The 355 - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The 355



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
It’s never a good sign when a film has the tag lines of “From the studio that brought you” or “from the producers of xxxx” plastered all over the cover of a film. That’s usually a sign of the powers that be knowing they have something low tier, and trying to ingratiate the film in the audiences mind by linking them to other higher profile (and 99% of the time better) films that you might recognize. Such is the case with Simon Kinsberg’s The 355, which comes with the tag line of “From the studio that brought you Jason Bourne!”. Well, that and the fact that Simon Kinsberg’s only other directorial work has been the incredibly awful X-Men: Dark Phoenix a few years back.

The 355 can be roughly described as a highly girl powered The Expendables meets Jason Bourne meets Ocean’s 11. Just without any of the fun of those afore mentioned films. The flick starts out benignly enough, with CIA agents Mace (Jessica Chastain) and Nick Fowler (Sebastian Stan) meeting up with a defecting South American agent who has a “master key” type electronics device that is literally a doomsday machine built to target and take down any and all electronics under it’s gaze. However, things go terribly awry when Nick and Mace aren’t the only two people after the device, ending with Nick dead and Mace left holding the empty bag.

Going in undercover and on her own, Mace attempts to find the black box device and avenge Nick, and with the help of German secret agent Marie (Diane Kruger), British MI6 agent Khadijah Adiyeme (Lupita Nyong’o) and Latin American psychologist Graceila (Penelope Cruz) they is able to do so. Only thing is, Nick is still alive and well, and he’s got his own agenda. Burning the lot of them, Nick manages to escape with the black box, but not before a vengeful cadre of female super spies get a location on him and vow to do whatever it takes to keep the device from criminal hands.

The 355 is sort of tone deaf and dull, much like Kinsberg’s Dark Phoenix. The movie has a decent setup and some solid action, but you almost feel emotionless and bored throughout the whole 2 hour run time. Things just “happen”, and the lack of emotional pull is palpable. Girl power action movies can be a lot of fun (think the Drew Barrymore Charlie’s Angels), but this comes across as rather cringey with the dialog and just haphazardly thrown together as a film. The attack assault on the black box at the end is about the only interesting thing that happens in the film. Otherwise it’s just a rote cookie cutter action film that just so happens to have an all star cast. Sebastian Stan looks bored to death and Even Diane Kruger can barely muster up a smile one in a while to show that she’s not dead behind the camera.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, brief strong language, and suggestive material.




Video:

Shot on Arri Alex LF, Mini, Sony A7S, and SXT cameras, the digitally shot film looks glossy and full of pop. Colors are warm and VERY vibrant, and the outdoor shots are just gorgeous to look at. Interiors are fairly neutral, but there are some moments where amber lighting gives it that sort of honey colored tone. Fine details are exceptional, showing off every crease in Jessica Chastain’s face, or the individual fiber’s on Diane Kruger’s jacket. The blood is very obviously CGI fake, but other than that I really couldn’t noticed anything “off” about the picture outside of some mild black crush. Good looking digital actioneer for sure.









Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is great even though it’s not an Atmos mix (not everything HAS to be Atmos). The mix is very robust and spicy, with plenty of action oriented scenes to add a lot of immersion with the surrounds and bass channel. The dialog can definitely be a major focus in the slower and more dramatic moments, but that assault on the black box location near the end is jaw dropping. Sweeping mid range bass with a few subsonic hits that are really nice. Vocals are crisp and cleanly located up front, and outside of being a bit soft and talky for some of the slower parts (as mentioned), this is a killer track.










Extras:

• DELETED SCENES
• CHASING THROUGH PARIS – Cast and filmmakers discuss the first day of shooting on THE 355 and how the choreographed chase sequence through the Parisian arcade set the tone for the entire production.
• ACTION THAT HURTS – A behind-the-scenes look at the stunts featured in the film's centerpiece action sequence.
• RECONSTRUCTING MARRAKESH – From footage of construction to a set tour with Production Designer Simon Elliott, we'll come to understand why the cast was so blown away by the accuracy of the Moroccan set.
• CHAOS AT THE CITY OF DREAMS – Cast and filmmakers deconstruct the film's final set piece, from exploding ceilings to major shoot-outs, to the ultimate show-down fight between Jessica Chastian's and Sebastian Stan's characters.
• VFX BREAKDOWNS

Final Score: ​

I wanted to like The 355 from the trailer, as I’m usually easy to please with big dumb action movies. But the bad press was making me more and more nervous ever since it came out on Netflix. Unfortunately that bad press WAS correct. The 355 was simply not a well directed and written film, and not surprising considering it was directed and co-wrote by the man who officially tanked the last remains of the X-Men franchise for Fox. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great in terms of technical specs, and even has some moderate extras on hand. It’s just severely bloated and bland, but sort of rental worthy fun in a hamfisted sort of way. Rental at the best.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz, Bingbing Fan, Diane Kruger, Jason Flemyng, Lupita Nyong'o, Sebastian Stan
Directed by: Simon Kinberg
Written by: Theresa Rebeck, Simon Kinberg
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Studio: Universal
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 122 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: February 22nd, 2022

Recommendation: Rental

 

[Epoxy1]

I rated it 3/5 and view it as a mindless action flick. It could have used a good 15-20 minutes of editing though...some of the chase/fight scenes went on FOR EVER!!! I didn't realize this was out on Netflix already...I guess I never saw it pop up on their horrible interface!

Great work Michael.

 

[Michael Scott]

I rated it 3/5 and view it as a mindless action flick. It could have used a good 15-20 minutes of editing though...some of the chase/fight scenes went on FOR EVER!!! I didn't realize this was out on Netflix already...I guess I never saw it pop up on their horrible interface!

Great work Michael.

yeah, it desperately needed a competent editor. The fight scenes just went on for far too long. And the writing was painful at times.

and yeah it was a Netlfix original film I believe.