“The 355” has added a new dimension to the spy movie genre, with it’s all female cast and impressive action work. It has managed to already set itself apart from predecessors just from its trailers alone. But I gotta tell you the truth, that hype did not last. It was released to theaters just a few days into the new year on January 7, so naturally I thought it would be a new and exciting movie to watch. But as the film went on, I felt as though I’d seen this movie before. It was copy and paste, similar to many other spy movies but just with a new cast. If you like James Bond movies, this might be for you but it was disappointing for me, to say the least.
I was initially intrigued by the new film just based on it’s hard hitting and stacked cast. It stars big names like Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz and Lupita Nyong’o, plus newcomer Fan Bingbing. The representation of different ethnicities was amazing to see and excited me the most, I just wish that movie producers would have used that tool more to their advantage. Outside of the movie promos and posters, their differences were hardly mentioned at all. Lost opportunity if you ask me.
The action film follows CIA Agent Mason Brown (Chastain) who needs the help of fellow agents and trained specialists to bring down evil. They must acquire the flash drive of doom and keep it out of the wrong person’s hands. Basically, stop the bad guy or everyone dies, sound familiar?
One of the better and more commonly shown themes in the film is just how cool these chicks are. They are all super smart, gorgeous and able to get things done without the help of a man. All they need is each other. The teamwork was endearing to watch and made me proud. I absolutely love the girl power showcased throughout but hated how empty the characters all were. There was no real emotional power to them and nothing that genuinely makes me like or feel connected to their roles. There was fast paced action and then there were dull moments whenever the film would slow down. This caused all the cool action scenes to end up being lost on me.
The film just wasn’t as daring as I thought it would be, I was waiting for an element of shock value that would just never come. “The 355,” ended up being an action/thriller that was too scary to be interesting. It would have been better if the storyline was more emotional and vulnerable. But really there was no saving it in the end.
Photo Credit: IMDb
