with a big grin on your face deserves to be watched again and again and again. If only to try and spot even more subtle references to geekdom.