The 355

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.

Chastain proposed the idea for the film while working with Kinberg on X-Men: Dark Phoenix. The project was officially announced in May 2018, and distribution rights were acquired by Universal Pictures at the 71st Cannes Film Festival. Filming took place in Paris, Morocco, and London from July through September 2019. 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.

Storyline[]

Plot[]

When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, a wild card CIA agent joins forces with three international agents on a lethal mission to retrieve it, while staying a step ahead of a mysterious woman who's tracking their every move.

Genres[]

Action
Thriller

Motion Picture Rating[]

13 (Argentina)
M (Australia)
14 (Brazil)
14A (Canada)
14 (Chile)
12 (Colombia)
11 (Denmark)
Tous publics (France)
16 (Germany)
UA (India)
D17+ (Indonesia)
12A (Ireland) (theatrical rating)
12 (Ireland) (video rating)
PG-12 (Japan)
B (Mexico)
12 (Netherlands)
M (New Zealand)
PG (Philippines)
16 (Poland)
M/12 (Portugal)
PG13 (Singapore)
15 (South Korea)
12 (Spain)
16 (Switzerland)
13+ (Turkey)
12A (UK) (theatrical rating)
12 (UK) (video rating)
PG-13 (USA)
12 (Ukraine)
PG-15 (United Arab Emirates)

Images[]

Cast and Crew[]

Director[]

Simon Kinberg

Writing Credits[]

Theresa Rebeck (screenplay by) and
Simon Kinberg (screenplay by)
Theresa Rebeck (story by)

Cast[]

Jason Flemyng - Elijah Clarke
Pablo Scola - Santiago
Marcello Cruz - Jeronimo
Eddie Arnold - Agent Team Leader Ramirez
Sebastián Capitán Viveros - Agent #1 (as Sebastian Capitan Viveros)
Federico Trujillo - Agent #2
Edgar Ramírez - Luis Rojas (as Édgar Ramírez)
Leo Staar - Grady
Sebastian Stan - Nick Fowler
John Douglas Thompson - Larry Marks
Jessica Chastain - Mace / Mason Browne
Diane Kruger - Marie Schmidt
Penélope Cruz - Graciela Rivera
Sylvester Groth - Jonas Muller
Jason Wong - Stevens
Lupita Nyong'o - Khadijah Adiyeme
Raphael Acloque - Abdel
Dom Dumaresq - Diego Garcia
Gethin Alderman - Gendarme #1
Costin Cambir - Gendarme #2
Joseph Wicks - DGSE Agent
Alexander Cardona - Tomas
Francisco Labbe - Juan
Waleed Elgadi - Yassine
Amra Mallassi - Man at Reception
Bingbing Fan - Lin Mi Sheng
Zaydun Khalaf - Bar Person
Polly Middlehurst - News Anchor
Tom Cox - Team Leader
Lee Wilkinson - Grey Haired Man (as Lee George Wilkinson)
Oleg Kricunova - Pyotr Khasanov
Emilio Insolera - Giovanni Lupo
Jeffrey Chekai - Auctioneer (as Jeffrey Che Kai Chang)
Eldi Dundee - Greta
Yoon C. Joyce - Hwan Ha Jun
David Yu - Lin Jien
Kevin Ta - Chinese Security Guard #1
Charles M. Baker - Chinese Security Guard #2
Sebastian Roldan - Hiro
Bodo Friesecke - German Man in Elevator
Claudia Neumann - German Woman in Elevator

Other Cast (in alphabetical order)[]

