Close (2019) | Film Review

You ever see something or meet someone that feels too special? Like the whole time you are just blown away by how amazing they are, then eventually you feel like you have to start looking for the kinks in the armor. Something has to be wrong with them! They can’t be that special, they have to have a blind spot, somewhere right?! Eventually, you find that kink, and it teaches you to appreciate the greatness within them because it has to be great to make up for whatever it is you found. Almost seems like I am willing to overlook a serial killer’s issues so long as they treat me nice doesn’t it? That’s for another time, but it explains how I feel about Netflix and its latest original movie Close.

A kick butt and take names counter-terrorism expert “slash” bodyguard, Sam (Noomi Rapace) takes a job protecting Zoe (Sophie Nélisse): the rich, young, oxygen-thief keen on partying, who is the heir to her father’s fortune and company. Neither of them are thrilled with this arrangement until the bad guys show up and start kicking the crap out of everyone. If you have a Y chromosome, don’t worry you are dead by now. If you are missing a Y chromosome, welcome to being treated like Mr. Bill on his worst day (it’s an old SNL short, look it up on the YouTube, or give it a Google).

The synopsis of the story is actually better than the story we get. What it misses is there’s a subplot about Sam’s daughter that never really gets resolved and is pointless. Zoe is more or less the perfect charge until it’s most important, and then she starts making the situation about all the wrong things. Zoe’s stepmother is behind everything – maybe, maybe not. What could have been a solid shoot’em up or buddy action flick was marred by unessential story bits that only served to cloud the situation.

Rapace brings an amazing amount of intensity to her role as Sam. She seriously could stand tall in the annals of action hero badassdom, and among all the stunts, fights and beating Sam has taken, she is still the picture of feminine strength. It never feels like she’s trying to be one of the boys, she is just trying to “be”. However, it would be really nice if movies would stop forcing actors who don’t know how to smoke a cigarette to smoke a cigarette on camera, it looks silly every time. Sophie Nélisse as Zoe, the party going heiress who also wants to be taken seriously as the new owner of a billion-dollar company, played the role that she won. As an actor, she did her job, sold her story and made the best of it. What’s unfortunate is the role is just terrible. Zoe is hard to like at the beginning of the story and grows more infuriating – seemingly out of nowhere. It’s the script, not the actor.

Close looks like a great action flick. Shaky cam, explosions, and hard-to-believe fight scenes are in attendance for this one. The locations look exotic, and the shots are set up with some decent idea of composition. The problem is it isn’t consistent. There are missteps in composition, there is a school of rubbery looking fish that are thrown in for laughable reasons. I bet this paragraph didn’t end like you thought it was going to, but the movie did the same thing! It started strong out the gate and as the story dragged out, so did their production budget.

So, Netflix – a source of joy for so many. Netflix, a service that is becoming synonymous with quality and prestige. Netflix, for where it started, has fought and clawed, and used the evolving technology of the years to become this special and fulfilling service in millions of homes throughout the world. As a whole it is spectacular, just don’t look too… Close.