Heatstroke (2013)

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I sat down to watch "Heatstroke" purely because I had the chance and it was readily available. It wasn't a movie that I had any plans to watch, just happened to come by it by sheer random luck. And I didn't have any expectations to it, nor did I know what it was about; although I had somewhat thought it might have been a disaster movie with the title "Heatstroke".And now having seen the movie, it most definitely wasn't a disaster movie. It was an action thriller of sorts. Although, if I have to be honest, then it was fairly scarce on the thriller aspect. And actually equally so on the action part.This is the story of unruly teenager Josie (played by Maisie Williams) who travels to Africa with her father Paul (played by Stephen Dorff) and his new girlfriend Tally (played by Svetlana Metkina). Here she doesn't find the closeness to her father that she is looking for, and she has to return home to the United States. However, something happens on the way back to the airport, and Josie wakes up bloody and confused in an overturned car, with Tally at her side...I will not go further into details about the story, as that would somewhat be ruining it. Why? Well, because the storyline is rather simplistic and doesn't really have much depth or many aspects to it. It is a straight forward story, for sure, but it was just too predictable to the point where it was a mundane movie experience.The acting in the movie was good, and I must say that both Stephen Dorff and Peter Stormare really performed quite well here. It was just a shame that Peter Stormare didn't really have more time on the screen, because his character wasn't fully utilized to its full potential.All in all a watchable movie certainly, just don't get your hopes up. "Heatstroke" offers nothing profound or groundbreaking to the genre. In fact, it is actually a rather generic action thriller, to be bluntly honest. There is nothing here that hasn't already been seen in other similar movies.

The kid Josie is a bad cliché of a rebellious bratty spoiled teenage girl. Her dad enables and encourages her behavior by refusing to be critical of her behavior. It is sickening to watch. This liberal attitude of not correcting bad behavior in children is epidemic in films today. It does help the writers develop conflict of course; the stupid decisions which are natural derivatives of liberal parenting philosophy assist the writers in putting characters in trouble. Being set in Africa, the scenery is great. I decided to watch this movie when I read it was set in Africa; that part of the movie does not disappoint. But there are scenes which detract from the film. Talley kills the man trying to kill her. Later she mutters to herself, I could have disabled him, I didn't have to kill him. And this is one of the men who murdered her lover. This is more idiotic liberalism, uncalled for. In point of fact, she was lucky she was not killed by the man, and she only killed him by accident during a struggle for the gun. But the writers felt the need to put some stupid leftist philosophy in the movie. In real life, if you try to avoid hurting your assailant very much you are likely to be overcome by him. Josie has a fit of anger and hits Talley in the back of the head with a rock because the water hole they found was bad. This is more gratuitous liberal behavior, playing the victim and blaming others for your bad luck.The teenage angst step mom dynamic is a major plot line in this film. You can tell how it is going to play out; they will get through some life changing harrowing experiences together and wind up bonding. If you can get past all that, it is not a bad film, but certainly not a great one

I watched this late at night and I was surprised I didn't fall asleep. But you know how sometimes a movie is so bad you just have to keep watching it? That would be this movie. Wooden acting by all the actors involved. Bad plot, with none of the relationships worth paying any attention to. Hyenas showing up at the oddest, yet most convenient, times. Hmmm, and they are in Africa and unprotected from the elements and the only animal that they ever run into is a hyena? OK, one snake. And I hate snakes, but that wasn't even frightening. Totally unreal. Did this even show in the theaters? I can't imagine it lasting more than a week before word got out how awful it was. Bah.

I'm not sure about the hate this movie seems to be getting, as it is far from as bad as what some people are saying.Plot In A Paragraph: Paul (Stephen Dorff) is a hyena expert who is preparing for a trip to the wilds of Africa to research them with his new Russain girlfriend Tally (Svetlana Metkina) and his teenage daughter Jo (Maisie Williams) from an earlier relationship. However things take a turn for the worse when they come across three villains led by Mallick (Peter Stormare) Dorff does as you'd expect, though he doesn't have that much to do, Svetlana Metkina does OK and carries the majority of the movie along with the awesome Maisie Williams, who stops Jo being the cliché of teenage brat/brooding step daughter.