Yassine Anaddam - Moroccan Market Customer (uncredited)
Rodrig Andrisan - Moroccan Market Customer (uncredited)
David Olawale Ayinde - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Alexis Barbosa - French Man (uncredited)
Edoardo Barile - Marrakesh Market Customer (uncredited)
Toni Beard - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Nicholas Blatt - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Graham Burton - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Colin Chapman - Tech Lecturer (uncredited)
Wong Charlie - Auction Bidder (uncredited)
Richard Curtis - VIP Auction Guest (uncredited)
Maud Druine - Lin Mei Hong (uncredited)
Ali El Khodary - Market Goer (uncredited)
Mo Firoozy - Moroccan Customer (uncredited)
Eliza Flores - Auction Room Guest (uncredited)
John Foreman - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Chris Grifoni - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Juke Hardy - Businessman at Auction (uncredited)
Maryam Hashemi (uncredited)
Metin Hassan - Arab Prince (uncredited)
Michael Haydon - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Madara Kanele - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Nina Kumar - Moroccan Market Customer (uncredited)
Adnan Kundi - Market Customer / Auction Guest (uncredited)
Yun Lai - Chinese Tourist (uncredited)
Quentin Lee - Security Agent (uncredited)
Mariia Legun - Student (uncredited)
Patrick Loh - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Keith Lomas - Auction House Guest (uncredited)
Martyn Mayger - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Paul O'Kelly - Auction Guest (uncredited)
T. Mark Owens - Convention Delegate (uncredited)
Hiten Patel - Morocco Market Seller / Mosque (uncredited)
Jag Patel - Morocco Market Seller (uncredited)
Graeme Peacock - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Dee Pearce - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Gino Picciano - Merchant (uncredited)
Amanda Rabinowitz - Waitress (uncredited)
Graham J. Reeves - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Zsuzsanna Rose - Auction Date (uncredited)
Maurice Sardison - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Toby Sauerback - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Steve Saunders - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Atul Sharma - Moroccan Market Customer (uncredited)
Sam Shoubber - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Lee Simmons - Dock Worker (uncredited)
Indy Singh - Auction Bidder (uncredited)
Mick Slaney - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Adam Strawford - Rajiv (uncredited)
Marta Svetek - CIA Operative (uncredited)
Michelle Thomas - Auction Guest (uncredited)
Peter Trevor - Wealthy Attendee at an Auction (uncredited)
Rashid Ullah - Morocco Market Thug (uncredited)
Evie Wray - Mum (uncredited)
Rina Yadav - Moroccan Market Customer (uncredited)

Producers[]

Zakaria Alaoui (line producer: Morocco)
Raphaël Benoliel (co-producer: France)
Kelly Carmichael (producer)
Jessica Chastain (producer)
Eugenia Cheng (producer: Episode Films, Taipei)
Richard Hewitt (executive producer)
Gonwan Hsu (line producer: Taipei)
Simon Kinberg (producer)
Alexander O'Neal (line producer: additional photography main unit)
Esmond Ren (executive producer)
Patty Tsai (producer: Episode Films, Taipei)
Huan Wang (executive producer) (as Wang Rui Huan)

Details[]

Countries[]

USA
China

Language[]

English
Chinese
Spanish
French
German
Arabic

Release Dates[]

January 5, 2022 (Belgium)
January 5, 2022 (France)
January 6, 2022 (Australia)
January 6, 2022 (Germany)
January 6, 2022 (Croatia)
January 6, 2022 (Israel)
January 6, 2022 (Mexico)
January 6, 2022 (Ukraine)
January 7, 2022 (Bulgaria)
January 7, 2022 (Canada)
January 7, 2022 (UK)
January 7, 2022 (Ireland)
January 7, 2022 (USA)
January 12, 2022 (Indonesia)
January 13, 2022 (United Arab Emirates)
January 13, 2022 (Greece)
January 13, 2022 (Hungary)
January 13, 2022 (Kuwait)
January 13, 2022 (Lebanon)
January 13, 2022 (New Zealand)
January 13, 2022 (Saudi Arabia)
January 13, 2022 (Singapore)
January 14, 2022 (Estonia)
January 14, 2022 (Finland)
January 14, 2022 (India)
January 14, 2022 (Lithuania)
January 14, 2022 (Latvia)
January 14, 2022 (Poland)
January 14, 2022 (Turkey)
January 19, 2022 (Taiwan)
January 20, 2022 (Argentina)
January 20, 2022 (Bolivia)
January 20, 2022 (Brazil)
January 20, 2022 (Chile)
January 20, 2022 (Colombia)
January 20, 2022 (Hong Kong)
January 20, 2022 (Peru)
January 20, 2022 (Portugal)
January 20, 2022 (Russia)
January 20, 2022 (Venezuela)
January 21, 2022 (Spain)
January 21, 2022 (Iceland)
January 26, 2022 (Philippines)
January 27, 2022 (Kazakhstan)
January 28, 2022 (USA) (PVOD release)
February 3, 2022 (Thailand)
February 4, 2022 (Japan)
February 9, 2022 (South Korea)
February 22, 2022 (USA) (streaming release)
March 10, 2022 (Netherlands)
March 21, 2022 (Denmark) (internet)
March 24, 2022 (Italy)

