High Heat (USA, 2022)

On the opening night of their new high-class restaurant, the hidden secrets of their respective past lives catch up with the loving couple, Ray (Don Johnson of The Harrad Experiment [1973 / trailer]) and Ana (Olga Kurylenko). The mafia hones in on Ray to collect a million-dollar debt, while Ana, a former KGB agent who has left her past behind and wants nothing more than to be a successful cook with her own restaurant, is not at all happy with the mob's decision to burn the place down for the insurance money. Revelations and marital strife play out amidst a continually growing bodycount as first Ana, and then Ray, work to save their restaurant, their marriage, and their lives.

Trailer to

High Heat:

High Heat screams tax deduction D-2-DVD, but it also features a usable basic storyline, a game cast, lots of black humor and action, and is well-stocked with quirky details. High points of the latter include the scenes involving the military hit squad that mob boss Dom (Dallas Page of Gallowwalkers [2012]) calls in to help wipe Ana out — hell, almost any scene related to wiping Ana out is fun to watch — and all scenes involving Ana's former best friend, fellow KGB killer Mimi (Kaitlin Doubleday of The Tomb [2009 / trailer]), whom Ana, out of desperation, calls for help, but who shows up with her family — her somewhat estranged hitman hubby (Chris Diamantopoulos of Man Vs. [2015 / trailer]) and two unnerving daughters — as much to assist as to possibly finally get revenge for being dumped by Ana.

For its high points, however, High Heat feels oddly lackadaisical and unfocused, not to mention a bit disjointed and underdeveloped, and it never truly manages to find its rhythm. It is also somewhat hampered by the lack of chemistry between the movie's real star, 43-year-old Olga Kurylenko (of Seven Psychopaths [2012 / trailer], Centurion [2010 / trailer] and so much more), and the movie's hired big name with a short shoot, 73-year-old Don Johnson (of The Hot Spot [1990 / trailer], Machete [2010 / trailer] and so much more). When it comes to the directorial eye, Zach Golden, in his follow-up project to his The Escape of Prisoner 64 (2018 / trailer), never completely drops the ball and even manages to throw an occasional curveball — we loved the out-of-the-blue semi-homage to the twins of Kubrick's over-rated The Shining (1980 / trailer) — but in the end his game remains more professional than inspired.

Written with the obvious desire of achieving a Tarantinoesque amalgamation of multi-violence, quirky characters and situations, catchy dialogue, and black humor, High Heat manages all five/six things at various times in various combinations, but never sustains any long enough to be either a truly successful emulation or noteworthy but individualistic homage. That said, it makes for easy viewing and never leaves you bored or overly aggravated. Still, we are hard placed to say with conviction that we enjoyed High Heat because it is an enjoyable film, or if we enjoyed it because we wanted to enjoy it. The excellent and oddly retro opening credit sequence was so much fun that it bought a lot of good will from us, but by the end of the movie, the stitches holding the narrative together seemed rather weak and frayed.

That said, we were never bored and were happy to watch High Heat until the end. Ultimately, High Heat may not be as good as it should be, but it is better than it could be. It is 1.5 hours of passable if forgettable contemporary entertainment and, as such, fulfills its duty as an evening movie.