Netflix’s Close, A female Body Guard That Delivers The Goods

February 25, 2019,

In times olden, not remotely golden, hiring a female body guard was like purchasing a cat to protect you from vicious male dogs.

Great for jokes at the pub but in real life?

Not realistic.

Hollywood changed all of that. Don’t they always?

Apart from the comics, the idea of a female crime fighter began in earnest in the 1960s.

Honey West is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC during the 1965–1966 television season. Based upon a series of novels that had launched in 1957, the series starred Anne Francis as female private detective Honey West and John Ericson as her partner, Sam Bolt.

Honey was one of the first female “private eyes” to ever appear on television.

fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com article, ABC Television photo credit

Anne Francis first played Honey West in the second season episode of Burke’s Law, entitled “Who Killed the Jackpot?” broadcast on April 21, 1965, which led to this series being commissioned as a spin-off.

Our star female detective drove a Jaguar convertible in the Burke’s Law episode and was twice referred to as the “private eyeful.”

She carried a gun and was trained in martial arts.

She used a number of James Bond-like gimmicks: a high-tech surveillance van, an exploding compact, a garter-belt gas mask, and tear-gas earrings. Honey is a black-belt in Judo, as is Sam, who is an ex-Marine.

Honey West was intended to be the American equivalent of the popular characters Cathy Gale and Emma Peel in the British series The Avengers.

Which brings us to Emma Peel.

fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com article, ITV ABC Thames photo credit

The Avengers is an espionage British television series created in 1961.

It initially focused on Dr. David Keel (Ian Hendry), aided by John Steed (Patrick Macnee). Hendry left after the first series; Steed then became the main character, partnered by a succession of assistants. His most famous assistants were intelligent, stylish and assertive women: Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman), Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) and Tara King (Linda Thorson).

The series ran from 1961 until 1969, screening as one-hour episodes for its entire run.

Of his assistants Diana Rigg was by far our favorite. She was beautiful, feminine and elegant with a salty dry sense of humor and could really kick tail in a believable way.

fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com article, ITV ABC Thames photo credit

Probably the most credible among the many mediocre films to come was Bridget Fonda in Point Of No Return.

Point of No Return (also known as The Assassin) is a 1993 American action film directed by John Badham and starring Bridget Fonda and Gabriel Byrne. It is a remake of Luc Besson‘s 1990 film Nikita.

Maggie Hayward (Bridget Fonda) is a violent and unstable drug addict found guilty of murdering a police officer, and is sentenced to death by lethal injection. Her death is faked, and a secret government agent named Bob (Gabriel Byrne) informs her that she is to become an assassin.

She is given a makeover and training that transform her into a beautiful woman, and she is also trained as a killer.

The film was well-done especially having a top A-List actor like Gabriel Byrne add both stability, unpredictability and intrigue to the cast.

The news gets better in this evolving genre.

Close is a 2019 action thriller film directed by Vicky Jewson, starring Noomi Rapace.

fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com article, Netflix photo credit

Ms. Rapace’s character is based on that of Jacquie Davis, one of the world’s leading female bodyguards, whose clients have included J. K. Rowling, Nicole Kidman, and members of the British royal family.

The film was released on January 18, 2019, by Netflix.

Here is the storyline. When attackers target the heiress she’s protecting, battle-hardened bodyguard Sam scrambles to save her client and teach her how to fight back.

The great review site indiereview.com liked parts of it. This is one aspect they felt shined through. “If nothing else, this cut-rate thriller should be enough to silence anyone who still doubts that Noomi Rapace deserves her own bonafide action franchise, as the film revels in the strong-jawed Swede’s rare ability to alchemize Lisbeth Salander’s hardness with Jason Statham’s appetite for destruction.”

We agree.

What we liked about this film is that it didn’t fall back on the enjoyable (for some) and tired but true heroics of the female assassin, double agent, butt kicker who can kill twenty tough guys in one scene.

That is not believable.

The film Salt was the absolute worst in this regard. The female agent involved (Angelina Jolie) was so over the top in her escapes and man kills over and over and over and over and over and over again that it simply felt like root canal.

Always will love Angelina. Please don’t pass the Salt.

Noomi Rapace can even make the most mundane scripts feel brilliant.

Noomi achieved great fame with her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film adaptations of the Millennium series: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest.

In 2011, she was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

She is also known for playing Anna in Daisy Diamond (2007), Leena in Beyond (2010), Anna in The Monitor (2011), Madame Simza Heron in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), the lead role of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw in the Ridley Scott science-fiction film Prometheus (2012), Beatrice in Dead Man Down (2013), Nadia in The Drop (2014), Raisa Demidova in Child 44 (2015), the seven lead roles in What Happened to Monday (2017), and the Netflix film Bright (2017) as Leilah.

What we loved most about this film, and maybe we should get out more, but this is the best female bodyguard movie that we’ve seen.

Most of the other films mentioned portray the female leads as crime fighters, detectives or over the top assassins where at times their ability to kick guy’s butts who are supposedly big tough body guards of wealthy amoral clients strain credibility.

Close mercifully spared us that.

We sense that there just aren’t a lot of real life female body guards out there for films to be based upon, so it is refreshing when we finally do get a female bodyguard film that is based upon a real life woman and not a cartoon character.

This is progress.

Yes we believe that Noomi should get her body guard television series, complete with music from Shaft. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q429AOpL_ds

“I was a bodyguard for somebody I love. That’s not a good combination. I was always ready to beat somebody up.”… Charlie Murphy

Here, unlike the male body guard genre where they virtually always fall in love with the women they protect, our star male chin breaker doesn’t fall in love with her rich teeny bopper princess.

She just protects her.

Then bonds with her.