Synopsis
A gripping British action-thriller film available on streaming services, Close was released in early 2019. It blended drama with action, and was directed by Vicky Jewson. Close follows the story of Sam Carlson, a seasoned counter-terrorism operative, who is tasked with safeguarding a teenage heiress named Zoe Tanner. What is assumed to be a protective ‘babysitting’ assignment transforms into a frantic and adrenaline-pumping struggle for survival within moments.
The film starts in the Wyld district of South Sudan, a very dangerous area to be in, where Sam Carlson is safeguarding journalists to the southwest. From there, she is transported to Morocco where Zoe Tanner resides. Zoe inherited the majority of the shares of a mining company after her father’s recent demise, making her stepmother Rima Hassine politically and corporately jealous of Zoe. This animosity makes Zoe not just a corporate target, but a political one too.
During one of her absences, Sam Carlyson rushes her to a secure lookout. While restrained there, the defenses to said lookout are breached by armed mercenaries. During a daring escape, Sam rescues Zoe but learns the local authorities are a part of the conspiracy. This revelation showed frightfully deep layers of the conspiracy beyond a simple abduction.
While a flight takes them right into Casablanca, it seems like the cabal of corrupt officers chasing them through the city, and even in the hotel corridors, turns friends into enemies. Due to this, Conall, who most recently was introduced to us as Sam’s and a Zoe’s superior, as well as a past love of Sam’s, is killed in action. Sam’s self-imposed bodyguard-client relationship evolves into a deep and dire bond as he takes it upon himself to “safeguard” Zoe and get her out of the city to Tangier and finally to Spain as against all odds, risking a lot, Sam takes Zoe through the city. Along the route, the two of them face numerous obstacles, betrayal, assault, and grapple with morals defining loyalty and money, as well as identity.
Everything boils over as they finally uncover the plot of corporate espionage and blackmail involving one of Rima’s business rivals. Shrill gunfire and defiling trust as suspicion sows betrayal, Sam struggles to protect Zoe, who by this time is with him. By the end of the film, the two are somehow able to embrace, forever altered, but bonded with trust and resilience.
While Sophie Nélisse had been playing Zoe Tanner, a only a recently turned teenager and daughter of a nowhere to be seen and now dead father, wealthy, thrust into dangers beyond her comprehension, tangled in a web of a power struggle. Because of her father, with his power and influence dead while casting a shadow over her childhood, Zoe struggles with deep trusting issues. It allows dependency as Sam turns into the emotional shelter she relies upon.
Noomi’s role as Sam Carlson marked the first time an actress undertook the part of a bodyguard. A character based upon real life protective security contractors, Sam Carlson was her first key role, and she led the film through a balanced emotional blend of power and intensity, layered and complex.
Indira Varma plays Rima Hassine, Zoe’s stepmother and a corporate executive. She seamlessly oscillates between the roles of a corporate executive and a personal figure who seeks justice.
Eoin Macken portrays Conall Sinclair who is Sam’s boss and a previous love interest. The outcome of their mission has a significant bearing on his fate.
The rest of the cast includes Akin Gazi as Alik, the security head who is killed during the breach, George Georgiou as Nabil, a local fixer with shifting allegiances, Sargon Yelda as Anas, along with other supporting actors and the rest of the cast who add to the film’s gripping ensemble.
Vicky Jewson is the film’s co-writer and director, working with Rupert Whitaker on the screenplay. The globe-trotting tense action is accompanied and supported by the film’s cinematographer, Malte Rosenfeld. The film’s pace is enhanced through tight editing by Richard Smither. Canham’s score blends and intertwines with the fast-paced scenes of the movie, providing depth to the action.
Critical Reception & Ratings
As of now, Close has a rating of roughly 28,000 users on IMDb, sitting at 5.7 out of 10. This rating likely reflects an average movie-watching experience. The film’s Metascore, sitting at 51, is also an indication of the reception.
The movie scored a 35% approval rating on review aggregators, with positive comments focusing on the action led by women, the performance, and criticism aimed at dull and shallow the script was. Reviewers note the film is by the books with no originality, and is actually based off of many different thrillers, but at the very least, it is well paced and has some extreme moments of intensity.
