Killer Heat Plot Synopsis
Killer Heat is based on ‘The Jealousy Man’ by Jo Nesbø and casts Richard Madden in the twin roles of Leo and Elias, Shailene Woodley as Penelope, the mysterious wife with a hidden agenda and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Nick Bali, a P.I. who finds himself in a case that is more than what he bargained for.
The movie begins with Leo Vardakis falling to his death during a rock climbing incident and it is chalked off as an accident. However, his sister-in-law, Penelope hires Bali to look into his death as she believes the Vardakis family is covering up his murder. It doesn’t help that the Vardakis own a shipping empire and pretty much runs Crete. Oh, and it seems that Leo had a thing for Penelope and knew her from before she married Elias.
How does Nick figure out Leo?
Penelope leaves a clue for Nick in the form of her hair tie at Leo’s place. And with “Elias” being constantly insecure, Nick thinks that “Elias” is jealous of Penelope and Leo as they may have had an affair and so kills his brother.
Nick connects the dots as he heads to the cliff by boat and realises that the same cliff overlooks the side that “Leo” would have been climbing on that fateful morning. Nick finds the boat being shipped to the Gambia and this is enough for him to confidently believe that “Elias” arrives at the cliff by boat arranged by his friend, Yannis.
Next, Nick looks up Eurytus Shipping Company and realises that the company doesn’t have American investors. But when he first met “Elias”, he posed as an NIS agent and claimed that the company had investors from the US. “Elias” believes him and that is when Nick realises that it has been Leo all along since he doesn’t know the ins and outs of the company. Nick tells Audrey, the twins’ mother and out of anger, she fatally shoots Leo.
What is Penelope’s endgame?
After Leo is killed, Audrey is arrested, Nick leaves and Penelope goes back to her life. While Nick is heading back to Athens, he thinks about his wife and recalls Penelope’s words which sound similar as she too wanted an out from her marriage.
When ranting about Elias, Penelope goes on and on about how she wanted to leave but he never let her. Nick also finds it suspicious that Penelope whispered something to Leo as he died. Nick realises that she was in on the plan all along and confronts her.
She tears up and confesses to everything. She was tired of Elias’ affairs and his controlling nature. Leo wanted to take over the company as himself, and the two hatched a plan to kill Elias. She would tell him when Elias went rock climbing, and Leo would let her walk away.
The two get on the boat, Leo kills Elias but instead of sticking to the plan, he steals Elias’ wedding ring and takes on his identity. He has always loved Penelope and was angry that Elias stole her from him. He claims that she will come to love him but she is afraid of him. She also believes that if she tries to expose him, he will pin Elias’ murder on her and so, she hires Nick, an alcoholic P.I. in hopes that he only unearths Leo’s part in the murder.
But Nick understands where Penelope is coming from and decides to drop the case, impressed that she was ready to kill to get her freedom. We also learn that Penelope told a dying Leo that she was finally free.
What happens to Nick’s wife?
Throughout the movie, we see snippets of Monique, Nick’s wife and learn about their marriage. Nick turns into an alcoholic and workaholic, and lonely, Monique starts having an affair. Nick gets violent and goes as far as to find her lover’s address. He confesses to Penelope that he not only wanted to kill the man but his wife as well. But on the day he plans to do it, he runs into his daughter, Clio. He comes back to his senses and decides to simply leave so as not to do anything rash.
After Nick listens to Penelope’s side of things, she comforts him as well and points out that because of him, his daughter will grow up with both of her parents. He doesn’t believe that he can be there for her in any way and Penelope tells him to go back to New York. At the end of the movie, he decides to do just that as he calls Clio and tells her that he is coming back home.
Read More: Killer Heat Movie Review