355 movie review rotten tomatoes

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors.

Now streaming on:

“The 355” amasses some of the most talented and electrifying actresses in the world, then squanders them in a generic and forgettable action picture.

Jessica Chastain is among them, and she helped shepherd the film from the beginning as one of its producers. It’s easy to see what the appeal is here: A glamorous and globe-trotting spy thriller in which women get to work together, kick ass, and save the day for a change. One of the through-lines in “The 355” is the way in which these characters get out from under the oppression of condescending mansplainers and actually get things done. You don’t have to be a gorgeous secret agent to relate to that dynamic.

And yet that notion is one of so many elements in director and co-writer Simon Kinberg ’s film that feel frustratingly half-baked. There’s not much to these women besides a couple of character traits, and the moments when they might reveal something deeper or more substantial about themselves are fleeting. The muscular physicality of the action sequences—the backbone of any film like this—is unsatisfying. Shaky camerawork and quick edits obscure the choreography and effort that went into staging the elaborate chases and fight scenes, making these moments more annoying than exciting.

Even the costume design is a let-down. In Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Diane Kruger , and Penelope Cruz , you have four actresses of significant craft and range who also happen to be stunners capable of wearing any kind of wardrobe choice with style and grace. Except for a high-dollar auction in Shanghai, “The 355” misses the opportunity to dress these women in show-stopping ensembles as they travel from city to city, which would have heightened the sense of glittering escapism. As for the film’s fifth star, Bingbing Fan, she’s barely there until the film’s very end, although its marketing would suggest otherwise.

What they’re all after is the blandest of McGuffins in the script from Kinberg (“X-Men: Dark Phoenix”) and longtime TV writer Theresa Rebeck (“NYPD Blue,” “Smash”). It’s a flash drive containing a data key that can wreak havoc with the touch of a few keystrokes: shut down power grids and destabilize financial markets, launch nukes, and send satellites tumbling from the sky. Not that it matters what it does—it’s the thing that sets the plot in motion—but this happens to be a particularly uninspired bad-guy do-hickey. It’s so amorphous, you never truly feel the threat of its potential danger.

At the film’s start, Chastain’s hotheaded CIA operative, Mason “Mace” Brown, and her partner, Nick ( Sebastian Stan ), pose as newlyweds to meet up in Paris with the Colombian intelligence agent who has the device (an underused Edgar Ramirez ). (Chastain and Stan, who previously worked together on “ The Martian ,” are supposedly best friends who are secretly in love with each other, but they have zero chemistry.) Kruger, as bad-ass German operative Marie, intercepts it instead, leading to one of the movie’s many dizzying action sequences. Mace brings in her reluctant former MI6 pal, the brilliant hacker Khadijah (Nyong’o), to trace its location. But Cruz, as the Colombian psychologist Dr. Graciela Rivera, also gets dragged into the fray; implausibly, she was sent into the field to find Ramirez’s character and bring him home.

Eventually it becomes clear that all of these women must set aside their differences and team up to find the device: "They get this, they start World War III,” Mace says to Khadijah in one of the movie’s many, many examples of clunky exposition. But first, a fistfight between Mace and Marie involving frozen seafood, which isn’t nearly as fun as it sounds. And the moment in which they all stand around, screaming inane dialogue and pointing guns at each other before reaching an uneasy détente, could not be staged or shot more awkwardly.

One of the film’s most egregious sins is the way it wastes Cruz’s formidable presence and ability. She plays the frightened fish out of water, eager to get home to her husband and sons. As if her character’s inclusion weren’t contrived enough, she’s then asked to be cowering and meek, which aren’t exactly her strong suits.

And yet, there are a couple of scenes that indicate how much better “The 355” could have been. At one point, after achieving a victory, they all sit around drinking beer and swapping war stories, and the blossoming camaraderie on display makes you wish there were more of that. The idea of them rejecting their male-dominated agencies, being on their own, and having to rely on each other for survival is also intriguing—like a more violent version of “9 to 5.”

“James Bond never has to deal with real life,” Mace tells Khadijah at one point. “James Bond always ends up alone,” Khadijah responds, in an exchange that inches closer to something resembling real and relatable human experience. Somewhere in here is the seed of the idea that inspired Chastain in the first place: exploring the sacrifices women often make when they choose career over family, and chasing the tantalizing fantasy that we can have it all. But then the insistent, drum-heavy score starts up again, overwhelming everything, and it’s back to the next shootout or explosion.

Now playing in theaters.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

Now playing

In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon

Clint worthington.

The Long Game

Lousy Carter

Sweet Dreams

Matt zoller seitz.

Peyton Robinson

Sheila O'Malley

Film credits.

The 355 (2022)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, brief strong language, and suggestive material.

122 minutes

Jessica Chastain as Mason 'Mace' Brown

Lupita Nyong'o as Khadijah

Penélope Cruz as Graciela

Diane Kruger as Marie

Fan Bingbing as Lin Mi Sheng

Sebastian Stan as Nick

Edgar Ramírez

Emilio Insolera as Hacker

Leo Staar as Grady

• Simon Kinberg

Writer (story by)

• Theresa Rebeck

Cinematographer

• Tim Maurice-Jones
• John Gilbert

Latest blog posts

Ned Benson, Lucy Boynton, and Justin H. Min Want to Play The Greatest Hits for You

Until It’s Too Late: Bertrand Bonello on The Beast

O.J. Simpson Dies: The Rise & Fall of A Superstar

Which Cannes Film Will Win the Palme d’Or? Let’s Rank Their Chances

Advertisement

Supported by

‘The 355’ Review: Exile in Bondville

Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o, Diane Kruger and Fan Bingbing star in an espionage thriller that’s slick but banal.

• Share full article

By Amy Nicholson

Two centuries before James Bond 007, there was Agent 355, a lady spy on George Washington’s side during the American Revolutionary War who helped identify the turncoat Benedict Arnold . Her name was hidden from history, but her code number has been claimed by this slick and grim espionage flick that aspires to become an all-star, all-female franchise — the Spice Girls version of Bond. Jessica Chastain, a producer and star of the movie, even used Twitter to crowdsource casting suggestions for a “#BondBoy.”

