The 355: We Liked This All-Star Women-Kick-Butt Thriller A Lot Better When It Was Called Widows

By Thom Ernst

Rating: C-minus

Due to pandemic theatre-closing, I've had more than a month to consider, even to reconsider, my take on The 355, a parboiled action spy thriller involving an international team of female super agents thwarting a worldwide catastrophe. 

But I haven't used that time wisely.  Rather, I haven’t used the time to give The 355 a second thought since my advance look prior to the shut-down. But, I took notes. One note stands out. It reads: “How significant is The 355 in breaking down barriers that bar women from testosterone-ridden action films?” A note directly beneath that note reads, “Not much.” 

Jessica Chastain and fellow fatal femmes save the world in The 355.

A month maybe two months later and “Not much” still feels like the right answer. 

At its best, The 355 is a well-cast film boasting of prominent female roles led by Jessica Chastain. Chastain has proven her mettle in roles once considered non-traditional for women (The Huntsman: Winter’s War, Zero Dark Thirty) and so shares a comfortable familiarity as Mace, a C.I.A. operative. 

The film also features notables like Diane Kruger, Penélope Cruz, Bingbing Fan (a personal favourite), and Lupita Nyong'o. Together these women form an unlikely alliance of well-trained butt-kicking spies who go rogue to recover a mechanism that remotely manipulates any mechanical device. In true super-villain fashion, the device's usefulness is tested and proven effective by bringing down a passing plane. 

But as anyone who has ever seen a movie that begins with secondary characters making illicit deals in the lavish home of a Mexican drug lord will tell you, things quickly go south—like a lot further south than Mexico. 

PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN

Despite some exemplary action sequences, including an impressive chase scene through the streets of Paris and into the subterranean tubes, The 355  fails to shed the tropes of male gaze and the kickass female fetishes of Kill Bill, Charlie's Angels, and every film Luc Besson has made with a female lead.

Admittedly, my appreciation of the film is tarnished by memories of the Steve McQueen-directed film, Widows. Widows is a surprisingly entertaining outing for McQueen, whose films—12 Years a Slave, Hunger, and Shame—seem to be culled from a pool of socio-political intellectualism. Great movies, just not all that much fun. 

Unlike The 355, Widows was a heist film. Like The 355, Widows boasted a primary cast of female heroes up against less-than-heroic males—which is fine as I am neither so precious nor foolish enough to think that griping about male misrepresentation is an actual argument. My fear is that The 355, a far lesser film covering some of the same ground as Widows, will do better at the box office, even if that box office is limited to a streaming service. 

Even with all the boxes checked, The 355 cannot be the full-on all-female actioner it hopes to be. There is a lot of talent here; some might think too much for a film showcasing kick-ass warriors taking down a barrage of smirking bad guys. 

The women of The 355 strive for levels of heartfelt bonding and a we-are-human-beings-with-human-needs despite our superspy-level prowess for fighting and escaping dangerous situations. They form an unlikely alliance that eventually binds them as a fighting unit to stop a worldwide catastrophe. 

But, there are also grievances to settle, partners to avenge, and double agents to expose. And the efforts director Simon Kinberg puts into building a foundation on which to forge fresh energy into the spy genre feels like a race against time - as in, “Let's do this before the 007 franchise officially assigns the number to Lashana Lynch.”

The 355. Directed by Simon Kinberg. Starring Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong'o, Penelope Cruz, Diane Kruger and Bingbing Fan.  Opens in theatres January 31.