The 355 is a 2021 American action-thriller film about a team of international female spies who have to work together.
When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, wild card CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown (Jessica Chastain, Ava) will need to join forces with rival badass German agent Marie (Diane Kruger), former MI6 ally and cutting-edge computer specialist Khadijah (Lupita Nyong’o), and skilled Colombian psychologist Graciela (Penélope Cruz) on a lethal, breakneck mission to retrieve it, while also staying one step ahead of a mysterious woman, Lin Mi Sheng (Bingbing Fan), who is tracking their every move.
As the action rockets around the globe from the cafes of Paris to the markets of Morocco to Shanghai, the quartet of women will forge a tenuous loyalty that could protect the world—or get them killed…
Directed by Simon Kinberg (writer-director-producer of Dark Phoenix, producer of Deadpool and The Martian and writer-producer of the X-Men films), from a screenplay co-written with Theresa Rebeck. Produced by Chastain and Kelly Carmichael for Chastain’s Freckle Films and by Kinberg for his Genre Films.
Reviews:
” …it’s all fun and games until, in its last moments, this film succumbs to the increasingly common disease of sequelitis, with a coda so determined to launch a franchise that it fails to be fully satisfying now […] The chases, fights and fun bits of spy craft are brightly and pacily shot, but the ‘twists’ are barely surprising. These women, and these characters, deserve more.” Empire
“The 355 has subordinated its plot to the action, which accordingly suffers from it. The action is for the most part solid, but ultimately not good enough to really make up for it. The endless dialogue reveals are too poorly written, with all their subtlety or complexity and a feminist statement blunted and devalued.” Film Rezensionen [translated from German]
“The 355 is a lifeless spy film that you have seen before. With performances keeping the movie afloat and a couple spy sequences that actually provide some nice subtle fun the rest of it just is forgettable. Every twist is seen a mile away, and the one shocking moment in the film while I was shocked I felt nothing in the moment.” Mama’s Geeky
” …good stunts and the always-cool 360-degree pans of our five furies in action can’t cover for a clumsy, contrivance-filled script and listless direction from the guy (Simon Kinberg) who killed the X-Men franchise. It starts with promise, hits the wall at the one-hour mark and nonsensically goes on and on after its climax.” Movie Nation
“Even James Bond gets dizzy here because when it comes to action and pace, Simon Kinberg’s energetic film has the edge. Emotional drudgery or dragging and overcomplicated plot elements are deliberately avoided. Instead, the focus is on the skills of the top-class ensemble and the rousing action and tension sequence, which is pleasantly reminiscent of the heyday of the genre.” Out Now [translated from German]
” …unoriginality and predictability means that The 355 depends majorly on star power to get the plot through one rough spot after another. Luckily for Kinberg, Chastain, Nyong’o, Kruger, and Cruz give their absolute level-best to bring thinly written, underdeveloped characters to reel life. Even then, Cruz suffers significantly from Kinberg’s decision to turn her into a field novice constantly fretting over her family back in Columbia.” Screen Anarchy
Release date:
Universal will release The 355 on January 7th 2022.
Trailer 1:
Trailer 2:
Packing a punch featurette:
Tilbury Docks location featurette:
Day One featurette:
