Close

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Close is an action thriller currently available to stream on Netflix. Noomi Rapace plays Sam, a woman hired as the bodyguard for a young business heiress. As you can imagine, things go wrong. Several mercenaries start trying to kill the girl, forcing Sam to take action and do everything in her power to keep the girl alive. The movie’s greatest strength is probably its acting. Rapace stands out in particular. In her performance, she wears a weathered look on her face. It just seems like she has seen and dealt with a lot. It also helps that the actress sells the action scenes as well. The quality of the action sequences varies. Some of them (primarily the shootouts) feel generic and kind of standard. On the other hand, the fist fights (even if they seem to be fairly few) are actually fairly well-done, and come off as brutal, visceral, and intimate. There is one in particular that really works for me about two thirds of the way through. It made me wonder whether or not the protagonist was actually going to win. If I’m being honest, there is one aspect that I truly think sinks this movie. There isn’t really a central villain. The movie makes you think that it’s going one way, but it doesn’t go that way. In my eyes, it doesn’t come off as though they were trying to subvert expectations. It felt more like the filmmakers just didn’t have the balls to commit. I know that it may seem like I’m harping on this one thing (and to an extent, I am). The thing is, there’s a saying that a hero is only as strong as the villain. If there isn’t a suitable antagonist to match the protagonist in some way, then I truly feel the final product suffers because of it. Overall, I believe that Close had the potential to be something far stronger. However, pacing issues and the lack of a strong antagonist are where this movie truly suffers. 

5 / 10