Directed by: Simon Kinberg
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Sebastian Stan, Penelope Cruz, Lupita Nyong'o, Bingbing Fan, Edgar Ramirez
Without giving away any spoilers or plot points, the villain of The 355 could have saved himself a bunch of time, energy, and money if he simply paid for the drive everyone in The 355 winds up chasing all over the globe. The 355 boasts a stellar cast thrown into thin characters and a generic action movie which doesn't require actors of this caliber to star in it.
Since you have the likes of Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Oscar winners Penelope Cruz and Lupita Nyong'o and Marvel veteran Sebastian Stan in the cast, you may as well give them something more to do than to battle each other out in fights and chases which don't distinguish themselves from other movies of this ilk. The 355 doesn't have such aspirations and that's okay if the product were more than an average action movie which is likely to be forgotten shortly after viewing it.
The 355 (the title is explained near the end, not to worry) begins in Colombia with a transaction for a unique drive which can cripple any security system, hack into anything, or "start World War III". The transaction goes awry and winds up in the hands of a Colombian agent (Ramirez) who attempts to sell the drive to the highest bidder. If I'm not mistaken, this drive is not one of a kind. We've seen it in spy movies as far back as Sneakers (1992). Spies are forever after a drive, disk, list of agents, etc. The CIA enlists agents (Chastain and Stan) to go to Paris and intercept the drive, which is stolen right out from under them by German agent Marie Schmidt (Kruger), the angry loner type that doesn't play well with others.
Nick is seemingly killed and Mace (Chastain) enlists a former MI-6 operative (Nyong'o) to aid her in finding the drive before World War III commences. Along with therapist Graciela (Cruz) who is not an agent and spends a lot of time fretting over the situation she's in, the women join forces to deliver the drive to the CIA, which doesn't go as planned. The drive finds its way to Shanghai to be auctioned off. You would think such an auction would take place inconspicuously, but nope, the bidders all drive up to the front door of an ostentatious palace in flashy sports cars and limos while wearing attire more suitable for walking the red carpet at the Oscars.
Nothing happens which can't be predicted a mile down the road and not much happens we care about. If you inserted Tom Cruise into the cast, the 355 could be Mission: Impossible 8 and no one would notice the difference.
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