Trailer Release Dates[]

Trailer #1 - October 6, 2020
Trailer #2 - October 8, 2021

Home Media Release Dates[]

February 22, 2022 (USA) (DVD)
February 22, 2022 (USA) (Blu-Ray)
April 24, 2022 (UK) (DVD)
April 24, 2022 (UK) (Blu-Ray)

Also Known As[]

The 355 (original title)
355 (working title)
Agentes 355 (Argentina)
The 355 (Australia)
The 355 (Austria)
As Agentes 355 (Brazil)
355 (Bulgaria)
The 355 (Canada) (English title)
Les 355 (Canada) (French title)
Agentes 355 (Chile)
355: 諜影特攻 (China) (Cantonese title)
Agentes 355 (Colombia)
355 (Croatia)
Agents 355 (Denmark)
Agentit 355 (Finland)
355 (France)
The 355 (Germany)
Πράκτορες 355 (Greece)
355 (Hungary)
Agents 355 (India) (English title)
The 355 (India) (Hindi title)
The 355 (Indonesia)
The 355 (Ireland)
Yekhida 355 (Israel) (Hebrew title)
355 (Italy)
355 (Japan)
Aģentes 355 (Latvia)
Agentės 355 (Lithuania)
Agentes 355 (Mexico)
The 355 (Netherlands)
The 355 (New Zealand)
Agentes 355 (Peru)
The 355 (Philippines)
355 (Poland)
355 (Portugal)
Код 355 (Russia)
The 355 (Singapore)
355 (Slovakia)
The 355 (South Korea)
Agentes 355 (Spain)
Agents 355 (Sweden)
Kod 355 (Turkey)
355 (Ukraine)
The 355 (United Arab Emirates)
The 355 (UK)
The 355 (USA)
Đặc Vụ 355 (Vietnam)

Production[]

Jessica Chastain proposed the idea for a female-led spy film in the same spirit as the Mission: Impossible and James Bond series to her X-Men: Dark Phoenix director Simon Kinberg while in production on that film. The concept was built upon and in May 2018, it was announced that Kinberg would direct the film with Chastain producing, in addition to her starring alongside Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Bingbing Fan, and Lupita Nyong'o. The project was pitched to buyers during the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, with Global Road Entertainment and Amazon Studios bidding for the distribution rights, and Universal Pictures ultimately winning the U.S. and U.K. distribution rights to the film for $20 million.

In February 2019, Chastain put out a request for suggestions in regards to the casting of male actors. In May 2019, it was announced Sebastian Stan and Édgar Ramírez had joined the cast of the film, with Cotillard dropping out. Diane Kruger was added in June, replacing Cotillard. Filming began in July 2019, shooting between Paris, Morocco and London, using locations including Senate House. In September 2019, Emilio Insolera joined the cast of the film. Additional filming took place in London in July 2020 with precaution protocols due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tom Holkenborg composed the musical score of the film. After the first trailer's release in October 2020, the casting of Cruz, a Spanish actress, as a Colombian psychologist attracted criticism. Chastain defended the decision, saying she wanted to evaluate "the international common thread that connects us all" and emphasize the importance of characters that "all come together to form an alliance beyond borders".

Release[]

Theatrical[]

The film was released by Universal Pictures on January 7, 2022. It was originally scheduled to be released on January 15, 2021, but was delayed to January 14, 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before moving up by a week to January 7. The film was released through video-on-demand in the United States on January 28, 2022. The film began streaming on Peacock on February 22, 2022, with a DVD/Blu-Ray release in the United States on the same day, released by Studio Distribution Services.

