When a battle weary counter terrorism expert and bodyguard is assigned to protect an heiress that's going to inherit a fortune, Rapace's gun wielding Sam leads a cast of unknowns in a flick that would have been better off left in the developmental stages. With nothing new or unique to say, this one falls into unremarkable territory within its first few minutes.
Noomi Rapace stars in the new Netflix thriller, Close. Promoted as a next level, female led action project, this latest release once again proves her talents as an actress and how hard and steadfast the system has kept Rapace from becoming a mainstream star. The entire time her career should have been rising, she's been held back and not allowed to shine properly. She's way more talented than most of the material she's been given. And the same can be said with Close. As it's a mediocre effort on the part of all those involved, it's a rather baseline role for such a great actress that has proven herself time and time again.
Starring as the original Lisbeth Salander in the Millenium series, Rapace should have been set up as the next big name leading lady. It was even attempted with Ridley Scott's Prometheus. But somewhere along the way, her rise was curtailed by lower budget movies that seem to find themselves on streaming services or straight to the blu-ray bargain bin. And it's sad. Unfortunately here, Close does nothing new with her talents. Instead, once again, the talented actress is given a bland story that's only served by a couple highlighted sequences of Bourne/Mission:Impossible type action that's both repetitive and meandering.
This rather sluggish feature film struggles to get going as characters are extremely one sided and the plot that's laid out is so familiar, you'll be reminded of dozens of other movies that have used similar, more well rounded exercises in the proposed abduction, torture, and exploitation of a teenage girl. Close moves at a snail's pace then interjects brief scenarios that seem like something might pick up. Then, we're let down again by routinely expected gun play and some hand to hand action that seems like it almost belongs somewhere else. What it all adds up to is another Netflix let down that seriously fails Rapace.
Yes, the cinematography and visual style of the movie fits in really well with what they're going for. It has the look and feel of your standard globe trotting action film. But, the actual mechanisms by which the movie is delivered aren't so astute. Honestly, Close just felt like boredom capped off with a high dose of irrelevance when so many other movies have done this so well.
Somewhere along the way, the uptick stopped for this actress. Close is another broken rung on her ladder to becoming a household name. It may be time for Rapace to seek out new representation because nobody is doing her any favors. And this one is just proof that she has the chops to carry the heavy weight of huge roles. She just needs to get there. And fast.
-CG
