Wild, full of action and enjoyably farfetched, the film The 355 makes “Charles Angels” look like child’s play. Just out in theaters, this film puts together four of the feistiest fighters on the planet to save the world from high tech destruction and control. Recognizable stars, an excellent director and a familiar storyline make for above average entertainment.
In Bogota, Columbia a young tech develops a weapon that can take down airplanes with a touch of his cell phone. He can destroy most anything with the gizmo, and he demonstrates it to an international buyer. Just when the transaction takes place, the hacienda gets invaded by International Operatives who take the hard drive and flee the country.
The USA CIA gets involved in the hunt for the hard drive and commission’s top spy Mace (Jane Chastain) to work with her former partner Nick Fowler (Sabastian Stan) to make a pick-up of the hard drive and hand off millions of dollars in exchange. When the mission goes South, Mace finds herself at odds with her controllers and on the run.
Mace, after getting orders to work with Khadijah (Lupita Nyong’0) to try and find the killing machine, find themselves getting help from German Operative Marie (Diane Kruger) and Columbian Intelligence Director Graciela Ravera (Penelope Cruz). So begins the wildest kick-butt mission the Planet. Director and co-writer Simon Kinberg, who delivered X-Men: Dark Phoenix to the screen and produced a bevy of successful action films. While that may have been the case for his films like Logan, Deadpool, and TV’s “Designated Survivor”, this outing is a bit predictable, a total fantasy and only for action junkies.
I will admit that I am one of those action junkie fans, and for us I did like all the kick-ass scenes, a couple of nice twists, and the cast who gives their all to the project. The title is meaningless however, as the reference to “The 355” is really just a notation at the end of the film. The film is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for sequences of strong violence, brief strong language, and suggestive material. The film gets pretty gory and gun violent at times so beware of this when sending you immature teen to see the film. My rating is just above average around a 3.5 out of 5.
Additional Film Information:
Cast: Jane Chastain, Sabastian Stan, Lupita Nyong’0, Diane Kruger,
Directed and co-written by: Simon Kinberg
Genre: Action, Thriller
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, brief strong language, and suggestive material.
Running Time: 1 hrs. 4 min.
Opening Date: January 7, 2022
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Released in: Theaters
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