Why not? But we’re going to need a better plot than one built around a bunch of heroes and terrorists chasing after yet another doomsday gizmo. Chastain’s Mace Browne, a C.I.A. workaholic repulsed by romantic commitment, is hellbent on securing a one-of-a-kind cyber-whatsit able to hack into and hijack any computer-controlled device on the planet, from a power grid to a plane. This device could start World War III, Mace warns an MI6 computer whiz, Khadijah (Lupita Nyong’o), in a rusty clunker of a line that warns the audience that the only novelty in Simon Kinberg’s thriller is the cast. It doesn’t take a super sleuth to fill in the rest. There will be lectures on teamwork, confessions squeezed out “the easy way or the hard way” and speeches about the invisible front lines of modern warfare, all rote hubbub building toward a blowout gun battle that makes sure to set aside a bad boyfriend for a sequel.

But what a cast. Chastain and Nyong’o rumble with Diane Kruger, peer pressure Penélope Cruz and are struck dumb by Fan Bingbing , who saunters in halfway through to shake things up. Individually, the women represent the differing national security interests of the United States, England, Germany, Colombia and China; their pitiful male colleagues, however — the lovesick partner (Sebastian Stan) who uses a sting operation to make Mace playact as his fiancée, the distrustful boss (Sylvester Groth) who diagnoses Kruger’s near-feral street fighter with daddy issues — make a case for the women to form a feminist Brawlers Without Borders.

Kinberg and Theresa Rebeck’s screenplay races through five continents, and as many betrayals and switcheroos. (The cinematographer, Tim Maurice-Jones, seems most inspired by Shanghai’s iridescent neon blues.) The filmmaking deserves credit for refusing to leer as the ladies convincingly kick and punch — all focus is on the stunts, not on sex appeal.

Yet there’s a sense that “The 355” felt forced to pick between being sincere or being fun. It chose solemnity. As a result, it’s flat-footed even when the setups yearn to be playful. Viewers are not invited to giggle when a pursuit detours into a men-only bathhouse, or at a surreal moment in an undercover sequence when Chastain rips off her red wig disguise to reveal … her own identical red hair. The drums thunder as though they’re dead-serious about proving that women can make an expensive adventure that’s every bit as banal as the ones that boys crank out every month with basically the same plot. At least Cruz is allowed to get a laugh in a scene where her married soccer mom learns to flirt with a patsy. The twinkle in her eyes looks just like Sean Connery’s seductive gleam.

The 355 Rated PG-13 for copious male corpses. Running time: 2 hours 4 minutes. In theaters.

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

Even before his new film “Civil War” was released, the writer-director Alex Garland faced controversy over his vision of a divided America  with Texas and California as allies.

Theda Hammel’s directorial debut, “Stress Positions,” a comedy about millennials weathering the early days of the pandemic , will ask audiences to return to a time that many people would rather forget.

“Fallout,” TV’s latest big-ticket video game adaptation, takes a satirical, self-aware approach to the End Times .

“Sasquatch Sunset” follows the creatures as they go about their lives. We had so many questions. The film’s cast and crew had answers .

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter  to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

The 355 Review

Meh-ssion: impossible..

The 355 premieres in theaters on Friday, Jan. 7.

Born of an idea star Jessica Chastain had while working with director Simon Kinberg on X-Men: Dark Phoenix about an all-female Mission: Impossible-style espionage team, The 355 starts off with decent energy and good intentions, but then devolves into a mess of sluggish clichés, predictable twists, and obvious arcs. And also, possibly, a (pandemic-necessitated?) green-screened Bingbing Fan. More on that later, though...

As an origin tale that clumsily lobbies for further adventures, The 355 brings together badass spies (and one psychologist) from different countries for a global squad of butt-kickers, at first all at cross-purposes, scrambling to get their hands on a dangerous piece of tech that can be weaponized to target anything that's online. For a while, mostly during the first act, the action pieces and chase sequences dazzle, enough to distract from the thin characters and emaciated dialogue. But somewhere around the movie's middle the story loses steam and the actual combining of these warriors into a functioning unit never quite rises to the occasion.

In their various ways, each of the four heroes (plus, the third act addition of the aforementioned Fan) is at a different state of their spy career. Some have no experience while others are too far gone in the game, distant and distrustful of everyone. Chastain's Mace, the CIA agent here, is just a few shades greener than Diane Kruger's German agent, Marie, as Mace still harbors hope for love, despite being burned before. Together, though, they're similarly driven and stubborn enough to be enemies at first.

The core cast -- of Chastain, Kruger (replacing Marion Cotillard, who can still be spotted in early publicity shoots), Lupita Nyong'o, and Penélope Cruz -- is solid, and Chastain makes for a stalwart, default Danny Ocean-type leader (right down to her weakness), but none of them are able to quite overcome the story's lack of wit and paucity of heart. If The 355 had few more moments of levity, or if it maybe made more of an attempt to rise above the absolute basics of the genre, the fact that each character is only given their "one thing" to care about would be easier to overlook.

From Paris to London to Morocco, the ladies' mission traverses the world, with each spot necessitating different types of tactics. Some require guns a' blazing while others call for formal wear and flirting. Chastain and Kruger get the most hand-to-hand action, and both shine as formidable fighters during strong stunt sequences, but the standout of the squad is Nyong'o, whose MI6 "gal in the chair" nicely shifts from cyber-scouring assistant to lethal field agent.

The best spy movie franchise is...

Cruz's character, sadly, feels like the most wasted element here, as the one woman in the bunch with no combat training. Not only does The 355 not take enough comedic advantage of her being the fish out of water, but the premise is hammered home so much that you expect the twist to be that she's actually a violent agent hiding her abilities. But that swerve never happens, which is a pity because it would have been the only fun twist in the entire story. And sticking with that, as the film heads into its endgame, it seems to lose most of its interest in what it started.

