Killer Heat opens with private detective Nick Bali (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) arriving on a picturesque Greek island to investigate the accidental death of a wealthy resident Leo Vardakis in a freak climbing accident. He has come at the behest of the deceased man’s sister-in-law Penelope (Shailene Woodley), who has hired him without anyone in the family knowing, because the official word on the death was that it was accidental. The family, in addition, fears that bad publicity could damage the stock value of their shipping company.

So far so good. The story is presented neo-noir style, with Bali’s voice filling in the blanks in voice-over as we go along. We are quickly introduced to the key players in the story: Elias Vardakis (Richard Madden), the identical twin of the dead man, George, the police officer who was in charge of the investigation and others. It doesn’t take Nick very long to find out that things aren’t as they seem. Leo was a seasoned free climber very familiar with the cliff that he had plunged to his death from—he had been climbing it since he was little boy. Soon, it is clear to Nick that there are several skeletons in the family cupboard.

More details (no spoilers!) are revealed as the story moves slowly along, several of them in cliched tropes, building up to an interesting climax that may, repeat may, come as a surprise. May, if you haven’t seen many movies in the genre. If you have though, you may just beat the reveal before the movie ends.

Killer Heat is the kind of film that suffers from being a short story (The Jealousy Man, written by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø) that was fleshed out into a feature film. It wasn’t fleshed out in content, sadly, and the shortcomings show themselves in a plot that reveals details too easily, perhaps a little too conveniently, not to mention predictably. Characters appear fairly shallow and give us very little time to be invested in them. Both Gordon-Levitt and Woodley are seasoned actors that I like, and the main reason I watched the movie. Without them the movie would’ve been a TV movie at best, if you know what I mean.

Watch it if you like those (neo) noir-style movies with brooding private detectives with shady pasts and a drinking problem (sound familiar?) but sharp minds always good at sniffing out details that everyone else misses. Not much else, I’m afraid.