Killer Heat

R

2024

1h 36m

Crime

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

Romance

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List

15%

Tomatometer

26 Reviews

28%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

A thrilling, contemporary mystery in classic noir style, Killer Heat follows private eye Nick Bali (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an American expat in Greece, hired to investigate the supposed accidental death of young shipping magnate Leo Vardakis (Richard Madden) on the island of Crete. The victim's sister-in-law (Shailene Woodley) doesn't believe the official police report. But what exactly happened to Leo, and why? Despite the sun-drenched beauty of its exotic Mediterranean locale, Nick finds darkness at every turn: where the rich and powerful Vardakis family rule like gods, where jealousies run deep, and anyone could be a suspect.

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Critics Consensus

A modern noir utterly lacking in intrigue, Killer Heat is disappointingly lukewarm.

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Craig Mathieson

The Age (Australia)

Adapted from a short story by Jo Nesbo, this sun-drenched Mediterranean noir pushes hard-boiled menace and private eye diffidence to a tiring degree, but it lacks for a decent plot and even a hint of intrigue.

Oct 3, 2024

Full Review

Owen Gleiberman

Variety

The director, Philippe Lacôte, does an okay job of unfurling the story, yet somehow it all lacks… heat. Maybe that’s because he wants the dots he’s connecting to be sentimental.

Oct 1, 2024

Full Review

Benjamin Lee

Guardian

Killer Heat will not go down as the worst Nesbø adaptation out there but it will definitely be the most forgettable.

Rated: 1/5

Sep 26, 2024

Full Review

Kat Halstead

Common Sense Media

A cliched script and disappointing performances from a promising cast add Killer Heat to a long line of dissatisfying adaptations of the bestselling crime writer's work.

Oct 9, 2024

Full Review

Roger Moore

Movie Nation

At least the scenery's nice.

Rated: 1/4

Oct 7, 2024

Full Review

Terry Staunton

Radio Times

Almost every character is a cliché, twice so during flashbacks to the private eye's predictably troubled personal life, and none of them have much hope of acquitting themselves well when tasked with delivering constantly dreary dialogue.

Rated: 2/5

Oct 4, 2024

Full Review

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Joe W

Not terrible, but just not very interesting or entertaining.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/13/24

Full Review

Saswat P

I am glad there is a half star. i am dissapointed that I have to give this any star at all

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

10/12/24

Full Review

Ahmed H

Killer Heat tries to mirror the Icarus myth, but the only similarity is how its characters keep circling between good and evil without ever taking a stand. The film spins in moral ambiguity without reaching any meaningful point, leaving the story feeling hollow and aimless. The one standout is Shailene Woodley, whose emotional breakdown in the final scene is raw and compelling, pulling a tear despite the fact that you’re not sure what you’re crying about. It's the most real moment in an otherwise frustratingly vague film.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

10/11/24

Full Review

Mario V

A great movie with good acting & surprising twists in the plot. Not your typical movie with 20+ fight scenes. That's probably why the low rating.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

10/11/24

Full Review

Jonah Sage D

I thought there was no way the bad critic and audience reviews could be true. JGL is so good, and I like Richard Madden as well. They are both great but this movie was so disappointingly bad. I won't spoil it, but the "reveal" at the end is so laughably bad followed by an absolutely ridiculously absurd cut. It's almost so bad it's good, but all the cut-to flashbacks and overwrought emotions just make it, not even "so bad it's good" bad, it's just bad. Really, I can't believe they could mess this up. It would have been so easy to make this at least a decent genre flick. Great location, great actors, fun premise, it's just so poorly directed, poorly edited, and the emotional beats are way off. It's extremely overwrought and you can just see the director going "whoa, the audience is going to have their mind BLOWN here" and it just doesn't work. It's really bad when you can see exactly what the director is trying to do and how eager they are for you to enjoy these tricks but it's just stale, trite, and overall, the worst sin of all, boring.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

10/11/24

Full Review

Jonathan H

Nicely filmed and acted, story was a bit "meh" and a little confusing, especially near the end. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was good as the PI. The "family" at the heart of this story is extremely unlikeable and thus, it was hard to care about what happened, or what would happen to any of them.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/10/24

Full Review

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Philippe Lacôte

Director

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Nick Bali

Shailene Woodley

Penelope Vardakis

Richard Madden

Elias 'Leonidas'

Clare Holman

Audrey

Babou Ceesay

Georges Mensah

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Synopsis

A thrilling, contemporary mystery in classic noir style, Killer Heat follows private eye Nick Bali (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an American expat in Greece, hired to investigate the supposed accidental death of young shipping magnate Leo Vardakis (Richard Madden) on the island of Crete. The victim's sister-in-law (Shailene Woodley) doesn't believe the official police report. But what exactly happened to Leo, and why? Despite the sun-drenched beauty of its exotic Mediterranean locale, Nick finds darkness at every turn: where the rich and powerful Vardakis family rule like gods, where jealousies run deep, and anyone could be a suspect.

Director: Philippe Lacôte
Producer: Brad Weston
Screenwriter: Matt Charman, Roberto Bentivegna
Distributor: Prime Video
Production Co: Amazon Studios, Makeready, Faliro House Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller, Romance
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 26, 2024
Runtime: 1h 36m

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