Sure, a lot of movies crumble at the finish, but The 355, particularly, seems to rush through a lot so it can wrap things up and spread its franchise wings. Not that what we're given as a villain is all that exciting, but everything here, past the midway point, is just treated like a stepping stone to get the characters into future installments.

Sebastian Stan and Édgar Ramírez round out the cast, playing their rather rote roles admirably. The best that can be said for them is that they feel way more vital to the film than Chinese star Bingbing Fan, who's not only a late addition to the story, but also seems like she filmed little to no scenes with the rest of the cast. And if she wasn't green-screened into the film (which it looks like), the staging sure makes it look like she was, which just from a blocking standpoint, makes this ensemble feel pretty uncoordinated.

The 355 did its first job correctly, which was to assemble a fun female cast who you'd want to see kick ass all over the world in an espionage adventure. It did not, however, deliver on its second (and arguably more important) task, which was to deliver a fresh and engaging story that fondly recalls old school while ushering in new school. Instead, it's all just underwhelming and obvious. Some of the action pieces are energetic enough to trick you into thinking there's substance to the story, but it's clear by the second act that this is an empty op.

In This Article

More Reviews by Matt Fowler

Ign recommends.

How Lucy MacLean and Her "Okey Dokeys" Became Fallout's Secret Weapon

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

Jessica chastain, penelope cruz and lupita nyong’o in ‘the 355’: film review.

Diane Kruger and Fan Bingbing also star in Simon Kinberg’s globe-trotting espionage thriller about an all-female group of operatives chasing a deadly cyber weapon.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

• Share this article on Facebook
• Share this article on Twitter
• Share this article on Flipboard
• Share this article on Email
• Show additional share options
• Share this article on Linkedin
• Share this article on Pinit
• Share this article on Reddit
• Share this article on Tumblr
• Share this article on Whatsapp
• Share this article on Print
• Share this article on Comment

There’s ample action but less excitement in The 355 , a production launched with great fanfare at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival that Universal is now dropping on the marketplace with minimal fuss. The idea for an espionage thriller led by an ensemble of women was hatched by producer and star Jessica Chastain while serving on the Cannes competition jury the previous year, sparked by the billboards lining the Croisette touting potential blockbusters, mostly fronted by male leads. The impulse to put kickass women in charge for a change is commendable, but the journeyman result suggests the pitfalls of starting with the packaging instead of the storytelling inspiration.

Related Stories

Lupita nyong'o recalls crush on leonardo dicaprio, crying inconsolably during 'titanic' on first date, cher, demi moore and anitta ring in blockbuster dolce & gabbana fashion exhibit in milan.

Given the genesis of the project, perhaps the biggest disappointment is that rather than put a woman behind the camera, Chastain recruited Simon Kinberg , whose extensive credits as producer and screenwriter are more impressive than his sole previous directing gig, on the 2019 X-Men franchise entry, Dark Phoenix .

Release date : Friday, Jan. 7 Cast : Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong’o, Édgar Ramírez, Sebastian Stan Director : Simon Kinberg Screenwriters : Theresa Rebeck, Simon Kinberg; story by Rebeck

He co-wrote The 355 with playwright Theresa Rebeck, who has a long history with TV cop procedurals, from NYPD Blue to Law & Order: Criminal Intent . But its thinly drawn characters and rote, often logistically unsound plot mechanics make this an unlikely bid to bring distaff energy to Bond and Bourne territory, notwithstanding the optimistic closing scene leaving the door ajar for sequels.

The title is a code-name nod to a real-life female operative who conveyed key information about British troop movements to American generals serving under George Washington in the Revolutionary War. The aim, by extension, is to provide recognition for overlooked women working behind the scenes in all manner of fields. In this case, that’s women who put themselves in danger to protect the rest of the world from it.

An elementary feminist perspective is baked into the material, from the hard-learned lessons of women placing their trust in the wrong men to the short-sighted disdain of a male villain berating his colleague for being outmaneuvered by “a bunch of girls.” But the real backbone of the story is female solidarity — with even women who start out from adversarial positions discovering the benefits of pooling their strengths and resources for a common goal.

That goal involves keeping an advanced technological device out of enemy hands. When a data key that can access and shut down any closed system on the global net is seized by Colombian intelligence officer Luis Rojas (Édgar Ramírez) during a deal that goes awry, he sees an opportunity to set himself up for retirement by selling the cyber weapon to the CIA.

Hotheaded loose cannon Mason “Mace” Browne (Chastain) is dispatched from Langley to Paris with fellow agent Nick ( Sebastian Stan ), a close friend who went through training with her. Their relationship has been strictly platonic, but since they’re posing as Iowan honeymooners, Nick puts the romantic moves on her. Although Mace doesn’t want to mess up the friendship, her resistance lasts about a minute, which undercuts the main character by putting girlish vulnerability in the way of her professional instincts.

Naturally, the mission doesn’t go as planned. German operative Marie Schmidt ( Diane Kruger ) snatches the bag she believes contains the device and parallel chases ensue, with Nick in pursuit of Luis above ground while Mace hunts down Marie in the Métro tunnels. An unfortunate casualty ups the emotional stakes for Mace, who brings in her former MI6 ally, Khadijah Adiyeme (Lupita Nyong’o), an ace computer hacker who has sworn off spycraft for a quieter life of romantic bliss.

Meanwhile, Colombian psychologist Dr. Graciela Rivera (Penélope Cruz) is sent by her government to bring the rogue Luis back into line and return the cyber weapon to them. But before she can get him out of France, they are set upon by armed thugs working for the most colorless mercenary in recent screen memory (Jason Flemyng). At one point a character notes that unlike the Cold War or the War on Terror, cyber warfare pits them against an invisible enemy. But that doesn’t make the bad guys here any more interesting.

With both Mace and Marie having failed to retrieve the device for their respective intelligence organizations, they are forced to quit beating the bejesus out of each other and team up. Horrified by all the gunfire and violence, Graciela just wants to return home to her precious family. But her fingerprint recognition on a tracking device and the target now on her back oblige her to tag along.