Reception from the audience was mixed. Some viewers felt it was better than most action films on streaming platforms and appreciated the performances and the film’s overall easiness to digest. While some viewers enjoyed the performance of the primary characters, many of them criticized the film for having weak and shallow side characters and being very dull and formulaic—a bodyguard versus kidnapper scenario without any twists.
Themes & Analysis
Female ‑ Led Action and Physicality
At the center of the film is how dominated the female character is and how smooth her movements are. The action scenes are from the perspective of the viewer’s real life, and each of the scenes is very realistic: shooting, knifing, using everyday objects as weapons, and fighting are all done very realistically. In the beginning of the film, the audience is shown the character Sam, who is not only capable, but also incredibly relentless, and the viewers are shown just how relentless. Rapace’s performance has a strong connection to both Haywire and Atomic Blonde, and she helps to carry Close as one of the many smart, physically tough women celebrated by action cinema.
Isolation, Trust, and Emotional Bonding
Zoe starts off as emotionally numb and class-privileged, grieving, distrusting her stepmother, and accustomed to people regarding her merely as a stockholder. Sam, in turn, conceals his vulnerability behind a veil of control. Together, these two form the emotional underpinnings of the story as they transition from the employer-employee dynamic to reluctant allies and eventually something familial. This film leans heavily into the notion of the bodyguard and the protected developing a maternal bond, and while it may be a cliché, the way it is done is surprisingly respectful and earnest.
Corporate Power Play and Corruption
This story is about the fight over control of a mining company, with global deals threatened by sabotage from within and greed from outside. Zoe is turned into both a pawn and a potential threat because of corporate espionage and rival bidders, particularly one seeking to acquire the company through shares. This film places the conflict in the geopolitical undercurrents and turns Zoe’s inheritance into a geopolitical liability.
Predictability and Genre Conventions
This film has a break-in and escape sequence, pursued through a city, along with betrayal and sanctuary sequence. Ultra-greenhq.com cites, “from a tension standpoint, the narrative lacks variety and rarely twists tropes.” Critics have claimed that with Sam’s emotional backstory, “the character becomes less intriguing.” This does not curve empathy after all.
Visual Style: Streamlined and Practical
Jewson and Rosenfeld’s work focuses on interior and bright, exterior location shots and desert landscapes with little visual flair. This aligns with the film’s atmosphere: the storyline has little glamour. No romanticized violence depicts merely survival. Edits are clean cut, and choreography is grounded unlike the rest of the film.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
A leading role performer with Noomi Rapace, bringing raw emotional honesty and physical presence to every scene.
Action and pacing are relentless and razor sharp due to expertly crafted set pieces and smart cuts.
A believable, if late-in-the film, connection between Sam and Zoe, making the stakes personal.
A world that is grounded and deals with the intertwining of personal vulnerability with corruption and politics.
Weaknesses
Emotionally the film offers nothing new, tapping into predictable structure.
The motivations behind underdeveloped secondary characters, particularly those of Rima and the corporate antagonists, come off as superficial.
Humanizing Sam by revealing personal wounds purportedly lowers the level of intrigue surrounding her character.
A blend of emotional drama and procedural thriller may create some imbalance.
Conclusion
Close (2019) is, in essence, a thriller with a very straightforward purpose. It is built around a powerful central performance and features a strong emotional anchor, which is the evolving bond between the two leads, Sam and Zoe. The film is visceral and emotionally compelling with heart-pumping action in the film’s latter half.
The film may not reinvent the bodyguard-kidnapping narrative, but it will certainly appeal to those looking for streamlined, female-led action laced with international espionage. Close is more than just another streaming thriller; it is carried by an intense, quietly gravitas performance by Rapace. While the narrative is shallow, it is grounded in physicality, realism, and the real emotional stakes characters face beyond the action.
Close is a respectable addition for fans of well-edited thrillers, featuring fighters with magnetism and stories about loyalty amidst turmoil, providing enough structure and grit to rise above the average streaming offering.
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