The 355 review
Aside from one terribly predictable plot twist, The 355 is a pretty solid spy thriller that benefits tremendously from its excellent cast.
The 355 is being marketed like a Jason Bourne film. Minus the over-the-top stunts, it’s got more in common with the first Mission: Impossible film before it became a Tom Cruise showcase franchise. There’s more than enough space in the spy thriller genre for ensembles as opposed to the loner doing it all themselves.
Stars Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o or Diane Kruger easily could have easily cranked out an Atomic Blonde style solo film, but the premise of a United Nations collaboration is far more intriguing.
A powerful doomsday device is in the hands of mercenaries looking to sell to the highest bidder. It’s the kind of weapon that every intelligence agency would immediately want retrieved to avoid being used by the bad guys even though the most obvious course of action would be to simply destroy it.
For reasons co-screenwriter Theresa Rebeck and director/co-screenwriter Simon Kinberg don’t feel the need to adequately explain, only a very small handful of agents from various branches are on the case to retrieve the device.
CIA agent Mace Browne (Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye) desperately wants to track the device down as the mission has become personal. Mace’s partner/no longer friend zone pal Nick (Sebastian Stan, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) got taken out. Under suspicion of being a double agent, Mace has to go off the grid to track down the device and clear her name.
With no viable help from the agency, Mace reaches out to her best friend Khadijah (Nyong’o), an MI-6 agent and overall tech whiz. The 355 doesn’t stick to traditional roles for the characters, but Khadijah is the most useful. She’s a linguist, expert level computer whiz and tech genius.
After a rocky introduction, Mace and Khadijah team up with German agent, Marie Schmidt (Kruger), and Graciela (Penélope Cruz), a Columbian DNI psychologist who inadvertently gets caught up in all the craziness. Despite the promotional materials, the fifth member of the crew — Chinese intelligence agent Li Mi Sheng (Bingbing Fan, X-Men: Days of Future Past), doesn’t actually show up until very late in the film.
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The 355 is at its best with the agents doing the spy game shtick.
For the most part, the film avoids the low hanging fruit of goofy sexist dialogue. The main bad guy (Jason Flemyng) keeps dismissing Mace and crew as ‘a bunch of girls,’ but the group are just portrayed as skilled fighters.
Kruger is no less convincing than Matt Damon when he started the Jason Bourne series. Kruger arguably has more intensity than makes her take on a super spy more convincing.
Kinberg stages solid action scenes and avoids the trope of making the women action heroes unstoppable in a fight. Mace in particular has to work to beat down larger dudes and takes some significant damage along the way. It makes the fight scenes more credible.
If it weren’t for that twist that felt so obvious right from the jump, the film would be so much stronger. There’s an enjoyable hot potato theme playing out as Mace and the others track down the device, but all of that well-earned momentum crashes with the twist that just comes off silly.
Eventually, just the sheer force of Chastain, Nyong’o, Kruger and Cruz, the film rebounds for an exciting final act.
It’s not until the last scene when Rebeck and Kinberg get a little too cute with a line about mansplaining, which felt unnecessary. The 355 didn’t need to go for cheap audience applause points. A less predictable plot and more globe-trotting would have been more than enough.
The film wraps in a way to leave the door open for a sequel. For the sake of the cast, another installment with a tighter script could set The 355 up for franchise potential.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Photo Credit: Universal Pictures
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