Killer Heat (2024)

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Killer Heat looks promising, but the sum total is a resounding “meh.” At least the scenery is gorgeous and we get to see some interesting actors.

It all starts when Leo Vardakis goes freeclimbing on a cliff he’s climbed a hundred times already, but then he suddenly and mysteriously he falls. His sister-in-law, Penelope calls in Nick, a private detective from Queens, because the case has already been closed and the local police are owned by the Vardakis family, who seem to be titans of industry on the line of Aristotle Onassis.

Penelope isn’t satisfied with the police ruling the death accidental, so for some reason she picks a guy from Queens to solve the case and pays some local monks to feed and house him. Nick just happens to have a friend, George, on the police force, so he’s already got an in, and he starts digging around.

Nick talks to various people around town, including the bartender at a local hotspot and several fishermen, plus George gives him access to the case’s forensic files. He also talks to Leo’s twin brother, Elias, who’s extremely defensive and hostile for some reason, which by itself is a red flag. Leo’s mother, Audrey, is pretty receptive to sharing what she knows with Nick at a charity reception until Elias rushes Nick and kicks him out.

Our guy doesn’t give up, although things are slow going. There’s more to the case than meets the eye, of course.

Problem is, Killer Heat is very short on logic. We’ve all complained about exposition dumps in movies, but for some reason the entire film is an exposition dump. As in, Nick narrates it, not only giving some of his backstory, but somehow relating the case to the myth of Icarus. Who’s he talking to, though? A shrink? His diary? Is he writing a police report? Is he talking to a friend? Who knows, but there are a lot of scenes when Nick stares off into space and chugs hard liquor as if it’s smartwater.

What also never becomes clear is why a woman in Greece would hire a detective from Queens who presumably works with local police. That’s another thing the movie doesn’t make clear. What kind of jurisdiction would Nick have as a detective in a foreign country? He doesn’t seem to work with the CIA or have connections besides George that would give him any kind of authority. And what would be the point of him doing the case beyond mere fact-finding?

The way Nick is allowed to go about the case doesn’t make sense, either. If Penelope really wanted Nick to find out what happened to her brother-in-law, why does she put him up at a monastery? One would think she would stick him in a guest house on her property or something so at least he has access to the family. Instead, Nick has to beg Penelope to let him come to that charity benefit so he can talk to Audrey, which of course ends badly.

This is such a weird track for this movie to follow, because in a real investigation the first people law enforcement always talk to are immediate family and people the victim lived with. Instead, we get monks, solitary brooding, and little bits that seem vaguely murder mystery-like. The strongest parts are the actors, but that isn’t saying much because there’s not a lot for them to work with, so any entertainment value happens because they chose to grace us with their presence.

Killer Heat was Number Four on Amazon’s trending movies as of yesterday, and the chances are excellent that the movie will fade away pretty quickly because there’s no real heat going on. Mediocrity doesn’t make for great staying power.

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Killer Heat is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Rated R.

My grade: C-

Principal Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Richard Madden, Clare Holman, Babou Ceesay, Abbey Lee, Elena Vergeti, Emmanoil Gavridakis, Dimitris Topalidis, Christos Efthimiou, Harper Linnane, Politi, Konstantina Alouronta, Nikolaos Kokolakis, Paniagiotis Kalofollas, Christos Sirmakesis, Fonteini Batsara

Directed by Phillipe Lacote.

Written by Matt Charman, Roberto Bentivegna, and Jo Nesbo.