Marketing[]

The film's marketing across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter made around 120 million impressions online before The 355 opened in theaters. RelishMix said reactions to its promotional content were "mixed-negative as fans feel like they're being served a bit of a cliché cookie-cutter action package in the spirit of Charlie's Angels or 'James Bond's daughters' with a diverse mix of kick-ass supercharged women. Fans of Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong'o and Penelopé Cruz are super supportively cheering for success, but amidst the Covid-resurge, moviegoers are tapping their finger for Peacock or another streaming service drop date."

Reception[]

Box office[]

As of February 23, 2022, The 355 has grossed a worldwide total of $26,694,498 against a production budget of $40-75 million, meaning that the film has become a box office flop.

In the U.S. and Canada, The 355 was projected to gross $2-7 million from 3,145 theaters in its opening weekend. Variety and Boxoffice Pro both said the film would underperform at the box office, in part due to its 45-day theatrical timeframe, the ongoing success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the rising spread of the Omicron variant. The film earned $1.72 million on its first day, including an estimated $350,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $4.6 million, finishing third at the box office behind holdovers Spider-Man: No Way Home and Sing 2. Audiences during its opening were 56% female, 73% above the age of 25, 40% between 25-44, and 33% above the age of 45. The ethnic breakdown of the audience showed that 50% were Caucasian, 21% Hispanic or Latino, 17% African American, and 12% Asian/other. The film went on to earn $2.3 million in its second weekend, $1.6 million in its third, $1.3 million in its fourth, and $698,275 in its fifth. The 355 dropped out of the box office top ten in its sixth weekend, finishing 23rd with $99,615.

Critical response[]

The 355 garnered unfavorable reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 25% of 197 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The website's consensus reads, "It has a stellar cast and it's conceptually progressive, but The 355 squanders it all on a forgettable story, unremarkably told." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 40 out of 100 based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". On IMDb, the film has a rating of 5.1/10. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 76% of audience members gave it a positive score.

Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph described the film as "standard spies-gone-rogue fare repackaged in girl-power wrapping" and "despite the strong cast, this is the film equivalent of a corn-syrup based fizzy drink being passed off as chic in taller, slimmer cans". Mark Olson of the Los Angeles Times praised the performances of the cast and the "attempt to acknowledge that these women have, need to have, lives outside their jobs, even with an occupation like international intelligence" but concluded the film "feels familiar and a bit tired. Simply having women star in a sluggish iteration of an airport dad-novel espionage-action story is not inspiring on its own."

Kevin Maher of The Times criticized it as "lazy" and "box ticking". Empire's Helen O'Hara said "Jessica Chastain and director Simon Kinberg team up here to give the world a charismatic, female-centric team of super-spies to balance all those male-led spy thrillers. You just wish the story had been as innovative as the casting, and the twists less screamingly obvious to even those without secret-agent training." Benjamin Lee in The Guardian described the plot and action sequences as "generic" and concluded "simply replacing male action heroes with women and then standing back waiting for applause isn’t quite enough". Clarissa Loughrey in The Independent compared The 355 negatively to other female-led action thrillers Atomic Blonde and Wonder Woman and argued that despite the film's premise of reversing stereotypical portrayals of women in spy movies, it's "a mark of progress only in how wholly unremarkable it feels". David Rooney writing for The Hollywood Reporter summarized the film as "not without suspense", praising the score and editing, but found the characters underdeveloped and opined "the impulse to put kickass women in charge for a change is commendable, but the journeyman result suggests the pitfalls of starting with the packaging instead of the storytelling inspiration". Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com gave the film a score of 1/4 stars, criticizing the action sequences, plot and writing. She furthermore added the film "squanders" the main actresses and described the dialogue as "inane".

In a more positive review, Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly said the film was "starry, silly escapism with pop-feminist flare and a passport". Variety's Owen Gleiberman wrote, "As action storytelling, The 355 is generic, over-the-top, and 20 minutes too long, kind of like a Netflix movie. But it’s the well-made version of that corporate brew."

