Killer Heat Review: A Forgettable and Cliched Thriller

In Prime Video’s latest crime-drama-mystery-romance-thriller film, the isolated island of Crete in Greece sees the death of young shipping magnate Leo Vardakis resulting in his sister-in-law Penelope to hire wounded private eye Nick Bali, a American expat in Greece, to look into the matter. However, what he uncovers turns out to be much more dangerous than anything he could’ve imagined.

The movie has a runtime of 96 minutes.

Killer Heat Review

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the typical noir film protagonist in Killer Heat, a romantic crime thriller that feels familiar but is still entertaining. It might be my slight bias for noirs, they are just so mysterious by design that I can’t help but like them but the film, starring Shailene Woodley and Richard Madden as well, offers nothing new or surprising but still manages to keep us hooked for most of its runtime. Maybe it’s the characters or the setting, but the film manages to make a mark despite being thoroughly cliched.

The thing with this movie, apart from the cliches, is that it’s so goofy that it’s difficult to love it or hate it. It doesn’t help that our protagonist is an angry drunk with a dark past, one of the biggest cliches of the noir genre. The cliches are all consuming at one point and nothing really happens throughout the runtime to make it memorable in any way. Heck, you might even forget the movie while you are watching it, it’s just that unremarkable.

For most of the runtime, this mystery thriller doesn’t thrill anyone, mostly because nothing really happens per se. There’s nothing of note in the storyline, so much so that you will find yourself checking out while watching the film with a glassy-eyed boredom. There’s a twist in the end that’s something one might be looking out for, but it’s something that you might figure out the moment monozygotic twins are mentioned. Jealousy is also a very prominent discussion throughout the runtime but neither Nick’s nor Elias & Leo’s lives really break through the subtleties of these complex human emotions. There is hardly any discussion about anything, really, and the end twist is so obvious that I would be surprised if you didn’t catch it.

I think there was a scope for the film to get into the ramifications of being trapped in a situation from where escape seems impossible. There are moments where you feel some sort of way for Penelope that could’ve made for a tight and thrilling look into abusive relationships of different kinds. However, the movie is just so oddly written that it focuses more on a thoroughly forgettable crime-thriller rather than something more impactful and memorable.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley deliver commendable performances and are probably the only good things about this weird movie. Gordon-Levitt is smooth as the rough and tragic detective while Woodley plays the grieving friend with a vulnerability and a twinkle in her eye. However, I have no idea why Richard Madden is as stiff as he is – he looks so uncomfortable throughout the runtime.

Final Thoughts

There’s not much to discuss about this movie, because nothing really happens. There are no complex emotional moments and neither is the twist complex – in fact, it is quite obvious. However, Killer Heat can be a comfort watch for some because it is uncomplicated but with good performances and you can just find yourself getting lost in the picturesque waters of Crete more often than not.

Also Read: A True Gentleman Review: Charming, Emotional, Cliched