As much as the film advocates for female empowerment, the separation of the characters according to their family and romantic affiliations, or lack of them, seems a tad reductive.

Mace has always been a lone wolf and she meets her match in Marie, whose fiercely solitary nature and reluctance to trust anyone were set in stone when she discovered at age 15 that her father was a double agent working for the Russians. That makes her the meatiest of the characters, and Kruger’s scowling physicality in the role makes her the thriller’s most dynamic presence. All the actresses bring considerable charisma to the film but Rebeck and Kinberg’s script gives them no shading. More humor in the brief bonding moments that punctuate the accelerated action interludes would have gone a long way.

The story jumps from France to Morocco, where the women use the literal cloak of female invisibility to their advantage in a crowded marketplace. But double-crosses and underestimated antagonists mean the device keeps eluding them, eventually turning up in a dark-web auction in Shanghai. The glamorous high-roller art event that fronts that sale allows for a sleek wardrobe change (yay, fight scenes in wigs and heels!) and 007-style gadgetry with jewelry cams. The auction also brings out an enigmatic figure in Lin Mi Sheng ( Fan Bingbing ), who appears to be one step ahead of the women until the explosive climax in a luxury hotel.

Kinberg handles the fast-paced action capably, with muscular camerawork from Tim Maurice-Jones, propulsive scoring from Tom Holkenberg and busy editing from John Gilbert and Lee Smith. The fight choreography isn’t exactly inventive, but it’s serviceable enough, with Chastain, Kruger and Fan, in particular, getting to show off some sharp moves. It’s all quite watchable and not without suspense, but the characters reveal too little emotional depth or complexity to make us care much about either their losses or their hard-fought victories.

By the standards of recent female-driven action like Widows , Wonder Woman , The Old Guard , Black Widow and Birds of Prey — not to mention longtime Asian favorites like The Heroic Trio — The 355 is a pedestrian number.

Full credits

Distributor: Universal Production companies: Freckle Films, SK Genre Films, Universal Pictures, FilmNation Entertainment Cast: Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong’o, Édgar Ramírez, Sebastian Stan, Jason Flemyng, Sylvester Groth, John Douglas Thompson, Leo Starr Director: Simon Kinberg Screenwriters: Theresa Rebeck, Simon Kinberg; story by Rebeck Producers: Jessica Chastain, Kelly Carmichael, Simon Kinberg Executive producers: Richard Hewitt, Esmond Ren, Wang Rui Director of photography: Tim Maurice-Jones Production designer: Simon Elliott Costume designer: Stephanie Collie Music: Tom Holkenberg Editors: John Gilbert, Lee Smith Visual effects supervisor: Keith Devlin Casting: Avy Kaufman

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Cannes critics’ week unveils 2024 lineup, china box office: ‘boy and the heron’ sails to $94m, ‘godzilla x kong’ hits $110m, 2024 writers guild awards: ‘the holdovers,’ ‘american fiction,’ ‘succession’ among winners, box office: alex garland’s ‘civil war’ opens no. 1 with history-making $25.7m for a24, lori loughlin recalls working with keanu reeves on 1988’s ‘the night before:’ “he’s just a dream”, ‘triangle of sadness’ director ruben östlund proposes requiring a license to use cameras.

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes
• Movie Reviews

The 355 review: A sleek, silly, and surprisingly fun female spy thriller

Hey, ladies.

Leah Greenblatt is the critic at large at Entertainment Weekly , covering movies, music, books, and theater. She is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, and has been writing for EW since 2004.

There's a general idea in show business that January is where movies go to die, a dumpster month for studios looking to quietly burn off the cursed and broken projects still lingering in last year's outbox. The fact that The 355 has landed there twice now (it was originally scheduled for release at the start of 2021, then delayed for COVID) fits pretty neatly into that narrative: Why else would a big-budget action film starring a cadre of internationally famous actresses slink so quietly into the post-holiday wasteland? A bland marketing campaign didn't help; neither did a corny, almost comically generic trailer . So it's a nice surprise to find out that the movie (in theaters this Friday and on Peacock Feb. 25) is frequently fun and far smarter than your average January-boneyard bear — a sleek popcorn spy flick that deserves better than slow death by in-flight entertainment, though that's probably its destiny.

The story begins, purposefully or not, in a wash of testosterone: a Colombian drug lord, a malevolent-rich-guy buyer, a SWAT team swarm emerging from the jungle. Except the product for sale isn't powder; it's some of kind of dark-web data key powerful enough to take down entire city grids and make airplanes fall from the sky. (As in most movies like this, the technology is generally so advanced it might as well be a wizard wand). When the narco's smartphone-size death star lands in the hands of a scared SWAT member ( The Undoing 's Edgar Ramirez), CIA agents Mason "Mace" Brown ( Jessica Chastain ) and Nick Fowler ( Sebastian Stan ) are sent to Paris to retrieve it. Unfortunately, a German agent named Marie ( Diane Kruger ) has the same goal, and a better grasp of the French Metro system; the end-times key gets away.

In the aftermath Mace turns to an old friend, Khadijah ( Lupita Nyong'o ), a former MI6 agent now working in London as a TED-talky tech specialist. This is the kind of crime she's made for, but a second failed attempt leaves them only with fewer bullets and an extremely reluctant new field agent: Penelope Cruz 's Graciela, a staff psychologist for Colombian intelligence who would very much like to be excused from this narrative and go home to her husband and kids. Instead she's conscripted into the team, along with Marie ("the enemy of my enemy is my friend") and eventually Lin Mi Sheng (Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing), another agent with a singular gift for IT. Hot pursuits in Moroccan souks and Shanghai high-rises follow, as they are wont to do when the fate of the free world is at stake; so, inevitably, does female bonding and a not-small body count.

