The 355

I am a huge fan of espionage movies so I have been looking forward to The 355 for weeks.  I had the chance to see it last night at a Thursday preview and I was really disappointed because it is an absolute mess.  After a computer drive capable of hacking into every secure system around the world is stolen, Mason "Mace" Browne (Jessica Chastain), a CIA agent, Khadijah Adiyeme (Lupita Nyong'o), a former MI6 agent, Marie Schmidt (Diane Kruger), a German BMD agent, and Graciela Rivera (Penelope Cruz), a psychologist with the Colombian DNI agency, decide to join forces to try to recover it.  After they are betrayed by members of their own agencies, they find an unexpected ally in Lin Mi Sheng (Fan Bingbing), a Chinese MSS agent, and go rogue to recover the drive and exact revenge.  The premise is really intriguing but the execution is terrible.  The characters are very thinly drawn and there are some major pacing issues because every time I thought there was a resolution something else would happen (I lost track of how many times the agents capture, lose, and recapture the world-ending device).  By the third act I didn't care about the fate of the device or any of the characters because I just wanted it to end.  I also predicted a major plot twist early on and I was almost disappointed when I was proven right.  All of this might be forgiven if the action sequences were exciting and engaging but the cinematography and editing are some of the worst I have ever seen.  The shaky hand-held camera work (I also lost track of how many times the camera makes a 360-degree sweep around the characters) and the disorienting split-second changes in focus gave me an actual headache.  The all-star cast is completely wasted here but at least they look good in fabulous costumes (the only good thing I can say about this movie).  I definitely recommend giving it a miss!