When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, a wild card CIA agent joins forces with three international agents on a lethal mission to retrieve it while staying a step ahead of a mysterious woman who’s tracking their every move.
The title of this movie is a reference to Agent 355, which was the codename of an unidentified female spy who fought for the Patriots during the American Revolution and I would have much preferred watch that film instead of this one. Although it utilizes an all-star cast, including Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Diane Kruger, Penélope Cruz, Bingbing Fan, Edgar Ramírez, and Sebastian Stan, sadly, that is all it has going for it.
In keeping with the essence of the James Bond, Jason Bourne, and Mission: Impossible movies, “The 355” was clearly produced with the intent of creating a new female-led spy franchise, one that I would be very excited to see, given the amount of onscreen talent involved but director Simon Kinberg seems more interested in planting the seed for said film series, instead of making an entertaining and thrilling motion picture and as a result, he delivers an unexciting and tepid piece of entertainment, if you could even call it that.
When a top-secret electronic weapon, one that could cripple cities and governments around the world, falls into the wrong hands, it is up to CIA agent Mason ‘Mace’ Browne (Jessica Chastain) to track it down and prevent World War III. When she is betrayed by the CIA, she branches out on her own and teams up with fellow international agents Khadijah (Lupita Nyong’o), formerly of MI6, Marie Schmidt (Diane Kruger), a German BND operative, Graciela (Penélope Cruz), a skilled Colombian DNI psychologist, and Lin Mi Sheng (Fan Bingbing), a mysterious Chinese MSS intelligence agent. Together, they must retrieve the weapon before innocent lives are lost.
While “The 355” most certainly has everything in place to be a rousing, engaging story, Simon Kinberg’s inexperience in the director’s chair – his previous directorial effort was 2019’s disastrous “X-Men: Dark Phoenix” – hinders everything, both in front of and behind the camera. Known primarily as a producer on “X-Men: First Class,” “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Deadpool,” “Logan,” and “Murder on the Orient Express,” perhaps he should stick to producing and allow more proficient filmmakers to take the reins on stories such as this because every director needs a good producer, and Mr. Kinberg is undoubtedly very good at that job, according to his resume.
The acting, by and large, is uniformly uneven, with only Ms. Chastain and Ms. Kruger instilling anything worthwhile into their performances, and even those engaging moments are far and few between. The always likable Sebastian Stan is reduced to long takes of him smoldering and oozing molten sexuality, just as a reminder to the rest of us that we are fortunate enough to even lay eyes on him. The action set-pieces and fight choreography are unbelievably banal, especially for a movie that characterizes itself as an action film. Everything feels lethargic and sluggish and considering the narrative, about the possibility of World War III, a sense of uncontrollable desperation and urgency would be more convincing, instead of the leisurely momentum on display.
While “The 355” has taken the first step in creating a much-needed new female-led spy franchise, with a plethora of less than stellar reviews, it’s hard to tell if Universal Pictures will move forward with a planned sequel. Naturally, the ending is left wide open for a continuation but I feel like the film will hit theaters tomorrow and will then quickly disappear from the public consciousness and will be forgotten about in the next few months, if even that far. If the film does warrant a follow-up, here’s hoping Universal will pass the torch to a more accomplished filmmaker, someone who will be able to help audiences forget about this iteration, and start over again. One can hope.
In Theaters Friday, January 7th
