Killer Heat

Killer Heat is a flaccid attempt at neo-noir starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a private detective hired by a widow (Shailene Woodley) to look into the death of her husband (Richard Madden). The film is also burdened with a subplot of the family life our private investigator fled from which haunts him (when convient to the script). Adapted from a Norwegian short story, I don't know if something got lost in translation or if there just wasn't much here to begin with.

Gordon-Levitt and Woodley are perfectly adequate, although neither seems especially suited to their roles. We follow our detective around the island stymied by dead ends and the dead man's family who doesn't want anyone poking into their business. Before the end, we'll get both a big twist and the detective's walkthrough of the crime (none of which proves all that interesting). Killer Heat offers no intrigue to make you stick around until the end, nor any reward for those unfortunate to have done so.

• Title: Killer Heat
• IMDb: link