The power to take down a plane, the power to black out an entire city, the power to cause worldwide chaos— all stored within a single high-tech drive, one that can be accessed with an ordinary keyboard. What happens when the drive catches the eye of the CIA, the BND, and multiple mercenary groups? A high-stakes game of tug-of-war with the teams fighting to either save the world or destroy it.

Starting Jan. 7, “The 355” was available for viewing in theaters all across the U.S. Following,CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown (Jessica Chastain), “The 355” focuses on Mace’s struggle to reobtain a drive with the power to cause worldwide destruction while dealing with the recent and tragic loss of her only friend, fellow CIA agent Nick Fowler (Sebastian Stan). Realizing she needs help, Mace seeks out an old friend and retired MI-6 operative Khadijah “Dij” Adiyeme (Lupita Nyong’o), a cyber specialist who helps her track down the drive and leads them to Colombian DNI psychologist Graciela “Graci” Rivera (Penélope Cruz) and BND agent Marie Schimdt (Diane Kruger). Upon meeting, the four women decide to work together to recover the drive.

The movie gets its namesake from Agent 355, a female spy during the Revolutionary War that worked in George Washington’s network of spies called the Culper Ring, who collected information on the British to provide timely and accurate intelligence. However, Agent 355’s true identity remains unknown, and the movie establishes the connection to its team of unlikely international agents who risked it all to save the world.

 It is refreshing as it is rare to see an action movie that has protagonists that are all women, especially women who are powerful and independent, and not just in the movie for the sole purpose of sex appeal, which is an issue in many action movies that boils down to misogyny. “The 355” addressed this and did a good job at capturing the terrifying and sometimes life threatening nature of the issue that, unfortunately, is all too common in real life. 

In the CIA itself, gender statistics show that 25% of the CIA’s agents are female compared to the 75% of male agents.In the film, misogynistic comments made by fellow CIA agent Grady (Leo Starr) towards Mace reflect this. These comments, along with Grady’s overall treatment of Mace, suggest that since she outranks him, he is uncomfortable with a woman holding a higher position and power over him. 

As well as addressing the gender inequality in intelligence service agencies, “The 355” also brings to light the role of women in STEM related fields. Throughout the movie, Dij is shown hacking into security systems and cameras as well as tracking the drive as it moves from country to country to help the women complete their mission. The representation of a woman in charge of the technological side of the operation is important since a large portion of the workforce in STEM careers are men. According to the United States Census Bureau, women make up 27% of STEM workers while men make up 73% of workers in STEM.

The movie as a whole has a new and innovative  idea, but it missed the mark on what could’ve been an amazing movie. It was an action-packed spy film, something that had potential, but the action was predictable and didn’t always keep the viewer’s attention. It cuts from stale dialogue to fight scenes with the same sequences– locating the assailants with the drive and a dragged out chase that ends in failure– and repeats this process throughout the movie. Aside from Mace, Nick, and Graci developing throughout the movie, it neglects other key characters’ personal arcs. Although the neglected characters changed a little, they were static, this made them feel more like side characters rather than main ones. Better to wait and watch this one at home for free rather than buying a ticket to see it in theaters. 

However, the one truly great thing about this movie was the fact that most of the main cast was made up of strong, diverse women. This felt like a breath of fresh air in the movie industry and something that needs to be done more often. Overall, this movie is worth watching at least once due to the stacked cast, but probably not good enough for a rewatch.