Movie Review: The 355

 

I didn't have much expectation going in to see The 355. From the trailers I saw it just seemed like a rather generic all-female spy/thriller film that we've all seen 10x over. After coming out of my screening I can safely say the film fits that initial impression This isn't a terrible film, but that isn't to say it's a good one either. I feel it tows the line on just being an average action film with a female cast as the main draw, but it doesn't feel like that idea is utilised all that well here.

Directed by Simon Kinberg who also co-wrote the screenplay with Theresa Rebeck; The 355 follows 5 individual intelligence agents from across the globe as they seek to locate a hacking device which has the ability to hack and compromise any machine or device connected to a network globally. Brought together by circumstance, these agents all learn to let go of their lone-wolf approaches to field work if they want to work together and save the world from falling into World War 3. These agents include CIA officer Mason "Mace" Browne (Played by Jessica Chastain), DNI  psychologist Graciela Rivera (Played by Penélope Cruz), MSS agent Lin Mi Sheng (Played by Fan Bingbing), German BND agent Marie Schmidt (Played by Diane Kruger) and MI6 agent Khadijah Adiyeme (Played by Lupita Nyong'o). It's a star-studded cast of actresses in these roles and they are arguably the strongest element of the film despite how little the script and story give them to work with. 

It's their strong performances that make the weak storyline feel all the more notable. In this day an age with how relevant female focus is in our main stream media, it felt like this film had a prime opportunity to set a new precedent for female led action films but it doesn't really do anything with the set up. The best way to look at it is you could literally change the gender of these characters and the story would stay fundamentally the same. Despite having a wide range of locations across the globe and including some fun action sequences the story just can't help but feel really generic and predicable. It feels like an action film from 2010, not 2021. I also found some of the dialogue and interactions all throughout the film really bland and uninspired. I know Kinberg has written a few films in the past but his track record is also stained with a lot of bad films too so it feels par for the course that his 2nd directorial debut didn't live up to much. I'll say this though, in terms of editing and cinematography the film does feel professionally put together and it makes use of the varied locations beautifully. 

355 doesn't really do all that much with the unique set-up it had going for it. In the modern day and age telling a relevant spy thriller with an female cast feels like it could have been a conduit to some very interesting storytelling. Despite this though the film just falls into a trap of being like every other action film from the past 10 years and doesn't really do anything to stand out. If your bored and just want a safe film to watch, it's not going to do you any harm, but a safe film is not what this film should have been;.