The 355 (2022)

Streaming Service: Peacock
Movie Name/Year: The 355 (2022)
Genre: Action, Thriller
Length: 124 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Production/Distribution: Universal Pictures, CAA Media Finance, FilmNation Entertainment, Freckle Films, Genre Films, Huayi Brothers Media, Perfect World Pictures, Ascot Elite Entertainment Group, Belga Films, Blue Lantern Entertainment International, Chantier Films, China Film Group Corporation, Cinemundo, Diamond Films, Entertainment One, Forum Film Slovakia, Golden Screen Cinemas, HKC Entertainment, Independent Films, Italia Film, Italia Films, Joyncontents Group, Kino Films, Leone Film Group, Leonine Distribution, Lev Cinemas, Nordisk Film Distribution, Nordisk Film, Norsk Filmdistribusjon, PT. Prima Cinema Multimedia, PVR Pictures, Pioneer Films, Roadshow Film Distributors, Roadshow Films, SND Films, Shaw Organisation, Spentzos Films, Ster-Kinekor Pictures, Sun Distribution, Universal Pictures International, Vertical Entertainment, Starz!
Director: Simon Kinberg
Writers: Theresa Rebeck, Simon Kinberg, Bek Smith
Actors: Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Lupita Nyong'o, Diane Kruger, Édgar Ramírez, Sebastian Stan, Atul Sharma, Bingbing Fan, David Olawale Ayinde, Eddie Arnold, Evie Wray, Francisco Labbe, Hiten Patel, Jason Wong, Leo Staar, Marta Svetek, Maud Druine, Nick Owenford, Oleg Kricunova, Pablo Scola, Raphael Acloque, Sylvester Groth, Toby Sauerback, William El Gardi
 
IMDb Blurb: 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.

Cat’s Point of View:
I was excited enough regarding The 355 that I listed it as my #3 pick on my January 2022 Top 20 List. The burning question, now, must certainly be: did it deserve its placement?
 
Hesitation lingers in the air as I ponder my answer. It’s not really cut and dry. In hindsight, I might have dropped it a little bit in ranking.  I have a few problems with The 355, but it was entertaining and, certainly, was not without merit.
 
Let this be your warning now. If you don’t want spoilers to a couple of the 2^nd act twists, you might want to skip the trailers.
 
The 355 has a bit of a marketing problem.

 
My impression, after watching the trailer, was that this film was going to be a badass all-female spy team recovering some dangerous tech. While that assessment wasn’t exactly incorrect, The 355 serves as more of an origin story to a team rather than one that is already connected from the beginning. Of course, the trailer does touch on that a little bit – but it wasn’t nearly clear enough to the extent of the disparity between that concept and what the production actually delivered.
 
The good news is that The 355 held my attention sufficiently that I managed not to succumb to my occasional narcoleptic tendencies (and, considering I’m still in energy-recovery mode post-Mardi Gras, that is saying something). Yet, at the same time, I wasn’t as engaged as I would have liked, and I had to fight my urge to grab my phone and fiddle.

 

I rather enjoyed the twisty nature of the story and both the intelligence and independence of the main characters. They weren’t ‘damsels in distress’ even when they were faced with dire circumstances. The action was decent and pretty standard fare for a movie such as this.
 
The 355 has fairly good production quality and a satisfying conclusion. I just wish that the message of the teasers hadn’t muddled things from the outset for me. I would have spent far less time confused.
 
If you’re looking for an entertaining option to watch with some popcorn, The 355 is a fair choice. I’m not sure I’m going to remember it in the long term. It does, however, give a bit of sequel bait so it remains to be seen if there will be future installments.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 24%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 86%
Metascore – 40%
Metacritic User Score – 3.9/10
IMDB Score – 5.2/10
 
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3/5
 
Movie Trailer: