The 355
UNIVERSALThe long-awaited The 355 arrives on cinema screens after a much-publicised cast list and acquisition at the Cannes film festival, with a reported 20-million-dollar price tag alone for distributors. Led by a stellar female-centric cast of Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz, Diane Krueger, and Lupita Nyong'o, directed by Simon Kinberg – following up his disastrous X-Men sequel Dark Pheonix – The 355 offers a significant amount of hope within the careers of its creators. For starters, after academic hype in The Tree of Life and The Help, Chastain has ultimately become a frustrating lost soul with poor returns in the like of Ava and the aforementioned Dark Pheonix. Nyong'o has equally unimpressed after her stirring performance in Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave, with a host of unimaginative releases with notable stints in Us and Black Panther giving suitable longevity. Nevertheless, it would seem this might be the last chance saloon for director and notable screenwriter Simon Kinberg who, with his hands presumably strapped behind his back, led quite the disastrous directorial debut; therefore, his sophomore effort has quite the weight upon its shoulders to impress the big wigs within the land of Hollywood.
There is ultimately good and bad news that comes with the final product of The 355. Beginning with the former point, Kinberg's feature is, simply put, 'fine'. No ifs buts or maybes, and as much as such a description might perhaps evoke a level of simplicity, it is only as much effort and bravado as the feature itself provokes. As a generic genre feature within a saturated market of Gunpowder Milkshake or The Protege, The 355 offers the viewer the most simplistic and bare-bones venture – albeit one that is stripped away and comes as is. Whatever projected action romp the viewer has in mind for this, they are wrong, but nevertheless the feature delivers on the said promise of not deviating from the inscribed scripture and comes clean quite early on in its predictable and lacking shortcomings.
Much of the promotional material and cultural significance of this feature entailed a devoid and flat 'girl boss' vibe, and a feature that would beckon political and social conflict regarding the state of misogyny and the Me Too movement. Granted, such themes as mentioned are undoubtedly sewn into the infrastructure and work well in a state of nuance and tonal precedent. These themes of toxic masculinity, motherhood, and ultimately the notion of social-cultural code of the female form in this genre are deconstructed but never to the degree where it could become profound or poignant. This brings the point in a region of being two-fold. On the one hand, trusting the screenwriters or director to be able to handle said themes of female empowerment in a nuanced and profound manner is a sentiment so out of the question that it becomes bemusing to even fathom. On the other, this feature has the opportunity to deconstruct further the identity and generic sentiment of the femme fatale and ultimately the 'spy' genre and never takes the next step even to attempt a purported evolution. For all that The 355 allegedly entails in empowerment regarding tone, thematic, and presentation of character, it does nothing categorically in developing said tropes aside from flirting with them. It is profoundly underwhelming and disappointing, yet a constant reminder of the faux politics of Hollywood that uses a smokescreen agenda to gravitate audiences to seats with a promise of uniqueness, only revealing the same stricken sense of generic modus operandi.
The above tangent is purely within the context of subtext; the context itself is another underwhelming and drab entity in itself. Hopefully, nobody plays a drinking game regarding the sheer amount of cliches within this picture, because they begin to rival Peter O'Toole and Richard Harris in a game of alcoholic indulgence. Character motifs and plot are just two bug bearers that let out audible groans when they commence. The sheer predictability factor within the screenplay itself is laughably inept in how it devises both entertainment factor and immersion. The plot itself is as trope-filled and generic as imaginable, with little in the way of depth or layers regarding social and political commentary undeniably amiss. Opting to use its global terrorism plot more so as a maguffin and more so pushed into the background is a trait that should, in fact, allow The 355 to blossom and bloom with character layers and depth to take front and centre with, of course, Chastain and the likes of the actresses on offer to exploit. Sadly, Kinberg’s feature fails at just that: the basics. What is involved in the most basic and contrived level of depth available. Throwaway expositional lines of depth to create character arcs are here in awkward and lifeless clumps. Moments specifically crafted to give said characters an edge and emotional momentum when the feature decides to touch upon darker narrative moments and arcs ultimately feel shallow and sadly lack emotional gravitas due to the nonchalant and flat predictable beats that are curated. More disappointing is that the sheer cast list is entirely underwhelmed and understated, with such a lack of grasp on the emotive core of the feature being incredibly lacking. Almost entirely delivered through exposition in the features screenplay to craft appealing character arcs, the only arc developed in real-time is Chastain’s or Cruz’s, who are being conquered by the limitations and dependency on family. This parallel arc offers an intriguing atmospheric and internal examination of each respective character, fighting opposite angles with the feature providing just about enough depth to curate immersion and interest. However, the angle and arcs are still littered with a generic archetype approach and thus have a predictable and uneventful projection when they take momentum.
Equally as antagonising is how Kinberg and co craft the action sequences within The 355. In how dire and lifeless the material is on paper, the visceral entertainment factor has much in the way to conquer. It would seem as if the actresses and cast throw themselves into proceedings on the surface. However, in every action sequence, the feature does little to create momentum and spectacle. In a world of contemporaries such as John Wick and Atomic Blonde, where life and passion are thrown into conjuring up inventive and organic set pieces that have ferociousness and flair, The 355 – a staple at this point – decides to venture into territory conquered and tired. Nothing is distinctive or fresh with a consistent and constant feeling of deja vu in watching the same generic set pieces be crafted and utterly destroyed at that with poor camera work and scene blocking. Throughout, much of the material feels stitched together in a ‘best of’ approach of contemporary action cinema but more in the vein of the b-list setlist that gets the job done without evolving or showcasing any new material to the audience.
Quite frankly, the utter audacity for this feature to take the road it travels from the moment it begins should entail the precedent it is about to set. So little imagination and subversion are crafted within The 355 it begs the question: why make it at all? In the wake of COVID-19 and the issue of box-office returns, it is a severe financial risk producing such a generic and cliched feature within the lion's jaw of a saturated market. Release it on VOD and move on, because ultimately allowing this to release in the way it has, for it to no doubt be utterly butchered by critics association, makes it all the more reasonably possible that contemporary features such as this, or better and more profound pieces of cinema may never see the light of day due to the failure of this piece. Granted, the intention to craft an all-female action romp that detaches itself from cliche and genre convention is undoubtedly here but what is crafted is the anthesis of intention and one that drastically disappoints with each corner of its being.