Company Credits[]

Production Companies[]

Universal Pictures
CAA Media Finance
FilmNation Entertainment
Freckle Films
Genre Films
Huayi Brothers Media
Perfect World Pictures

Distributors[]

Universal Pictures (2022) (USA) (all media)
Universal Pictures (2022) (UK) (theatrical)
Universal Pictures (2022) (Ireland) (theatrical)
Ascot Elite Entertainment Group (2022) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
Belga Films (2022) (Belgium) (theatrical)
Blue Lantern Entertainment International (2022) (Vietnam) (theatrical)
Chantier Films (2022) (Turkey) (theatrical)
China Film Group Corporation (2022) (China) (theatrical)
Cinemundo (2022) (Portugal) (theatrical)
Diamond Films (2022) (Argentina) (theatrical)
Diamond Films (2022) (Brazil) (theatrical)
Diamond Films (2022) (Chile) (theatrical)
Diamond Films (2022) (Colombia) (theatrical)
Diamond Films (2022) (Spain) (theatrical)
Diamond Films (2022) (Mexico) (theatrical)
Diamond Films (2022) (Peru) (theatrical)
Entertainment One (2022) (Canada) (theatrical)
Forum Film Slovakia (2022) (Slovakia) (theatrical)
Golden Screen Cinemas (2022) (Malaysia) (theatrical)
HKC Entertainment (2022) (Pakistan) (theatrical)
Independent Films (2022) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
Italia Film (2022) (Kuwait) (theatrical)
Italia Film (2022) (Lebanon) (theatrical)
Italia Film (2022) (Qatar) (theatrical)
Italia Film (2022) (United Arab Emirates) (theatrical)
Joyncontents Group (2022) (South Korea) (theatrical)
Kino Films (2022) (Japan) (theatrical)
Leone Film Group (2022) (Italy) (theatrical)
Leonine Film Distribution (2022) (Germany) (theatrical)
Lev Cinemas (2022) (Israel) (theatrical)
Nordisk Film (2022) (Denmark) (theatrical)
Nordisk Film (2022) (Sweden) (theatrical)
Nordisk Film (2022) (Finland) (theatrical)
Norsk Filmdistribusjon (2022) (Norway) (theatrical)
PT Prima Cinema Multimedia (2022) (Indonesia) (theatrical)
PVR Pictures (2022) (India) (theatrical)
Pioneer Films (2022) (Philippines) (theatrical)
Roadshow Films (2022) (Australia) (theatrical)
Roadshow Films (2022) (New Zealand) (theatrical)
SND Films (2022) (France) (theatrical)
Shaw Organisation (2022) (Singapore) (theatrical)
Spentzos Films (2022) (Cyprus) (theatrical)
Spentzos Films (2022) (Greece) (theatrical)
Ster-Kinekor Pictures (2022) (South Korea) (theatrical)
Sun Distribution (2022) (Uruguay) (theatrical)
Ukranian Film Distribution (2022) (Ukraine) (theatrical)
Vertical Entertainment (2022) (Czechia) (theatrical)
Vertical Entertainment (2022) (Romania) (theatrical)
Peacock (2022) (USA) (video)
Studio Distribution Services (2022) (USA) (DVD)
Studio Distribution Services (2022) (USA) (Blu-Ray)
MediumRare Entertainment (2022) (UK) (DVD)
MediumRare Entertainment (2022) (UK) (Blu-Ray)

Special Effects[]

Goodbye Kansas Studios (visual effects)
Territory Studio (screen graphics)
Union Visual Effects (additional visual effects) (as Union VFX)
Invisible Arts Collective (additional visual effects)
The Other Guy (additional visual effects)

Technical Specs[]

Runtime[]

122 mins

Color[]

Color

Sound Mix[]

Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio[]

2.35:1

Trivia[]

The movie is in the vein of the Ocean's series and the Bourne films.
Sebastian Stan and Jessica Chastain previously worked on the Simon Kinberg-produced The Martian (2015).
Jessica Chastain and Edgar Ramirez previously worked on Zero Dark Thirty (2012).
Penélope Cruz and Edgar Ramirez previously worked on The Counsellor (2013).
The film was available to stream on Peacock (Universal's streaming service), and also had a U.S. DVD/Blu-Ray release, 45 days after its initial U.S. theatrical release.