The 355 is basic action flick like any other action flick out there, except the cast consists of Penélope Cruz, Diane Kruger, Bingbing Fan, Jessica Chastain, and Lupita Nyong’o. That’s a difference worth checking out.
The cast of The 355 demonstrated their fighting skills, their way with a gun, and their smarts as they defeated a whole battalion of bad guys. The plot involved getting a hard drive that contained programs that could do anything, anywhere, anytime. Total power.
The story begins with the CIA dispatching Mace (Jessica Chastain) and Nick (Sebastian Stan) to capture the hard drive. Nick gets killed (really?) and Mace seeks help from super whiz computer expert Khadijah (Lupita Nyong’o).
After chasing her for blocks and trying to kill her, Mace and Khadijah team up with Marie (Diane Kruger), a German agent. Then Graciela (Penélope Cruz), who is a psychologist with two kids at home and definitely not a secret agent gets caught up in the drama.
The fifth member of this female action team, Mi Sheng (Bingbing Fan), doesn’t appear until well into the story. She makes up for her absence by being crucial to everything that happens after her arrival.
The hard drive changes hands several times, the team chases it all over Europe and Asia. There are gun fights and fist fights. The bad guys in the background who want the ultimate power the hard drive will give them slowly become known. It’s exciting with an active momentum that races to the end.
When this film was first released it had such bad reviews (mostly from men, I now realize) that I decided to wait for it to appear free with a subscription service before I watched it. It finally reached that status on Prime Video. Honestly, The 355 is as good as any other violent shoot-em-up action film you’ve ever seen. I don’t know what all the negative reviews could have been about. (haha)
Give the ladies their chance. They’ll impress you.
Most people probably don’t know who Bing Bing Fan is. I’ll watch if I get the chance.
Her list of credits on IMDb is impressive (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1549063/). She’s really gorgeous, too.
probably damning with faint praise, but this was no worse than the average action movie. i’m not looking for serious character development or intricate plotting with this genre, i just want some fun. this movie was fun.
100%