Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley’s crime film dominates Prime Video

Joker: Folie a Deux may have just proven that even big-budget films don’t always top the box office if they have poor reviews and little fan support, but apparently the streaming world still operates on a different level . For nearly three weeks, the Shailene Woodley and Joseph Gordon-Levitt-directed film Killer Heat has been atop the Amazon Prime movie charts (according to FlixPatrol), despite receiving an abysmal 15% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

It may be a sparse season for new releases on Prime Video, but considering one of the best films of the year, Luca Guadagnino’s sexy tennis drama “Challengers,” is currently ranked sixth on the list of most-streamed Prime Video movies, that’s something like this “Killer Heat” is clearly attractive to subscribers. The film, which was not released in theaters and was released directly on Prime, tops a list that also includes several children’s films at the time of release (popular films to watch at home, according to all available data), including John Krasinski’s release in the Year 2024 “IF”, the audience favorite of the horror season “Casper” and even “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”. The second and third places on the list are occupied exclusively by adult films, the first two parts of Damien Leone’s “Terrifier” series. Given the ongoing hype surrounding this series’ recent gorefest, it makes sense that Art the Clown would be at the top of the list. And yet even he can’t beat Philippe Lacôte’s “Killer Heat.”

In case you missed the marketing campaign for Killer Heat, here’s what you need to know: Gordon-Levitt plays Nick Bali, a detective hired by a woman named Penelope (Woodley), whose husband’s twin brother is supposedly in a climbing accident on the idyll died on the Greek island they call home. Despite the sunshine and beaches, the island has a seedy side, as shown by the police, who Penelope tells Nick is controlled by her rich husband’s family, which is why she hires a private detective to solve the crime she believes it took place. The film’s trailer cites jealousy as the motive for the crime, teases the relationship between Nick and Penelope and features an appearance by Game of Thrones alum Richard Madden as the doomed and still-living twin.

That all sounds promising, but Killer Heat was terribly received by audiences and critics alike. Depressingly, just over a quarter of viewers who rated the film on Rotten Tomatoes said it was worth seeing, while an even smaller proportion of critics gave it their seal of approval. The Guardian’s Benjamin Lee called the film “a dull and predictable sunshine noir that wastes both those involved’s time and ours” in his one-star review, while the New York Times’ Brandon Yu writes: “The twists and turns Drama is it.” It’s a difficult task to get there, and Gordon-Levitt’s once innate charisma is completely gone here.

So why are people still watching Killer Heat? It may have something to do with the film’s stars, both of whom have been great in the past – if not as consistently lately – but it’s just as likely that Prime subscribers will give the film a try thanks to its popular source material. The film’s plot is based on the short story “The Jealousy Man” written by the ubiquitous Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbø. So far, adaptations of Nesbø’s works never seem to quite match the source material (let’s not forget The Snowman, which gave us all the clues), but many of his readers are clearly still in the process of seeing if perhaps the latest will be the best of all. “Killer Heat” doesn’t seem like it, but it’s getting the attention that many theatrical releases can claim these days.

“Killer Heat” is currently only available on Amazon Prime Video.