The 355 is a 2022 American action spy thriller film directed by Simon Kinberg from a screenplay by Theresa Rebeck and Kinberg, and a story by Rebeck. The film features an ensemble cast, starring Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, 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 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 and London from June through September 2019. The 355 was theatrically released in the United States on January 7, 2022. It received generally negative reviews from critics and bombed at the box office, only grossing $27.8 million worldwide against its budget of $40–75 million.
Plot
At a location 150 miles south of 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, who is in love with her. 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 outagesindicating 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.