Killer Heat

As with a lot of shows or movies the ratings are all over the map. My wife and I like to watch a movie or series, usually from one of the streaming services each evening. One of the others reviews asked "why does this even exist". Well, it exists for someone who wants to watch something and be reasonably entertained.

We thought it was a decent watch, with good and familiar actors, great scenery, and yes predictable plot, and yes maybe ten minutes too long but we were not disappointed, it served its purpose.

If I could rate it 5.5 I would, which is exactly where its overall rating is right now. So, if your looking for something for your evening watch and dont expect something Oscar worthy this one will work.

I don't mind a mystery where I predict the end so long as I enjoy the ride getting there. That's the case for this movie.

It's marketed as noir so, like almost all noir, I predicted the end before I even pressed play. That's the problem with the genre. It has such predictable tropes that you hardly need to know anything about it to guess the ending. And this movie really embraced the classic tropes, which is one reason I liked it, and another reason I found it so predictable.

That said, the setting in Greece, the slow and steady pacing, the enigmatic characters... they made this an enjoyable film to watch. The acting was decent and so was the writing. These days, with the constant churn of streaming content where quantity matters over quality, that means something.

Joseph Gordon Levitt and Shailene Woodley both do an excellent job in the lead roles. The script isn't anything groundbreaking, but its still well thought out and will keep you guessing, while also giving us enough background of the two leads to make them relatable.. This is billed as noir, but the only thing Noir about Killer Heat is the narration from Levitt. It was filmed on Location in one of the brightest locals in the world Greece, so if the director wanted to make noir he should have filmed elsewhere. Otherwise, this is a decent enough mystery to entertain and its running time is short enough to not become bored. This wont win any awards, but its enjoyable enough to watch.

It is the world we live in now, any person can say anything about a movie even if what they say makes no sense. Like here, the first day of release streaming on Prime, one so-called review establishes an account and trashes it and gives it a "1" rating. Which is totally absurd and misleading. Makes me wonder the motive.

We are seeing many mediocre to bad "made for streaming" movies but this is not one of those. In fact it is a cut above most of them. The actors are good and while there aren't many really novel ideas here it is suspenseful and the last 30 minutes or so reveal a few surprises.

It reminds me of the old 1940s and 1950s detective movies where a Private Investigator is hired to sort out what really happened. Was it really an accident? Or was it murder? Shot in beautiful area of Crete, Greece.

As the movie opens we see a death in the first minute, it is a 30-something man free climbing a cliff in a public assessable area but only by boat. He seems about 2/3 of the way up when he falls, the investigative report estimates he fell about 30 meters, which for us Americans is about 100 feet. The quick investigation rules it an accident but how would they know how high up he was? From the brief glimpse we don't really have much of a clue.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (early 40s) is a Greek-American private investigator Nick Bali. He is hired by Shailene Woodley (early 30s) as Penelope Vardaki. The dead climber is her brother-in-law, she is married to his identical twin brother, of the wealthy Greek shipping family of the area. She secretly approaches Nick, she hires him to investigate the death because she strongly suspects that it was murder, not an accident, but keep her involvement quiet. We quickly find out there was some tension between the twin brothers.

The movie is made in the style with ongoing narration by Nick, basically telling us what he is thinking and what he suspects. I like both Gordon-Levitt and Woodley and both are excellent in their roles. The cinematography makes good use of the local scenery.

As with most movies nowadays there are few novel ideas, however we watch a movie like this to be entertained and my wife and I found it entertaining. Curiously, we each watched it at different times in different cities. Golf trip...

The son of a wealthy family on Greece's island falls fatally while rock climbing. The death is determined as an accident. But his twin brother's wife believes that he was murdered. So she hires a PI to find the murderer.

One of the drawbacks of Killer Heat is the suspects, ie. Not enough red herring because the list is short. As a commonly noir, "half-boiled" detective story, there is the monologue voiceover, half of the time focusing on the PI past, which explains that he is the jealousy type, which helps his line of work -- recognizing the subtle hint that arouses suspicion.

I rarely guess the whodunnit correctly in most movies, though not this one. But probably that's not the point. It's poetic, which brings:

With its unique theme, I believe Killer Heat has potential, but why it misses the target I don't know -- either a little short deficient writing or it's just not working great for screen.

I enjoyed some scenes but was numb with the rest. It is a half-forgettable movie, though I will remember the three actors who have ever been in this one when I see them next in other movies.