The script, by Simon Kinberg ( Mr. and Mrs. Smith , the X-Men franchise), who also directed, and Theresa Rebeck ( Smash ), is both ludicrous and functional: One-liners and weapons (a fist, a lamp, even an oyster shell) fly; double crosses are flipped and tripled back again. The familiar marks 355 hits — sneering, stubbled villains; glittery international set pieces; things that go boom — follow the smoothed-down grooves of a thousand other thrillers, and everyone in it is so ridiculously good-looking they probably should have called it Only 10s . But the story moves along crisply, and the stars, who have all easily been in better films, elevate the material so breezily they tend to make even the most ludicrous moments float.

Also tucked into the broad flash and fight-clubbiness of the plot are keener little character notes: Chastain's Mace kills large men with calm efficiency, but when she's confronted with high scaffolding she stops to draw a sharp breath, then skip-walks like an awkward stork (or more refreshingly, a recognizable human). And Cruz's panicked, charming Graciela, the token civilian, finds uses for her therapy skills that actually make sense; when she and Nyong'o are on screen, it's not hard to remember there are at least two Oscars in the room. (The fact that all but one of the leads is over 40, though age is never mentioned or even implied, feels radical in its own way too). Maybe January will bury The 355 , but frankly it feels like the kind of movie bleak mid-winter was made for: Starry, silly escapism with pop-feminist flare and a passport. Grade: B

Related content:

• Jessica Chastain's genuine pain face made it into The 355 stunt scene: 'That really hurt!'
• How Jessica Chastain prepared for singing as Tammy Faye: 'Bourbon'
• Watch Jessica Chastain's shocking facial transformation on The Eyes of Tammy Faye set

Related Articles

Filed under:

The 355 continues the hot new streak of lousy lady action movies

Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Penélope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o, and Fan Bingbing are a strong team in a weak film

Share this story

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Reddit
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: The 355 continues the hot new streak of lousy lady action movies

Every portion of Simon Kinberg’s turgid, clumsy spy flick The 355 sounds good on paper: Five of Hollywood’s most acclaimed actresses come together to portray global intelligence officers fleeing from their respective governments, in a film melding Oceans 8 and the Jason Bourne, James Bond, and Mission: Impossible franchises with the recent trend toward aggressively female-fronted action films. (From 2021 alone: Kate , Gunpowder Milkshake , The Protégé , and Jolt .) In their unification, the women denote inclusion, empowerment, and validation. The 355 ’s nonsensical script, written by Theresa Rebeck and Kinberg, shoves those positives down audiences’ throats, without ever making them specific or insightful enough to signify anything.

For Kinberg, the writer of 2005’s Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie star vehicle Mr. & Mrs. Smith , the spy genre should be familiar territory. In fact, you can see him reaching for the same romantic dynamic between his leads here. CIA officers Mace (Jessica Chastain) and Nick (Sebastian Stan) open the film trying to recover a deadly data key being held in Paris by turned Colombian DNI agent Luis (Édgar Ramírez). Though Nick is smitten with Mace, and even proposes to her, she doesn’t want to give up her high-energy career in favor of a stable life. Chastain and Stan, unfortunately, are not Jolie and Pitt. They have all the chemistry of cheap red wine spilled on a white carpet.

Kinberg complicates the setup with a dull web of intrigue: Chastain and Stan are competing with other governments bidding to retrieve the data key. Their field agents include firmly independent German BDN agent Marie (Diane Kruger) and Graciela (Penélope Cruz), a married mother of two and DNI therapist who’s close to Luis and hoping to bring him back into the fold. The quartet are later betrayed by an unknown baddie whose identity doesn’t require much brain power to figure out. Their respective countries all believe they’ve become turncoats too, so to clear their names, Mace, Graciela, and Marie team with MI6 computer specialist Khadijah (Lupita Nyong’o) and Chinese MSS agent Lin Mi Sheng (Fan Bingbing).

Of the quintet, Chastain is the least believable as a spy. When talking on her hidden earpiece, she often infuriatingly puts her hand nearly around her entire head, making her cover obvious in crowds. In the sequences where the five women try to infiltrate a Moroccan bazaar, costume designer Stephanie Collie opts for an ostentatious style over practicality, dressing Chastain in a giant white fedora and cream-colored suit. Who wouldn’t spot a lavishly dressed white woman who’s talking to herself, one hand covering her ear, amongst a bevy of plainly dressed brown folks?

The questionable costume decisions isn’t the only craft miscue. Though The 355 tries to maneuver with the kinetic verve of a globetrotting adventure, the marks of shooting on generic sets are all over this film. At times, the only visual difference between Shanghai and Morocco is whether the quintet of spies is standing in front of a wall with Arabic characters scrawled across it, or Chinese letters instead.

The action sequences also leave a lot to be desired. A foot chase involving Chastain and Stan in Paris, relying on sudden zooms and noxious handheld camera movements, rings as a hollow pastiche of the Jason Bourne shaky-cam action style, which is both a huge cliché for action films , and now passé. Another chase, winding through shipping containers and scaling up dock cranes, bears similarities to the epic construction setpiece in Casino Royale , but without the fun or quality.

It might be easier to stomach these lesser-than homages to superior films if The 355 ’s premise didn’t feel so dated. The data key the quintet wants to recover holds the ability to hack bank accounts, security systems, and information from across the world. It’s apparently the only one in existence. In Mace’s words, the device could let ill-intentioned countries exist in the shadows, rather than operating out in the open. This common technology isn’t new, though — it’s ubiquitous in real life. And the concept of unknown enemies wreaking havoc from behind the scenes is just as common in spy films, with movies like Skyfall and Enemy of the State addressing it in much more intriguing ways.

Kinberg tries to blend this stale concept within a feminist story with a well-meaning aim, but a ham-fisted execution. Without no setup to justify the leap, he calibrates these women’s mission as a unified battle against a misogynist system. But apart from the on-the-nose dialogue around the film’s conclusion — the baddie fumes to an operative: “You were beaten by a bunch of girls !” — Kinberg never gestures at any specific misogynist target to be addressed or defeated. He just cloyingly suggests that the mere idea of five women working together is inherently empowering.

