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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.

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.

Not sure why all the terrible reviews. Sure, this is not your typical Stephen Dorf film, but the actors all did a great job -- portrayal of the average American family dealing with a disgruntled teenager in the aftermath of a divorce and an absent father wrapped up in his work, revealed through a (rather weak) attempt of the father to "man up" and be a dad. Sad, but after the mishap with the dad (mentioned in the description), the best thing that could have happened to this teenage female was what did happen -- to be alone with, and dependent upon, the adult female character. Although there are instances in which coincidence is way out of line with plausibility, the story line, overall, is believable. I did find it interesting that we did not see more animals, as we were taken through the wilds of South Africa. The adult female, though apparently out of her realm of expertise, seems quite capable, I was surprised that she was not portrayed as doing some basic survivalist things that even I would know to do. Overall a decent film, not too many boring moments.

"They looked like they needed help. He said they is a little off the desert." Paul (Dorff) and his girlfriend Tally are taking a trip to Africa. His daughter Josie (Williams) is having trouble with the new relationship and reluctantly is dragged along. Instantly Josie and Tally clash until Josie asks to be sent home. On the way to the airport something happens to Paul and it is up to Tally to protect Josie and find a way to get her home safe. This is a movie that is hard to review. The movie isn't bad and moved at a pretty good pace but on the other hand it is really a overdone concept. The thing that does set this apart from others though is that the woman is the one who has to protect someone. While this may seem like an action movie it is much more drama then I was expecting. I was hoping for something like In The Blood but instead got more of a hide and seek type movie. Not that that isn't a bad thing but it needed something else to keep it from feeling as flat as it did. Overall, nothing amazing but nothing awful either. Really just a movie to put in when you have nothing else to do. I give it a C+.

The cover photo of this movie deeply offends me. The guy at no point does anything remotely similar to holding a gun and defending his family. The cover should be his girlfriend holding a gun...that would make sense. Instead shes pictured hiding behind him?! Is that supposed to sell more movies? Are people still that sexist? If you are then don't bother, this movie is about a woman and a girl. Not a very good one either.