| Killer Heat has a strong and distinct film noir vibe. A private investigator has been hired to investigate the potential murder (ruled accidental death) of a son of a wealthy and controlling family. That story is then paired with bright sun-soaked photography of beautiful Crete and the rich residents wearing crisp white and designer sunglasses. It’s a beautiful-looking movie but does not at all fit the film noir atmosphere it’s trying for. | | 2024
Directed by: Philippe Lacôte
Screenplay by: Matt Charman, Roberto Bentivegna, and Jo Nesbø
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley
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The mismatch between the look and feel of the movie provides laughably bad cringe dialogue, and the mismatch between the actors and their characters is even worse. Joseph Gordon-Levitt with his baby-face smile plays a not-quite-middle-aged former detective turned PI, with a gruff narration, grungy suits and a supposed alcohol addiction when he turned to the bottle after his ex-wife left him. I wanted to like Joseph Gordon-Levitt here but the role doesn’t suit him (and yes, that is also a play on the fact that his suit doesn’t fit him).
Shailene Woodley plays Penelope, the widow of the deceased Leo, who has secretly hired PI Nick. The family already doesn’t trust her since she’s not rich or a local, so she doesn’t want to upset the delicate balance of the mob family. (I don’t know why the film never calls them a mob family even though they are completely described like one). Woodley fits as a lonely housewife feeling like an outsider; however she telegraphs the two twists (?) with her character in advance keeping the film from maintaining any type of intrigue. It is hard to call them twists since this is a painfully predictable movie. She has gorgeous hair and looks the part though, if that counts for anything (no, it doesn’t).
There is a parallel story told in flashbacks of how Nick was in love with his wife, but grew jealous, and was not able to hold onto her. This is supposed to mirror the case he’s currently working on. To some degree it certainly does, but it’s also not particularly subtle and doesn’t add anything interesting to the movie. At times it feels as if the movie is going to build to something interesting, but it never really does, there are some good characters, but then every plot turn is marked with predictability and a lack of originality. The resolution is so bad that it makes a short movie that already feels long, even longer. It’s unnecessary and with everything telegraphed in advance, it just drags out what everybody has already predicted.
Killer Heat is a beautifully photographed movie, but if you want a movie set in that location – and I think we can all agree that we do – it should not be one that is mimicking a genre that was made famous with stale cigar smoke and dark alleyways and wives having affairs with brothers.
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