The 355
Five of the world’s top actresses slum it in a formulaic techno action-thriller set all over the globe.
Girl powered: Diane Kruger as the intriguingly named Marie Schmidt
There are ten types of people in the world: those that understand binary and those that don’t. Of course, algorithms are the new sexy, or as a Colombian crime lord notes at the start of The 355, “the new drug is technology.” And so he reveals the latest in apocalyptic hardware: an untraceable, encrypted drive that can penetrate any closed system on the planet, from a city grid, to an in-flight aeroplane, to the phone in your pocket. And, at the stroke of a keyboard, it can immobilise its intended target. To prove his point, the crime lord points at a plane in the sky and has it blown to kingdom come. His device – developed by his own son – is a one-of-a-kind and will self-delete should anyone try to copy it. Seconds later there’s a shoot-out in the tsar’s jungle retreat and the doomsday device is stolen and ends up in Paris, the first of many exotic locales. Should the gizmo fall into the wrong hands, Armageddon must surely ensue. So, bring on the female agents…
The number of the title refers to the codename of an unknown female spy during the American Revolution and so is adopted by a new breed of agent working to protect the world from aggressive men. The film itself, the third to be co-produced by Jessica Chastain’s production company Freckle Films, is a nice idea in theory. To give the boys a run for their money, why not cast three world-class actresses as a trio of kick-ass agents from the US, the UK and Germany? And to up the ante, throw in a female Oscar-winner from Spain (Penélope Cruz) and, from China, one of the world’s highest paid actresses (Fan Bingbing).
Recently, there has been a spate of high-profile action-thrillers featuring female protagonists, including Atomic Blonde, Black Widow and the dispiriting Ava, the last-named being the first out of the starting gate for Freckle Films. One can understand Ms Chastain’s pursuit for female empowerment, but she would appear to be a far better actress than producer. Still, for a tale of girl power filmed in Paris, London, Shanghai, Washington DC and Marrakesh, it must have seemed an enticing prospect for its leading ladies. It’s just so terribly humdrum.
From the B-movie prologue featuring Tom Holkenborg’s generic music, the film stumbles into a series of frenetic set-pieces, with more twists than you’d find at a Chubby Checker concert. Everything is done for effect, so that when Diane Kruger’s German ice maiden ‘Marie Schmidt’ slips into a Paris fish market, she does so by ploughing a bulldozer through a wall of fish crates. Pourquoi? In fact, there are so many leaps of logic that the implausible dialogue comes as a relief. But do people really speak like this? When Chastain’s CIA boss asks to talk to her in private, he barks at his employees, “Give us the room!” Ultimately, it’s the sort of film that would make a great trailer, although thanks to the thespian smarts of its top-lined cast it is actually better than Spice World.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong'o, Édgar Ramírez, Sebastian Stan, Jason Flemyng, Sylvester Groth, John Douglas Thompson, Leo Staar, Pablo Scola, Marcello Cruz, Raphael Acloque, Hiten Patel, Oleg Kricunova, Waleed Elgadi.
Dir Simon Kinberg, Pro Jessica Chastain, Kelly Carmichael and Simon Kinberg, Screenplay Theresa Rebeck and Simon Kinberg, Ph Tim Maurice-Jones, Pro Des Simon Elliott, Ed John Gilbert and Lee Smith, Music Tom Holkenborg (aka Junkie XL), Costumes Stephanie Collie, Sound Rob Turner, Dialect coaches Joan Washington and Roisin Carty.
Freckle Films/Genre Films/FilmNation Entertainment/Huayi Brothers-Universal Pictures.
123 mins. USA/China. 2022. UK and US Rel: 7 January 2022. Cert. 12A.
