Close (2019 Movie Review)

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Close is a 2019 action thriller with a 1 hour and 34 minutes run time. The movie is directed by very creative Vicky Jewson. Starring Noomi Rapace, Sophie Nélisse, Eoin Macken, Indira Varma, Akin Gazi as Alik, Mansour Badri, Abdesslam Bouhssini, George Georgiou, Kevin Shen, and Mimi Keene, Close is to me, some sort of tribute to female protectors. It is based on the true-life story of Jacquie Davis, a world-renowned bodyguard who protected some rather high profile clients that included bestselling writers, actresses and members of the royal family.

Sam Carlson (Noomi Rapace) is a close protection officer whose job is to ensure that her clients are protected from all sorts of dangers. After ensuring the safety of two journalists when they were attacked by insurgents, she is offered a job to protect the daughter of a late billionaire businessman. Zoe Tanner (Sophie Nelisse), her ward, is a troubled girl who has recurrent issues with people including her step-mother, Rima Hassine (Indira Varma). Rima, on the other hand, feels betrayed that her late husband had willed all his shares in the company to his daughter. Sam, has also had issues connecting with her own daughter who has been trying to reach her and is therefore not too keen to take on the job. Luckily, she accepts the job after some thought. Not too long after she assumes her new office, Sam and Zoe travel to Morocco with Rima to seal a billion-dollar deal.

At their safe house which is supposedly proof against any form of attack, they are attacked and their security detail killed and there began Sam and Zoe’s battle for survival. Noomi is one of my favorite actresses. Her movies are always gritty and she tends to play the tough alpha female role. It is great to see such strong roles being handled so well. If you doubt me, check her out in the movie “What Happened to Monday”, she was awesome! I like her tough facade and her roles feel that much more real because she is not portrayed as a sexy woman or model acting as a spy. You actually feel as though she must be as tough as she claims to be in real life; that, to me, is fabulous acting. It gives her movies an incredible edge in my opinion and I love it.

I have gone on and on about Noomi Rapace as though she was the beginning and end of the movie, lol. I also enjoyed the storyline immensely. It was quite a departure from the regular insurgent movies that have become so popular these days. Instead of insurgents, we had enemies from within. The setting was the same, the characters were kinda like the same as well but the roles they played were quite different. I found this to be a huge plus. I found some of the fight scenes a little dissatisfactory though. There was a scene where Noomi’s hands were handcuffed behind her back and yet she fought with the guy pointing a gun to her…come on! There were times when the guy sort of slowed down as if reluctant to kill her and that made it kinda weird for me but all in all, it was still a really cool movie.