High Heat

As I stumbled upon the 2022 action comedy "High Heat", here late in 2022, I had never heard about the movie. But seeing that the movie had Don Johnson and Olga Kurylenko on the cast list, and having read the movie's synopsis, I was actually having some expectations for the movie.

And now as the movie has come to and end, I am sitting here with an overwhelming sensation of having been cheated out of something grander and somewhat having been wasting my time on a subpar movie. Writer James Pedersen didn't exactly churn out a grand script here for director Zach Golden to work with. Sure, "High Heat" was watchable and had good production value to it, but the storyline was rather flaccid.

It was nice definintely nice to watch Don Johnson and Olga Kurylenko in the leading roles, but they didn't have a wholesome script to work with. And I have to say that the option for bringing on Dallas Page to play the main bad guy in the movie wasn't exactly a stroke of genius.

"High Heat" came and went without leaving a lasting impression, and it is a movie that will slowly, quietly, but surely, dwindle into the mists of oblivion and never be brought out and viewed as second time. It was, in fact, a rather forgettable and sort of pointless action comedy.

My rating of "High Heat" lands on a four out of ten stars.

I wasn't expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised after watching this well-paced 84 min action-comedy film. This is newb filmmaker Zach Golden's second full length feature film as director, and he did not disappoint. It is also James Pedersen's first ever writing credit, and although not perfect, it was still fun. Although some characters were your typical cliched mobsters with cliched dialogue, it still worked, and actually had some laugh out loud moments. All casting and performances were spot-on and convincing, and Golden did a great job directing his cast, especially for a newb director. Even the action scenes were exceptionally filmed and well choreographed. The dark humor was mostly hit with a few misses. Johnson and Kurylenko (who looked stunning) worked very well together, as did Kaitlin Doubleday and Chris Diamantopoulos and their twin daughters, who were a hilarious family right out of the Griswold's playbook. Even the score and cinematography were great, especially for a B film. It's not a perfect film, but it's one of the better and more entertaining B films I've seen this year, and worth a one-time watch. It's a well deserved 7/10 from me.

Well, seeing Don Johnson and Olga Kurylenko work on the same project is always tempting and interesting, however doesn't necessarily mean that it will be a winning combination. This movie is kind of a mixture between Mr & Mrs Smith meets Desperate Housewifes meets Boiling Point. The director wanted to put this all together and hope for a fun outcome, but it ended up being a drag although it is only 80 minutes... The side roles appear suddenly like they fall from the sky with no whatsoever background story or connection, just a few sentences between them to get it over with. The story is the cheesiest possible and reminds of an old school action movies when everyone was a former KGB or Cia agent etc.. In the end very boring and dragged out movie although with Don and Olga on board had the potential for more fun.

Despite the run time is 1h24m which is in movie terms a little above being a short , you'd still feel the pace is really slow that you can do errands at time of watching and not miss much .

As for the plot , basically the upcoming hints are incorporated in trailers , so hardly a spoiler yet at least not from my behalf .

So they tried to kill her "kitchen" so this ex spy go on a hunt to kill all Mafia elements involved in this plot , they keep throwing at her multiple assassins but she get rid of them all .

If this doesn't remind you of John Wick (a lite version of him perhaps) then you probably haven't seen John Wick (Needless to say they do not reach the fight scenes level) .

Funny enough even both are Russians in their plots .

I've never seen anyone make so much hay out of: 1. A section of a parking lot on Orange Grove in downtown Burbank, 2. A probable commercial kitchen and, 3. A maybe 1,000 sq. Ft. Soundstage.

You've got to give them Kudos just for that, if not for the most convincing catfight I've ever seen.

The animated opening works, all the actors are above serviceable, some of the pacing gets iffy, but more than half the jokes made me smile. Olga is still very watchable, and her facility with languages adds a veracity you don't often see. The twins are hilarious, as is Gary the masseur. Last but not least, while not incredibly original, it's got more originality and flair than the majority of big tent productions.

I'm guessing they shot this in a few days. Give them all a break. They entertained, and they punched well-above their budget tranche.

Bravo everyone.