Back during the Revolutionary War, there were a group of female spies who were invaluable in turning the tide of the fight for American freedom. The codename was The 355. So, it only fitting that audiences get a motion picture carrying that moniker that spotlights a group of international spies who collectively use their varied talents to attempt to topple an evil syndicate who would do absolutely anything to get their hands on what could simply be described as a doomsday device.
The 355 stars Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Diane Kruger, Penélope Cruz, and Bingbing Fan. It’s pretty solid fun to witness these women interact and do their thing, especially considering their moniker and the history attached to it.
Unfortunately, The 355 doesn’t break any new ground. Then again (I’m about to be slaughtered for this…) doesn’t Star Wars and Star Trek play in the same sandbox and we love both? What I’m saying is that The 355 feels like something you’ve seen before and that can slow down the plot movement, but not to levels that make it unwatchable.
The thing that makes The 355 distinctive is that it may exist on an extremely familiar landscape, but the players in it are so unique, compelling, and are unlike anything seen since, well… Ocean’s 8. These are women capable of equal amounts of ass-kicking as the Sandra Bullock-Cate Blanchett-led hit of 2018. The women of 355 are from different homelands, backgrounds, and skills. That, when they work together, form a reckoned with force.
Our tale commences centering in Jessica Chastain’s CIA age Macon “Mace” Brown. She is hot on the trail of this unknown individual who is ready to sell an extremely dangerous piece of tech to the highest bidder. As violently teased, the device will possess the power to grind society to its knees, wreak havoc, spur destruction and death on a global basis.
Chastain is nothing new to the action genre. She more than excels in her role as leader/organizer of the group. This is the most unique of action heroines she’s portrayed since the work she did in 2014’s The Debt. She can do it all from period pieces to Oscar actioners such as Zero Dark Thirty and Aaron Sorkin’s dripping with delicious dialogue, Molly’s Game. In The 355, she has an absolute blast. That helps elevate a plot that at times feels mediocre.
The right cast can elevate a project. Proof of that exists right here with Chastain and her Fab Five of gifted women.
The 355’s ensemble is more than up to the challenge, and one gets the real heart of hearts sense that these women enjoy each other’s company, on and off-screen. They work well together and more than anything else have collective chemistry that sets the film apart from other like-minded flicks that feel as if you have seen them someplace before.
Chastain has a palpable camaraderie with each and every soul of the ensemble. Yet there is something beyond compelling about her scenes with Nyong’o’s tech-savvy MI6 agent Khadijah. She has a husband and family at home that personalizes things with the narrative that doesn’t have to hit you over the head with its message. She’s still every bit about the task at hand, but there is a personal cost that is embodied by the Oscar winner’s role and her performance.
Caught in the middle of this craziness and in some ways our entry into this world is Kruger’s Marie, a German spy who commences the film as an adversary of sorts. It works well as one anticipates Chastain and Kruger each being on a runaway train set for a collision course. Then, there’s Cruz’s Spanish spy agency worker. Graciela is not a spy by any means. She works in the “office” of her agency but gets swept up in this mission all the same and her contribution winds up being quite integral to whether our team succeeds or fails.
Cruz plays the role with perfection. Traditionally, the Spanish Oscar winner has played an agent of action. But in The 355, it’s lovely to witness her as someone caught in the crossfire of two sides and she has no choice but to go along with this group of strong women whose ability to save themselves has more than been proven.
Kruger is a firecracker. Part of the reason why viewers “wonder” about her character is how closely she plays it to the vest on one hand, and on the other—does not appear to be much of a team player. The German-born thespian excels in roles such as Schmidt (or as Bridget Von Hammersmith in Inglourious Basterds for that matter). There is something about her that despite all that star power up on the screen, it is Kruger who one cannot take their eyes off of. That is a compliment to how the camera loves her, yes, but more an exaltation of her culturally transcendent gift.
There’s also a few male leads that add a little something-something to the plot, most notably Sebastian Stan as Nick Fowler. He’s a colleague of Chastain’s Browne and the star of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier handles the action spy aspect of Fowler’s cinematic DNA, but there’s another facet of the character that doesn’t quite jive what with is necessary of that role. Maybe it wasn’t fleshed out well enough by the screenwriting trifecta of Simon Kinberg, Theresa Rebeck, and Bek Smith.
Then, there’s the actor who seemingly can not do any wrong, Edgar Ramirez. His role as a spy is integral to the entire operation and The 355’s story itself. Through some pretty predictable twists and turns, it is left up to our fab five to save the day.
Now, there is something about Ramirez as an actor that no matter what he is doing, he has a commanding presence that is impossible to ignore. Regardless of what side of the fence he’s portraying, he’s affable and that is a true actor’s gift. It helps the audience continually guess. The Jungle Cruise star has been expanding his wings over the last half-decade, Ramirez has chosen wisely by committing to what isn’t the largest part in the world, but it is essential to whether The 355 works or falls on its face.
Those twists and turns… some are sadly telegraphed a mile away. That takes away from its shock, but not from its cinematic effect on the larger narrative at hand. Director Simon Kinberg (writer of the most recent X-Men series, as well as films as varied as Mr. and Mrs. Smith) made his big-screen debut as a helmer with X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Now, he does the most with what he can with an average script in an above-average milieu. There are tropes that are predictable and do not break any new ground.
Then again, this is the first month of the New Year, normally a graveyard for the studios to dump their films that they know could have gone straight to video or are simply not particularly good. The 355 is slightly better than your usual first month of the year schlock that gets thrown up on audiences with the dawn of each January’s jam.PHOTO
It’s not saying too much, but The 355 is an above-average entry into a January cinematic black hole.
Perhaps it will catch on with audiences. This is a group of badass women who I would not mind keeping revisiting should the opportunity arise. Sometimes in Hollywood, the sequel is much better than the original and can, on occasion, become legendary. The 355 shows that promise but doesn’t quite grow to meet that potential… so far.
Grade: B-