Killer Heat movie review: Richard Madden, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's film is an un-affecting noir thriller

Killer Heat still

Film: Killer Heat (Amazon Prime)
Cast: Richard Madden, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Babou Ceesay, Clare Holman, Abbey Lee, Manos Gavras, Argyris Gaganis
Director: Philippe Lacôte
Rating: 2/5
Runtime: 97 min.

"Killer Heat" based on "The Jealousy Man," a short story by popular Norwegian crime novelist Jo Nesbø, lacks the intrigue, suspense, tension or effect that the story had in its written form. This film with noir elements fails to make it count because of its lack of intensity and storytelling smarts.

Penelope Vardakis (Shailene Woodley), the wealthy trapped wife of a shipping-company CEO based in Crete has summoned expat PI Nick Bali to investigate the case of her brother-in-law's purportedly accidental death while undertaking a high-risk adventure sport of free-solo climbing up a vertical rockface. Bali's investigation has to be under wraps supposedly because the Vardakis family controls the police force and reigns over more or less everyone else on the island. Penny believes that there was something fishy behind his death. Unfortunately, as an audience we find it rather difficult to get invested in this silly plot even when its presented with all the seriousness of a ‘noir' project.

‘Killer Heat' doesn't generate any heat even with a bedroom sequence included in the overall runtime. The central conceit is about twins competing with each other for a woman and since the narrative is pointedly post the death of one of the twins, we never get to see any real friction between the brothers, or of Penelope's dilemma of having to choose one over the other. Since money is not the main factor here, the stakes don't feel very high either. "Killer Heat" is just a murder mystery caught up in a love triangle that feels more like opportunism. The Jeremy Irons film ‘Dead Ringers' with a similar conceit had much better smarts and was far more satisfying too. The narrative here just plays its card close to the chest and as a result fails to sustain either motive or passion.

Nick seems to have a drinking problem and appears to be grappling with his own relationship issues. The shadow of his wife's affair creeps into the current investigation without making much of a dent. The eventual whodunit resolution feels a little too convenient for comfort. Shailene Woodley is earnest while Gordon-Levitt, plays it casual so there's no real intensity for the audience to gravitate to either.