Our take
Murder mysteries don’t have to be full of twists to be worthwhile, but if you’re going the predictable route, you might as well make it an exciting one. Killer Heat, despite its name, feels cold and dragging. Gordon-Levitt’s Bali shoots for mysterious and debonair, like the detectives of noir past, but instead, he feels more like a parody of those characters. He never seems to ground Bali into something real, no matter how many flashbacks we get of his tragic family life. Madden similarly feels more like a trope than anything, and it’s beyond frustrating to watch him waste the opportunity to play identical twins. Where other actors seemed to have a blast at this (see: Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers or even Lindsay Lohan in Parent Trap), Madden is just plain indistinguishable. Woodley is the film’s sole believable character, but her affecting performance isn’t enough to save the film.
Synopsis
An expat PI is hired to investigate a suspicious death in Crete, Greece, where jealousies run deep amongst the victim's powerful family.
Storyline
Based on the short story "The Jealousy Man" by Jo Nesbø, Killer Heat follows PI Nick Bali (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his client Penelope Vardakis (Shailene Woodley) as they solve the mysterious death of Penelope’s brother-in-law Leo Vardakis (Richard Madden).
TLDR
Are we 100% sure this isn’t a parody?
What stands out
Why is Gordon-Levitt using an Italian accent to speak Greek?