A later fight scene that features the quintet of spies battling a rogue agent in a high-rise borrows heavily from Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol , but without the same verve or intensity. By this point, these stars, all solid performers in their own right, have carried an entire movie that’s beneath their talent. The work they put into physical training and nailing their fight choreography is visible. They accrue individual highlights: Cruz, in particular, offers a grounded performance. But at every turn, the filmmaking undermines them, from the empty compositions (like Netflix’s misbegotten action film Red Notice , The 355 relies on widescreen without filling the frame) to the unimaginative editing and queasy camera movement.

Kinberg desperately wants this spy adventure to operate on the same level as other venerable action franchises but it takes more than star power or even a worthy cause to accomplish such heights. That kind of quality requires careful plotting and thoughtful writing. (It’s never clear how these spies are able to travel around the world undetected in a modern surveillance state, after their respective governments have burned them.) The final scene, a gauche comeuppance for the sexist at the heart of this plot, involves the women looking at a happy family. They lament over how their accomplishments will never be known or remembered. It would be better, for all involved, unfortunately, if this ill-conceived movie was forgotten, too.

The 355 opens in theaters on Jan. 6.

‘The 355’: Cast, trailer and everything we know about the spy movie

Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz headline ‘The 355,’ a new female-driven spy movie.

The slate of 2022 movies kicks off with a big, action-driven spy movie in The 355 . Featuring an all-star, female-led ensemble (and Sebastian Stan), The 355 looks to be the globe-trotting, thrill-filled experience that the movies were made for.

The female spy movie has seen a number of fun entries over the last few years, notably with the likes of Atomic Blonde featuring Charlize Theron, the Melissa McCarthy comedy Spy and of course, Marvel’s Black Widow with Scarlett Johansson. Can The 355 join the ranks of these films? Here’s everything we know about The 355 .

‘The 355’ cast

The 355 certainly isn’t lacking for star power, with the movie’s central team consisting of Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Penelope Cruz, Diane Kruger and Bingbing Fan. That is a stacked cast that between them have six Oscar nominations and two wins (Cruz and Nyong’o), as well as plenty of action/spy movie experience in films like Zero Dark Thirty (Chastain), Inglourious Basterds (Kruger), Black Panther (Nyong’o), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Cruz) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (Fan).

In the film, Chastain is playing CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown; Nyong’o is MI6 computer specialist Khadijah; Cruz’s Graciela is a skilled Colombian psychologist; Kruger is the German agent Marie; and Fan is Lin Mi Sheng, a mysterious woman from the Chinese government.

The supporting cast isn’t too shabby either. Outside of the main quintet, The 355 features Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier ) and Edgar Ramírez ( Point Break , Jungle Cruise ). Additional cast members include Raphael Acloque, Jason Wong and Leo Staar.

‘The 355’ release date

The 355 marks the official start of the 2022 movie calendar year, as it will be released on the first Friday of 2022, Jan. 7 in both the U.S. and the U.K.

The movie is getting an exclusive theatrical release, but we already know where The 355 is going to end up when it makes its way to streaming. As a Universal Pictures movie, The 355 will first be available for home viewing on the Peacock streaming service after its 45-day exclusive run in theaters. That 45-day run would end about Feb. 21, but that would likely be the earliest that The 355 would appear on streaming or digital.

‘The 355’ plot

Before we get into the specifics of the plot, something you may be asking yourself while reading all this is what is the significance of “The 355.” Well, the title is a reference to Agent 355, the code name of the first female spy working for American forces during the Revolutionary War. These modern day spies take on that iconic number to represent their new group.

Now, as for the story. Being billed by Universal as a “hard-driving original approach to the globe-trotting espionage genre,” here is the official synopsis for The 355 :

“When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, wild card CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown, will need to join forces with rival badass German agent Marie, former MI6 ally and cutting-edge computer specialist Khadijah and skilled Colombian psychologist Graciela on a lethal, breakneck mission to retrieve it, while also staying one-step ahead of a mysterious woman, Lin Mi Sheng, who is tracking their every move.

“As the action rockets around the globe from the cafes of Paris to the markets of Morocco to the opulent auction houses of Shanghai, the quartet of women will forge a tenuous loyalty that could protect the world — or get them killed.”

'The 355' reviews

Reviews are in for The 355 , but the critics aren't overly welcoming to the first movie of the 2022 calendar. What to Watch's review of The 355 calls the movie a "soulless spy thriller" that does not live up to the A-list cast that is has put together. Early consensus for The 355 isn't much better, as the movie currently scores as a 31% ("rotten") on Rotten Tomatoes and a 44 on Metacritic.

‘The 355’ director

Directing The 355 is someone who has a good bit of experience in the action/spy genre, Simon Kinberg. Kinberg broke out in Hollywood as a writer, penning scripts for Mr. & Mrs. Smith , Sherlock Holmes and multiple X-Men movies. He made his feature film directorial debut with X-Men: Dark Phoenix , which starred Jessica Chastain.

Kinberg is also sharing writing credit on The 355 with Theresa Rebeck, who came up with the original story idea.

‘The 355’ trailer

The trailer for The 355 delivers just about everything you could want in previewing an action movie — big set pieces, some awesome looking fights and some fun banter. Give the trailer for The 355 a watch for yourself below. 

Get the What to Watch Newsletter

The latest updates, reviews and unmissable series to watch and more!

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca , Moulin Rouge! , Silence of the Lambs , Children of Men , One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars . On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd .

Oscar winner The Zone of Interest is airing on TV tonight

Watch Past Lives director Celine Song share how two classic movies inspired her Oscar-nominated debut

Who is Frank Blake? All we know about new Blue Lights star

Most Popular

• 2 Coronation Street fans think they've RUMBLED who Lauren's killer is
• 3 Casualty fans left 'HEARTBROKEN' over the shocking scenes
• 4 The 100th: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden concert airs tonight on TV
• 5 How to watch Blue Lights season 2: stream the police drama online for free

The 355 Review

Producer and star Jessica Chastain and director Simon Kinberg team up here to give the world a charismatic, female-centric team of super-spies to balance all those male-led spy thrillers. You just wish the story had been as innovative as the casting, and the twists less screamingly obvious to even those without secret-agent training.

