‘Killer Heat’ Review: Okay Greek-Island Noir, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley in the Tale of a Murderous Love Triangle

As a seasoned connoisseur of detective noirs, having spent countless hours immersed in the gritty underbelly of crime dramas, I must say that “Killer Heat” left me feeling like I’d stumbled upon an imposter at a high-end dinner party. While it boasts an impressive cast and some intriguing plot twists, it ultimately fails to deliver the sizzling heat one expects from a story of love, jealousy, and murder.

A good tasty noir, like “Love Lies Bleeding,” always feels contemporary, even if set in the past; that’s because it should feel as urgent as the love-and-death stakes it’s about. “Killer Heat,” on the other hand, while not quite so old-fashioned that it creaks, definitely plays like a mirage of detective noirs you’ve seen before. To start with: Could there be a worse title? It makes the movie sound like some straight-to-tape potboiler from the ’80s starring Jim Belushi and Daphne Zuniga. “Killer Heat” opens with the voice of its star, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who has a way of sounding like Keanu Reeves’ brainier brother), delivering one of those logy “hardboiled” philosophical nuggets to the audience (“The Icarus myth was set on the island of Crete. And apparently no one there had learned much from his story…”).

However, just as you’re about to fall asleep, a private investigator named Nick Bali, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, appears on a hipster island in his fedora. He encounters Shailene Woodley, who is a wealthy woman trapped in a marriage with a shipping company CEO based in Crete. Her brother-in-law has mysteriously fallen to his death while free-climbing a vertical cliff. It’s evident that something suspicious happened. Woodley possesses an extraordinary trait – the ability to captivate you completely with her worries, a trait she showcased effectively in “Ferrari,” despite her challenging Italian accent. (Critics may have overlooked this strength in her performance.) Her character, Penelope Vardakis, has sought Nick’s help to investigate the matter. But due to the Vardakis family’s influence over the police force and most of the island, he must keep his involvement a secret.

As a movie enthusiast, I found myself drawn into the intricate tale of Elias and his twin brother Leo, portrayed by the captivating Richard Madden. His charm is reminiscent of Ryan Seacrest in a conventional sense, but it’s quickly apparent that he possesses a depth as an actor. Primarily, we see him embodying Elias, a man who governs the island with brutality and deceit, his temperament easily provoked. However, during flashbacks, Madden transforms into the kinder Leo, who was the first to develop feelings for Penelope. Their paths cross at Oxford University, and we’re privy to their budding romance. But then, an unexpected twist unfolds: through a secret text message, Elias manipulates events so that Leo appears to have a study date with Penelope, only to surprise her in her room as if he were Leo himself. This plot device echoes the twisted dynamics seen in David Cronenberg’s 1988 film “Dead Ringers,” where Jeremy Irons played enigmatic identical-twin gynecologists.

The bedroom scene between Penelope and Elias-as-Leo is effective (you could almost say it has killer heat), to the point that I wish the film had gone further in that direction: more underhanded impersonation, more of the two brothers set against each other. But we soon return to the present day, where “Killer Heat” is just a murderous love triangle, though the legs of the triangle do get rearranged a bit. Were Penelope and Leo having an affair? And how did the murder of Leo happen? These are some of the standard things that Nick, teaming up with a local cop (Babou Ceesay), gets to the bottom of.

The movie ‘Killer Heat’, adapted from Jo Nesbø’s short story ‘The Jealousy Man’, loses much of its initial mystery in the transition to screen, with the unraveling of plot twists feeling more like linking up the pieces rather than uncovering surprises. Director Philippe Lacôte handles the narrative competently, but the overall film feels cold or detached. This could be due to the sentimental nature of the connections he’s trying to make. The character Nick, played by Abbey Lee’s husband, frequently finishes off bottles of whiskey as a way to cope with his grief over his lost family. Monique, portrayed by Abbey Lee herself, was having an affair, which adds a theme of murderous jealousy to the story. However, the resolution feels too tidy, making it seem more like a polished ending rather than a gritty film noir conclusion.

2024-09-28 03:46

‘Killer Heat’ Review: Okay Greek-Island Noir, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley in the Tale of a Murderous Love Triangle

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