The 355 is a 2022 American spy film directed by Simon Kinberg from a screenplay by Theresa Rebeck and Kinberg, and a story by Rebeck. The film stars Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Bingbing Fan, Diane Kruger, and Lupita Nyong'o as a group of international spies who must work together to stop a terrorist organization from starting World War III. Édgar Ramírez and Sebastian Stan also star. The title is derived from Agent 355, the codename of a female spy for the Patriots during the American Revolution.
The 355 was theatrically released in the United States on January 7, 2022. It received generally negative reviews from critics, who criticized it as generic and uninspired, although the cast received some praise. The film grossed $4.6 million in its opening weekend, $14.6 million in the US, $13.3 million in international, for the grossed $27.9 million worldwide, making it a box office flop and loss for $93 million projectors on Universal Pictures.
Plot[]
In Bogotá, Colombia, a drug lord presents criminal mastermind Elijah Clarke with a special decryption program drive that can access any digital system on Earth. Clarke double-crosses and kills him just as the authorities raid the mansion. Amid the chaos, Colombian DNI agent Luis Rojas obtains the device. CIA operative Mason "Mace" Brown is assigned to purchase the drive from Rojas. She heads to Paris with longtime partner Nick Fowler, with whom she is also in a relationship. The deal goes south when German undercover BND agent Marie Schmidt swipes the bag holding the money. Mace chases Marie, who escapes via the subway while Nick is confronted in an alley by Clarke.
At CIA headquarters, Mace learns that Nick was found dead in the alley. Her superior, Larry Marks, gives her his blessing to retrieve the drive by any means. Mace travels to London to recruit a longtime friend, retired British MI6 operative Khadijah Adiyeme. Rojas arranges to hand the drive over to Graciela Rivera, a DNI psychologist with no field experience. Marie is pushed to go after the drive by her boss, Jonas Muller, who brings up how Marie's father was a senior BND agent whom she personally turned after discovering that he was a Russian mole.
Mace and Khadijah track Luis and Graciela to a market only for the DNI agent overseeing the handoff to turn on them and kill Luis; before dying, he gives Graciela a phone only she can open that tracks the drive. Both Mace and Marie chase the thief, who escapes. Marie takes Graciela to a safe house with Mace and Khadijah arriving. Khadijah points out they all want the drive and are better off working together. The four track the thief to Morocco, apprehending him and taking out rival mercenaries before handing the drive over to Marks. While celebrating over drinks, news breaks of planes crashing, and cities hit by massive power outagesTemplate:--indicating the drive is in terrorists' hands. They return to the safe house to find Marks dead. After escaping from a CIA assault squad, the women realize they have been framed for Marks' death and the theft of the device.
Under interrogation, the thief reveals that the recent incidents are all part of a "demonstration" for prospective buyers at an illegal black-market auction in Shanghai. The group infiltrates the auction where Mace is shocked to discover that not only is Nick alive, but is secretly Clarke's mole in the CIA. The group fails to prevent him from obtaining the device, but a mysterious Chinese woman helps them escape the auction. She identifies herself as Lin Mi Sheng, and explains that the drive was used as bait to allow her agency to identify the criminals in attendance. She also tells Mace that Marks had been on Clarke's payroll, and that she took the device from Nick during their escape.
Nick is beaten by Clarke's men for bringing a decoy device. He then captures the group, revealing that Clarke has Muller, Khadijah's boyfriend Ahmed, and Graciela's family as hostages. Nick executes Lin's elderly father in front of the group, while Muller and Ahmed are executed on camera. Lin agrees to travel with Clarke and hand over the drive personally to spare Graciela's family. The other women overcome their grief to realize Lin is transmitting her location through a camera in her glasses. Arming themselves, they rescue Lin, shoot Nick, and destroy the drive before getting arrested.
Two months later, Nick, now promoted to a senior rank in the CIA for killing Clarke, returns home to find Mace and the group waiting for him after escaping from custody. Nick passes out from a drug in his drink, and is told he will pay for his crimes by spending the rest of his life in a foreign prison. The women go their separate ways but suspect they will somehow reunite to fight the corruption of their various agencies.
Cast[]
- Jessica Chastain as CIA officer Mason "Mace" Browne
- Penélope Cruz as DNI agent and psychologist Graciela Rivera
- Fan Bingbing as MSS agent Lin Mi Sheng
- Diane Kruger as rival German BND agent Marie Schmidt
- Lupita Nyong'o as former MI6 agent Khadijah Adiyeme
- Sebastian Stan as Nick Fowler, a CIA officer and Mace's colleague.
- Jason Flemyng as Elijah Clarke, a powerful crime lord.
- Édgar Ramírez as Luis Rojas, a DNI agent.
- Emilio Insolera as Giovanni Lupo, a professional hacker.
- Jason Wong as Stevens
- Leo Staar as Grady, a CIA agent.
- John Douglas Thompson as Larry Marks, Mace and Nick's superior at the CIA.
- Sylvester Groth as Jonas Muller, Marie's superior at the BND.
- Hiten Patel as Ahmed-Imam
- Oleg Kricunov as Pyotr Khasanov