Chastain plays Mace, a CIA agent sent to retrieve the sort of crypto-doomsday device familiar from a thousand other spy capers. She and partner Nick ( Sebastian Stan ) are interrupted by the BND’s Marie ( Diane Kruger ) and the device is lost to bad actors, in the geopolitical rather than entertainment sense. Cue a globe-trotting quest, as Mace and Marie team up to stop a world war.

These spies are both fierce and fun: Mace is spiky and competent but not without her vulnerabilities, and Marie is — as she admits — a mess. Computer genius Khadijah ( Lupita Nyong'o ) is sensibly wary of returning to the field when asked to assist them, and the press-ganged Graciela ( Penélope Cruz ) is refreshingly terrified and just wants to go home to her kids.

It's all fun and games until, in its last moments, it succumbs to the increasingly common disease of sequelitis.

The film's best scenes involve these four holing up in a safe house to negotiate their boundaries and formulate a plan; it's weakest when they spout girl-power platitudes and when a deus ex China turns up to move the story forward six paces in a single bound in the final act. Not that Fan Bingbing 's Chinese agent Lin is ineffective; she just feels grafted suddenly on. And, just as women have been asking for decent roles in male-led films for decades, it would be nice to see some nuance for Stan and Edgar Ramírez here, and more surprises in their arcs.

Still, 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. These women are effective and fierce; leave it to audiences to decide whether we want them on another impossible mission.

Related Articles

Movies | 24 11 2021

Movies | 10 10 2021

Movies | 23 11 2020

Movies | 29 10 2020

Movies | 26 10 2020

Movies | 23 10 2020

Movies | 07 10 2020

Review: Espionage team-up of ‘The 355’ fails to come together

• Show more sharing options
• Copy Link URL Copied!

The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic . Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials .

As explained in “The 355,” a female spy known to history only by her code name 355 played a pivotal role in gathering intelligence against the British during the American Revolution. The film follows an international group of contemporary female intelligence agents who unite to track down a dangerous piece of technology before it falls into the wrong hands. Directed by Simon Kinberg from a script he co-wrote with Theresa Rebeck, the movie is low-energy entertainment that feels like a letdown given the talent involved.

Jessica Chastain , also a producer on the project, plays a hard-boiled CIA agent, while Diane Kruger plays her equally tough German counterpart. Lupita Nyong’o is a former British agent reluctantly brought back in, while Penélope Cruz plays a Colombian psychologist who has never worked in the field before. Chinese star Bingbing Fan is an operative of uncertain loyalties. As the five come together for a shared goal of saving the world — “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” as someone says — they find themselves on the run from various government agencies while in pursuit of violent arms dealers.

The storytelling and plotting feel pulled together from spare parts of recent “Mission: Impossible” and James Bond films, with a disavowal here and some light parkour there and multiple destabilizing double-crosses. The high-gloss sheen and glamour of those movies, with their spectacular international locales and operatic action, prove harder to replicate here. The action sequences feel a bit perfunctory and don’t provide the necessary punctuation to the rest of the story.

The film’s most notable addition is its attempt to acknowledge that these women have, need to have, lives outside their jobs, even with an occupation like international intelligence. Chastain’s character, reprising emotional beats from the performer’s role as a CIA analyst in “Zero Dark Thirty,” has long had only her work, and the story emphasizes her isolation. In a moment that becomes the picture’s thematic centerpiece, Chastain says, “James Bond never has to deal with real life” to which Nyong’o responds, “James Bond always ends up alone.”

Cruz finds the most to latch onto, bringing an authenticity to her stress while constantly checking in with her family back home and adding a light screwball dusting when her character must awkwardly flirt to gain information. Kruger comes across as the most at ease with the picture’s action, while Nyong’o seems to be having the most fun, bringing a much-needed energetic brio to the story.

The signified cool walk-off music that leads into the end credits (and leaves the door open for a sequel) is Peaches’ song “Boys Wanna Be Her,” also the theme music to the TV show “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee.” And that’s indicative of the larger problem with the movie, that everywhere it should feel risky and energizing, it instead feels familiar and a bit tired. Simply having women star in a sluggish iteration of an airport dad-novel espionage-action story is not inspiring on its own. Despite a few scattered moments, the team-up action of “The 355” never fully comes together.

Rated: PG-13, for sequences of strong violence, brief strong language, and suggestive material Running time: 2 hours, 4 minutes Playing: Starts Jan. 7 in general release

More to Read

‘The Sympathizer’ is a tense black comedy that’s also a moving story about friendship

April 13, 2024

Espionage fiction writers pick their favorite fictional spies

Feb. 27, 2024

Review: Cat lady as secret agent? ‘Argylle’ should be a lot more fun and less of a headache

Feb. 2, 2024

Only good movies

Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

Mark Olsen writes about all kinds of movies for the Los Angeles Times as both a feature writer and reviewer.

More From the Los Angeles Times

In trying to hedge its politics, ‘Civil War’ betrays its characters — and the audience

Entertainment & Arts

‘Civil War’ unites moviegoers at box office

April 14, 2024

On ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Ryan Gosling can’t stop cracking up as guest host

Review: ‘Blackout,’ a new take on one of horror’s oldest myths, is claws for celebration

April 12, 2024

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

The 355 review – Jessica Chastain and her spy gang just don’t add up

The combined might of Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Diane Kruger and Penélope Cruz can’t enliven this lumbering action thriller

D iane Kruger slapping Jessica Chastain across the face with a frozen fish should be funny. The scene, sadly not played for laughs, is one of many wasted opportunities in this lacklustre action thriller. Chastain’s Mace and Kruger’s Marie, along with Khadijah (Lupita Nyong’o) and Graciela (Penélope Cruz), are international spies who team up to retrieve a “deadly cybertool” that’s fallen into the wrong hands.

Simon Kinberg’s film feels aggressively focus-grouped for the girl-boss crowd. “James Bond never had to deal with real life,” says mother-of-two Graciela with an eye roll. Winking dialogue about how women have been erased from history is similarly crowbarred in. Kruger smoulders as a German goth with daddy issues, and the only agent with any sort of swagger; Nyong’o, resplendent in a sweater vest, plays a tech specialist. Cruz is as luminous as ever, despite the fact that her role is mostly limited to crying and holding the phone. “We need another round… or like 10!” jokes Mace. Not even a post-mission pint in Morocco can liven up the gang’s tepid chemistry.

• The Observer
• Action and adventure films
• Jessica Chastain
• Penélope Cruz
• Lupita Nyong'o
• Diane Kruger

Comments (…)

Most viewed.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Civil War Link to Civil War
• Monkey Man Link to Monkey Man
• The First Omen Link to The First Omen

New TV Tonight

• The Sympathizer: Season 1
• Our Living World: Season 1
• Under the Bridge: Season 1
• The Spiderwick Chronicles: Season 1
• Conan O'Brien Must Go: Season 1
• Orlando Bloom: To the Edge: Season 1
• The Circle: Season 6
• Dinner with the Parents: Season 1
• Jane: Season 2

Most Popular TV on RT

• Fallout: Season 1
• Ripley: Season 1
• 3 Body Problem: Season 1
• Parasyte: The Grey: Season 1
• Shōgun: Season 1
• Sugar: Season 1
• We Were the Lucky Ones: Season 1
• Baby Reindeer: Season 1
• X-Men '97: Season 1
• A Gentleman in Moscow: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Fallout Link to Fallout
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

Best Movies of 2024: Best New Movies to Watch Now

25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now: What to Watch on Streaming

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

Fallout : What It Gets Right, and What It Gets Wrong

CinemaCon 2024: Day 3 – Disney Previews Deadpool & Wolverine , Moana 2 , Alien: Romulus , and More

• Trending on RT
• Best TV 2024
• Play Movie Trivia
• CinemaCon 2024
• Popular Movies

The 355: Trailer 1

Where to watch the 355.

Rent The 355 on Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

All The 355   Videos

The 355 review : Jessica Chastain’s spy thriller is an incomprehensible mess

The all-female action movie fails to be as empowering as its premise.

Past and present filmmakers have succeeded in pulling off silly spectacles that feel purposeful and — most importantly — entertaining. Simon Kinberg , who writes and directs The 355 , can’t be counted among them.

Starring an undeniably talented cast, which includes Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong’o , Penelope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, Sebastian Stan , and led by Jessica Chastain and her production company Freckle Films, The 355 is an incomprehensible mess of a film. The action thriller suffocates in its smugness, believing without a shadow of a doubt that it is an empowering story of women persevering in a field dominated by men.

Even with its poor filmmaking and ill-paced two-hour runtime, The 355 could have found success had it dialed down the faux move for empowerment and instead focused on creating characters that are more than their one-line descriptors.

Putting a twist on the classic spy film by casting international female stars, The 355 follows CIA agent Mace, played by Chastain, as she is forced to team up with agents from across the globe to recover a top-secret weapon.

The simple premise is bogged down by lackluster action set pieces that rely on mindless gunfire and destruction for destruction's sake. The first fight sequence is indicative of how the rest of the choreography will go. Failing to possess an eye for how action should be shot, Kinberg, along with the film’s messy editing, renders clumsy and nauseating sequences that don’t show any impact of the fights themselves. Certain moves are cobbled together in an indiscernible fashion, while other random moments are dragged on to see the minutiae in slow motion.

Even the globe-trotting is reduced to so many interior shots that the lush and iconic settings, cities, and monuments seem flat. Part of the fun of these global espionage films is the opulent travel destinations and costume designs, and the film refuses to indulge or linger on either.

Sebastian Stan and Jessica Chastain in The 355 .

Despite donning a super-serious drama coat, The 355 tries to enjoy every type of espionage cliché to a fault. It plays quick and loose with tone, making hokey cutaways to characters procuring blades off their person or forced moments of casual banter and camaraderie between a cast that lacks chemistry.

Chastain is especially miscast here, and while she is without question a strong actress, she benefits from very specific roles. It’s not that she isn’t versatile (she is), but her stoicism comes across as inauthentic when playing cold and aloof characters.

The rest of the cast holds up better, though the movie ultimately gives Cruz and Bingbing little to do compared to the other actors. Thankfully the film has Nyong’o, who is as captivating as ever, imbuing a supporting character with a level of nuance and charisma that pulls the audience into her particular journey. It’s safe to say it might’ve been a better bet to follow her story rather than Chastain’s.

Penelope Cruz, Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, and Lupita Nyong’o in The 355 .

While there are plenty of aspects to pick apart, one element seriously undercuts the film’s acting talent, and that’s the incompetent script from Kinberg and Theresa Rebeck. Just look at the characters themselves, and not only will you see glaring archetypes but individuals whose stories the film haphazardly wraps up by the end.

It’s not wrong to have a group that contains the rogue assailant, the stoic loner, and the tech support, but it’s the actor’s performance that better serves those weathered outlines. Instead, T he 355’s dialogue drags the point out. By the time we’re reminded twice about how alone Mace is and how she has “nobody” (a perfect primer for team bonding), we’re at the point where it feels like unnecessary filler.

The 355 wants to be important while simultaneously aiming to be mindless fun. It never manages to accomplish either. Its star-studded cast does little to elevate the film’s weak and shallow script. While it’s not always fair to think about “ what should have been,” it’s tough not to wonder how the film could’ve turned out if it had an engaging director with a point of view beyond talking points.

The 355 is now playing in theaters.

The 355 (2022)

• User Reviews

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews

• User Ratings
• External Reviews
• Metacritic Reviews
• Full Cast and Crew
• Release Dates
• Official Sites
• Company Credits
• Filming & Production
• Technical Specs
• Plot Summary
• Plot Keywords
• Parents Guide

Did You Know?

• Crazy Credits
• Alternate Versions
• Connections
• Soundtracks

Photo & Video

• Photo Gallery
• Trailers and Videos

Related Items

• External Sites

Related lists from IMDb users

Recently Viewed